Pacino Renders a Devastating Portrait of “Paterno” for HBO
Despite the name “Paterno” on the new HBO TV-movie, it’s not a biopic focusing on the 45-year career of Joe Paterno, head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions. Rather, it deals with the 11 days after his record-setting 409th career victory, when his part in the cover-up of a child sex scandal brought an […]
“Blockers” Runs Interference on its Comedy with Maudlin Moves
There is a moment in the new film “Blockers” where you can visualize what the comedy could have been if it wanted to be smarter. Spying mother Lisa (Leslie Mann) finds herself stuck under the hotel bed where her daughter Julie (Kathryn Newton) is about to loses her virginity to her boyfriend Austin (Graham Phillips). […]
“A Quiet Place” Creates Horror That is Disquieting
So many horror films are filled with noise and bombast, they don’t frighten, they irritate. “A Quiet Place” scares with its silence, making for a frightener that is utterly disquieting. The loudest sounds you will hear while watching will be your own heartbeat or breathlessness or both. Real-life married couple Emily Blunt and John Krasinski […]
Wes Anderson’s Whimsical “Isle of Dogs” Has Plenty of Bite
Wes Anderson has earned quite a reputation over the last 24 years for making films packed with whimsy, eccentricity, and gentle humor. He is a very funny filmmaker indeed, and yet if you look closer at his past eight films you will see that they are often tinged with melancholy and malice. Gene Hackman’s ne’er-do-well […]
The Modernity in “The Alienist” Made for a Timely Period Piece
Fans of Caleb Carr’s bestseller The Alienist waited 24 long years to see it finally visualized onscreen. The period thriller, published in 1994, and set in 1896, was novel in its time for being one of the first works of fiction to examine the serial killer mind, as well as blend history and fiction. At the time […]
