Orion and the Dark Pixar has a certain knack for humanizing the impossible, and DreamWorks and Netflix’s “Orion and the Dark” does it better than many of its recent movies. In fact, it rips so liberally from the prime Pixar notebook of humanizing the impossible specifically “Inside Out” and “Toy Story,” but feels free to […]
Coup de Chance I have had the opportunity to be part of the Venice Biennale College every year, and this time I will continue to take part in its projects while sharing my thoughts about them with other good hearted colleagues and excellent critics like Time magazine’s Stephanie Zacharek, San Francisco Chronicle’s Mick LaSalle, protean
They Cloned Tyrone “They Cloned Tyrone” is a witty surprise amid this summer of wretched original movies on streaming. Filmed two years ago, it’s now being dumped on Netflix with little promotion, once again suggesting that these companies often don’t know what they have. Don’t let Tyrone get buried in the algorithm. Comparisons to “Get
White Bird Popular but somewhat heavy-handed source material has often been deftly handled by Marc Forster, as he is able to do justice to both its more manipulative and saccharine elements in adaptations such as “The Kite Runner” or “A Man Called Otto”. This skill comes into play again with “White Bird,” which gracefully adapts
The Sweet East “The Sweet East” is the sort of interesting and wrong creation that America deserves. It’s a schlocky flick, which can be captivating but has nothing to leave you with save for how screwed up everything is. This well made, purposefully hideous take on America as a rundown amusement park loses some of
A Real Pain This year’s Sundance 2024 U.S. Dramatic Competition program featured the usual eclectic mix of voices from the indie film world, with stories coming from different races, classes, genders and backgrounds. All three films in this dispatch could be called character studies, but what’s exciting is how vastly different they are from each
Ganymede In Greek mythology, a mortal youth called Ganymede was so good-looking that Zeus decided to kidnap him to Mount Olympus a pretty sweet deal, as it turned out, since he was not only made immortal and appointed the gods’ new cup-bearer, but also given eternal youth and beauty. That’s not how “Ganymede” tells it,
Reality “I knew it was secret. But I also knew I had pledged my service to the American people.” Reality Winner Almost everything about Reality Winner’s name is too perfect for what happened. A former Air Force linguist contracted with the NSA, fluent in Farsi, Dari, Pashto, with top security clearance and a whistleblower on
Suncoast A tears bringing coming of age movie is as sundance-y as anything can be. This is not at all an attack against that genre. Such films are comforting and satisfying, even when they seem familiar, as evidenced by Megan Park’s “My Old Ass,” which premiered at Sundance this year with a tender touch. By
Peak Season Steven Kanter and Henry Loevner join forces again following their COVID set breakup comedy “The End of Us” with their sophomore feature, “Peak Season.” Engaged couple Amy (Claudia Restrepo) and Max (Ben Coleman) escape from NYC to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, for a breather as they tie up loose ends before their wedding. And
