Chesley Sullenberger is the reason computers will never take over the world. He's exactly the sort of hero Clint Eastwood would set his sights on-- another man who casts a long shadow over the techno-driven world. Eastwood has directed Tom Hanks as SULLY the pilot who made the miracle landing on the Hudson after a flock of birds crashed [...]
The story of Kitty Genovese, a young woman who was stabbed to death in NYC over 50 years ago while 38 people did nothing-- still haunts us. But that's not what really happened. Nevertheless, that horrifying tale of urban apathy reverberated through a family, branded a neighborhood, indicted the media, tore a hole in our innocence, and embedded [...]
Hold onto your hats-- and your eardrums-- and prepare to laugh yourself silly!! Meryl Streep does it again, this time in a bravura "comedia-tura" performance as a real life "coloratura-challenged" heiress with a passion for grand opera, but no talent: FLORENCE FOSTER JENKINS. Stephen Frears once again turns his attention to a strong female character [...]
The Woods Hole Film Festival kicks off its 25th anniversary season on July 30 and not a moment too soon. In one of the worst summer movie seasons in recent memory, this 8-day festival (July 30-August 6) on Cape Cod has come to the rescue, bigger and better than ever! Over 130 films will be shown representing more than [...]
This summer at the movies sucks. I normally despise that expression but it accurately describes the vacuum that is this summer's movie season. Underwhelming fare is now playing on mainstream screens everywhere, and I am searching like crazy for things I want to see. Here's what I don't want to see: --NEWSCASTERS playing themselves on the big screen and then complaining about [...]
Get ready for the first great entertainment at the movies this summer which trades comic book action heroes for the lords of legerdemain known as The Four Horsemen: NOW YOU SEE ME 2! I couldn't take my eyes off this movie which captures the magic of, well, magic! This elaborately tricky plot unfurled itself in double time, criss-crossing the globe while filling every inch [...]
MONEY MONSTER the new film directed by Jodie Foster starring George Clooney and Julia Roberts--is as phony as a three dollar bill. It's a cornball, ham-fisted, heapin' helpin' of preposterousity--and though that's not a real word, it is nonetheless a perfect descriptor for this "not a real movie." Within five minutes I was getting a whiff of the cheesiness, sniffing out [...]
The girl is 13 years old from a small mountain village in Nepal, but we know she is about to be trafficked as a sexual slave within minutes of the opening scenes of SOLD, an arresting film based on Patricia McCormick's novel which puts the spotlight on a horrible truth hiding in plain sight: millions of children are trafficked all over the world [...]
As attractive, well-crafted, and convincingly--even compellingly acted as BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE was, I couldn't stop thinking that one good conversation between our superheroes would have cleared the whole thing up. But then it dawned on me-- there would be no movie. Boys will be boys, so this screenplay goes a long way toward ramping [...]
One day we won't need a FLICKS4CHICKS contest, but you may have perhaps noticed that it keeps raining men at the movies. From macho superheroes and shoot 'em up cop dramas, to frat boy hi-jinks, comedic buddy bromances, and sci-fi adventure films it's mostly men in the drivers' seats, in front of [...]
