AMERICAN HONEY, won a top prize at the Cannes Film Festival and is getting lots of rave reviews, but I don’t think that main stream audiences will be so enthusiastic. The movie focuses on an impoverished young girl who joins a roving crew of other unwanted teenagers who sell magazine subscriptions door to door. It’s…
If you think Edward Snowden is a hero for leaking information that the National Security Agency collected on millions of American citizens, by all means check out SNOWDEN, the polished new movie from Oliver Stone, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt. It’s a terrific movie if you admire Snowden but just a well made piece of propaganda if…
Quentin Tarantino has assembled a group of excellent veteran actors for THE HATEFUL EIGHT, an overly long and talky western that ends with a carnival of bloody cartoon violence. THE HATEFUL EIGHT will no doubt satisfy at least some Quentin Tarantino fans, and that may be enough to assure its commercial success. I like many of…
Director Ramin Bahrami calls his new movie, 99 HOMES, an “emotional thriller.” The film focuses on the relationship between a young single father and the shady real estate broker who evicts him from his home. And it’s an intense, powerful, very well acted drama that never lets up for a minute. (Dennis opens his front…
Matt Damon stars in the new hit movie called THE MARTIAN. The film has already earned well over 100 million dollars at the box office, but our critic says it’s not quite as good as he expected it to be. Here’s Terry’s Take. There’s a lot to like about THE MARTIAN directed by Ridley Scott….
GRANDMA is a highly entertaining comedy-drama about a cynical, outspoken grandmother—she’s a lesbian poet who’s grieving the loss of her long time partner. Tomlin is terrific as this cranky, sarcastic character who does her best to help a granddaughter in crisis in a movie that seems aimed at older people who are dismayed by the…
A new comedy called MISTRESS AMERICA was written by its leading actress and its director, Noah Baumbach. There are lots of funny lines in the movie, but the main character, Brooke, just isn’t very likable. Talented comedienne Greta Gerwig plays Brooke, an eccentric 30 year old living in New York City. Brooke is meeting 18 year old Tracy for the…
The trailer for THE GIFT makes you think it’s a horror film or a slasher movie. That’s false advertising, because THE GIFT is actually a smart, well acted psychological thriller that will keep surprising you right up to the end. Joel Edgerton wrote, directed, and stars in this smart drama. Jason Bateman is terrific as Simon, a sales executive who recently moved…
Director Woody Allen will be 80 years old this year, but he’s as busy as ever. He’s just directed his 45th movie, a comedy-drama called IRRATIONAL MAN, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Emma Stone. IRRATIONAL MAN is an entertaining and thought provoking film that explores a difficult moral question: How are we supposed to judge a criminal act that helps a deserving human being?…
