INDIE WIRE: The first look at Wes Anderson’s upcoming feature film The French Dispatch (in theaters July 24th) has arrived courtesy of The New Yorker, which has debuted a handful of photos from the project with captions that introduce the star-studded ensemble cast. […] For The French Dispatch, Anderson has reunited with the likes of Bill Murray, Bob Balaban, Jeff Goldblum, Tilda Swinton, Lea Seydoux and Owen Wilson, while welcoming Timothee Chalamet, Elisabeth Moss, and Benicio del Toro into his world for the first time. Searchlight’s official synopsis for “The French Dispatch” reads: “The film is a love letter to […]
GEEK SQUAD: Let Us Prey
BY RICHARD SUPLEE GEEK SPACE CORRESPONDENT Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) is just as fun as that title. And honesty, that is all the film needed to be. The last time we saw Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad (2016) proved how hard it can be to make a fun film. The similarities between these films go beyond the sexy killer clown. Both films star large superhero teams in content meant for an older audience. But Birds of Prey actually gives a damn about being a solid film. Beyond Joker’s ex girlfriend […]
CINEMA: Bitches Brew
GRETEL & HANSEL (directed by Oz Perkins, 97 minutes, USA, 2020) BY DAN TABOR FILM CRITIC Gretel & Hansel, the new film by director Oz Perkins (The Blackcoat’s Daughter), is an eye-dazzling new take on the Brothers Grim classic. Gretel is played by Sophia Lillis whose complex and remarkably empowering take on Beverly Marsh in 2017’s It was easily one of the best parts of that adaptation. While this recent subgenre of expanding on these familiar stories we thought we knew is nothing new, rarely do we see them take the approach on screen here. The film’s visual palette channels […]
CINEMA: Who’s A Good Boy?!?
TOGO (Directed by Ericson Core, 113 minutes, USA, 2019) BY RACHEL TESON Many people know the story of Balto, mostly from the 1995 animated film Balto with Kevin Bacon as the voice lead. You can visit Balto’s statue in Central Park in New York City. A reward he received for being known as the dog who saved an Alaskan village called Nenana from a diphtheria epidemic. While Balto should be praised for his accomplishments, he, along with over a dozen other mushers, only covered around 20 miles out of the total 674 mile race. A twelve year old husky (considered […]
CINEMA: It Came From Outer Space
COLOR OUT OF SPACE (Directed by Richard Stanley, 111 minutes, USA, 2020) BY DAN TABOR FILM CRITIC Richard Stanley’s hotly-anticipated adaptation of H. P. Lovecraft’s Color Out Of Space is the director’s first feature film since he was fired mid-production from The Island of Dr. Moreau back in 1996. The daring documentary Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau tells the insane story of the director getting fired from the film early into production, and chronicling him hiding in the nearby rain forest only to infiltrate the set as a costumed extra. Color Out Of […]
CINEMA: Paths Of Glory
1917 (Directed by Sam Mendes, 119 minutes, USA, 2019) BY DAN TABOR FILM CRITIC It’s officially peak awards season and that means war movies, because awards show voters love a man in uniform. Enter 1917 is the latest film by director Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Skyfall) who, along with cinematographer Roger Deakins (Bladerunner 2049, The Shawshank Redemption, pretty much every Coen Brothers movie), has produced a film that took home two Golden Globes recently causing a major upset in both the Best Picture and Director categories beating out Once Upon a time… in Hollywood, and The Irishman. Co-written with […]
NPR 4 THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
NPR: Growing up in New York City’s Little Italy, as a kid, filmmaker Martin Scorsese spent a great deal of time surrounded by images of saints and martyrs at St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral.”Those images certainly stayed with me,” he says. As did the sermons, which often focused on “death approaching like a thief in the night. You never know when. You never know how.” Scorsese attended seminary school with the intention of becoming a priest but was expelled when he was 15 for being a class clown. Instead, he went on to become a noted filmmaker, directing Raging Bull, Goodfellas, […]
CINEMA: Dan Tabor’s Best Movies Of 2019
10. Dolemite Is My Name (Dir. by Craig Brewer, 118 minutes, USA) Equal parts heartwarming and hilarious, Dolemite Is My Name is a love letter to 70s blaxploitation cinema taken to the next level by the glorious return of Eddie Murphy. The film chronicles the journey of comedian-turned-blaxploitation legend Rudy Ray Moore (Murphy), who when he was told there wasn’t a place for him on the silver screen, made his own way and brought his friends along too. I’m not traditionally one for feel good fare, but thanks to its raunchy protagonist, who also happens to be a consummate […]
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NPR 4 THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR: Director Todd Phillips is fascinated by what he calls “left-footed characters” — people who are “out of step with the world.” His most recent film, Joker, is an origin story — of sorts — for the villain in the Batman series. The movie stars Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck, a party clown and aspiring stand-up comic who lives in a city overcome by garbage, rats and unemployment. Cuts in social services mean that Arthur is unable to afford the medications he needs to manage his mental illness. As Arthur’s mental health deteriorates, he begins to adapt the villainous […]
CINEMA: Infinite Jester
JOKER (directed by Todd Phillips, 121 minutes, USA, 2019) BY JONATHAN VALANIA Before we get started, let me just be clear where I’m coming from on all this: I love comic book superhero movies as much as the next 53 year old arrested adolescent. Large men in tights blowing shit up, and there’s popcorn? Sign me up. Like everyone else, I have too much to do and not enough time to get it done, and yet I have burned something like 100 hours watching every installment in the Marvel Infinity Saga over the last decade, and if I had […]
CINEMA: The Bitch Is Back
ROCKET MAN (Directed by Dexter Fletcher, 121 minutes, USA, 2019) BY JONATHAN VALANIA Captain Fantastic — aka Sir Elton Hercules John, aka Reginald “Reggie” Kenneth Dwight, aka the co-architect of so many of the golden age of FM megahits that scored the bleary, barbituated Satyricon of the early-mid ‘70s (“Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” “Your Song,” “Tiny Dancer,” “Bennie And The Jets,” “Last Night Somebody Saved My Life” and the titular “Rocket Man” to name but a few) was not always so fantastic. Born bespectacled, effete and fragile, with a thick thatch of hair stamped with a 20-year expiration date, not […]
NPR 4 THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR: I’m Terry Gross. My guest Adam Sandler is famous for his comedy films and his work on “Saturday Night Live” in the ’90s. But he’s also given some terrific performances and dramas. He stars in the new manic thriller, “Uncut Gems,” which was written and directed by the Safdie brothers – Josh and Benny Safdie – who are also with us. Sandler plays Howard Ratner, a jeweler in Manhattan’s Diamond District who always has a deal or a con going on and never stops talking. And he’s a gambler. He’s made a lot of money and lost a […]