Like so many small independent films, writer-director India Donaldson’s feature-length tale debuted at Sundance this year. It is a simple story of a young girl, on the cusp of adulthood, coming of age during a hike in an upstate New York park. Do not let its slow pace or subtlety lead your attention to wander. Sam …
Alien: Romulus (2024)
Director/co-writer Fede Alvarez’s addition to the Alien space horror series starts out like a science fiction dystopia story, with orphaned Rain Carradine (Cailee Spaeny) and her android “brother” Andy (David Jonsson) working on a hellish mining colony on a planet where it is always dark, owned by the powerful corporation Weyland-Yutani. When Rain fulfills her …
Harold and the Purple Crayon (2024)
Director Carlos Saldanha’s adaptation of the beloved 1955 children’s classic by Crockett Johnson gives us the adult version of the original series about a four-year old and his magical purple crayon who lives inside a book. We see Harold at four just in an opening section, animated by hand in a style much like that …
The Fabulous Four (2024)
The title might make some think of the Beatles, but this is not a musical film but rather another contribution to the genre of films focusing on rambunctious senior citizens—you know, movies like Eighty for Brady, The Book Club, and Summer Camp. Jocelyn Moorhouse, directing from Ann Marie Allison and Jenna Milly raunchy script, have …
It Ends with Us (2024)
Director/star Justin Baldoni’s adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s best-selling novel starts as a passionately romantic tale that turns into a dark cautionary tale. It suggests that even though we love someone there is a line that when crossed we dare not try to cross back over, for safety-sake. Before the front credits we see Lily Bloom …
Coup (2023)
Written and directed by Joseph Schuman and Austin Stark, this tale of class warfare takes place in a time that was as deadly as our recent Covid Pandemic, the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918. Jay Horton (Billy Magnussen) and his family—wife Julie ( Sarah Gadon) and two young children, are sheltered from the plague by …
Shogun (2024)
Set in the 1600s when Poruguese Catholics have been trading with and have converted a few Japanese, this second adaptation of James Clavell’s historical novel, created by Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks is so msemerizing that it demands binge watching. Thus far you can watch on Hulu the ten sessions already produced, with two more seasons promised. The …
Trap (2024)
I kept thinking of the classic Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyder as I watched writer/director M. Night Shyamalan’s suspenseful film unfold. The two sides of actor Josh Hartnett are as disparate as those of actor Spencer Tracey’s character in the 1941 version of Robert Louise Stevenson’s classic novel. The film is set in a huge …
Widow Clicquot (2023)
Director Thomas Napper’s debut feature film could serve as a feminist tract celebrating the heritage of a strong woman in early 19th century France. One need not be a connoisseur of the bubbly drink—as an occasional drinker of wine and champagne I was barely aware of Cliquot—to appreciate this woman, of which we read the …
MaXXXine (2024)
Director Ty West’s hard-R film is only for fans of the horror genre, several of its gory scnes being very graphic. It is part of a trilogy—X, created in 2022, and Pearl, also in that year. I have not sen the others, although I know that all deal with some aspect of filmmaking and the …