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“Thereās something delightfully innocent and feminine about The Trouble with Angels. A lot of this probably has to do with it being directed (Ida Lupino), written by (original novel by Jane Trahey; script by Blanche Hanalis), and starring lots of girls/women (Hayley Mills, June Harding, Rosalind Ru” read more
“Richard Fleischerās The Vikings has all the surface beauty of a glorious painting. As it should, given that masterful cinematographer Jack Cardiff was responsible for illuminating the fjords, the battle scenes, and burly he-man populating the frame. The Vikings is painted with light, to appropriat” read more
“Much like James Stewart got a glimpse of the spiritual world in Itās a Wonderful Life and chose to remain in the corporeal, so too does David Nivenās RAF pilot opt to stay with the living. Of course, A Matter of Life and Death argues for the healing and redemptive power of love and mankindās b” read more
“We should all hail the resurgence of Missy āMisdemeanorā Elliott as her 2019 EP reminds us ā nobody does it better. Her first collection of new material since 2005ās The Cookbook, Iconology is a welcome reminder to the weird, wild world of Elliottās hip-hop/dance fusion. Thereās been sev” read more
“Sheryl Crowās greatest hits package is practically a soundtrack to the Clinton years as the roots rocker transformed into uncomfortable pop star before going country by the mid-2000s. Her pop/rock years, essentially the mid-90s, produced a string of surprisingly durable, hook-filled bangers like ā” read more
“Best of Berlin focuses in on Berlinās three biggest albums ā Pleasure Victim, Love Life, Count Three & Pray ā and still somehow comes up short in the song choices. No āDancing in Berlin,ā āTouch,ā āPleasure Victim,ā or āPink and Velvet,ā but you can be damn sure thereās a” read more
“When the legend ends, where does that leave the figures in the central plot? Robin and Marian answers that question by picking up decades after his populist campaign against the Sheriff of Nottingham. Here is one last ride into the sunset, the coda to the end of the legendary Merry Men, Sherwood For” read more
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
“My biggest problem with A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is that half of the musicalās songs got jettisoned leaving the film adaptation as a movie musical thatās a little shy about it, so it masquerades as a bawdy burlesque instead. Essentially a chance for star Zero Mostel to mug ” read more
The Knackā¦ and How to Get It
“Iām not sure if itās the material or the hyperkinetic direction, but something about The Knackā¦ and How to Get It just feels off from the first frame until the last. Itās a microcosm of the Swinging Sixties and the sexual anxieties on display throughout, best exemplified by Michael Crawfordā” read more
“I love musicals, ABBA, Meryl Streep, and a lot of the character actors appearing in supporting roles, but Mamma Mia! is, without a doubt, dreadful. Much of the blame goes not on the vague sketch of a plot, plenty of musicals have stories that merely exists as a threadbare setup between songs, but on” read more
“Call me a big sentimentalist, but I largely enjoy Fiddler on the Roof. Granted, it does go on far too long and drags in numerous spots, but thereās Topolās alchemical work where he disappears into the character heās playing, the memorable songs, and a general elegiac sense of a past being eras” read more
“Essentially a redress of Top Hat with ballet plugged into the plot contrivance and George and Ira Gershwin in place of Irving Berlin, Shall We Dance comes so close to recreating the delicate perfection of prior pairings that itās frustrating when it falls just short. The major problem is that a bi” read more
“The best of the Fred and Ginger movies take place in an imaginary Art Deco world where the Great Depression takes place in an alternate reality, the champagne flows freely, and the ideal rich are charmingly bumbling their way through love and posh continental locations. The formula of their films ha” read more
“Jesus Christ, did the makers of this know at the time that they were inadvertently underscoring and signing off on a truly contemptible character study? Actually, a character study would imply that the main character experiences anything resembling coherent growth or reason for acting out in the way” read more
“What a strange film this is for a provocateur like Pedro AlmodĆ³var. The Flower of My Secret is so tranquil and subdued that it nearly tips into the middlebrow provincialism that he so proudly flaunted before. Thereās still a series of great female roles, populated by some of his favorite actresse” read more
“In a career abundant in provocations and skewering of provincial middlebrow aesthetics, Matador still announces itself as something punk rock and aggressive in Pedro AlmodĆ³varās oeuvre. Here is a film that opens with one of its main characters jerking off to Mario Bavaās Blood and Black Lace as” read more
Mickeyās Twice Upon a Christmas
“The inevitable sequel to a successful direct-to-video product, but they canāt announce it as such, so itās instead marketed as an excuse to watch the beloved Disney icons being animated in CG for the first time. It looks terrible. The characters look strangely lifeless or off model, occasionally” read more
Mickeyās Once Upon a Christmas
“Mickeyās Once Upon a Christmas is a trio of generic, if heartwarming, yuletide fables that should provide enough babysitting capabilities for the tots in your life. Strung together through the rhyming narration of Kelsey Grammar, whatever annoyance I may have with him his voice is perfectly suited” read more
“Normally, Iām a big fan of Disneyās forays into the Hundred Acre Wood, but The Search for Christopher Robin feels like a great short film thatās been stretched too far. Grand Adventure? Hardly. It just keeps going and going, and while it is initially adorable that Pooh and the gang discover th” read more
Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers
“Not a takeoff of the source material so much a vague sequel, The Three Musketeers is a little over an hour but generally free from joy, memorable music, or anything with āoomphā that makes visiting Mickey and the gang so much fun. Sure, the fourth-wall jokes are cute, but they begin to pileup as” read more
“Proof positive that Kronk is best used as a garnish and not the main course. Yes, the entirety of the main cast, including all of the voice actors, reappear in this entry, but many of them are underutilized. Would it have killed Disney to focus instead on Yzma and her scheming? Sheās at least ente” read more
“Leroy & Stitch is clearly the āwrap-upā episode of the franchise with all the experiments reunited, the major characters continuing plot points from Stitch! The Movie to their conclusion, and an Endgame-like āgangās all hereā montage of them fighting the bad guy(s). Itās ā¦just kind” read more
Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch
“68 minutes to basically give a ālove conquers all, even deathā message to charming characters in endearing ramshackle narrative that does nothing but dilute the brand. Welcome to more of these direct-to-video Disney exercises in making profit above all else. Donāt get me wrong, the film indust” read more
“Less of a sequel movie and more clearly a pilot for the eventual series where weād meet all 625 prior experiments to Stitch, Stitch! The Movie isā¦ fine, I guess? As these direct-to-video franchise chum exercises go this one isnāt particularly egregious or noteworthy. The chaotic heart of Lilo ” read more
24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault (Deluxe)
“No, itās not quite a compilation album of songs Stevie Nicks has sat on over the years, but itās also not really an album of new material, either. Itās somewhere between these two points. These were various demos that Nicks had worked on throughout the years before finally deciding to finish a” read more
“In February 2002, Alanis Morissette released Under Rug Swept, the album that contained one of her last hits, āHands Clean,ā repeated here in an acoustic format. She quickly embarked on her Toward Our Union Mended tour but couldnāt let this particular set of songs go. So just in time for the ho” read more
“The thread that ties together the eight vignettes in Akira Kurosawaās Dreams is his cinematic surrogate, often wearing his trademark hat. Like any anthology film, Dreams is only as good as any individual segment. While others sparked my engagement more, the ending results is still like that of Kur” read more
“When he was (finally) presented with his (overdue) Honorary Academy Award in 2017, Whoopi Goldberg specifically highlight Donald Sutherlandās enigmatic, gripping, haunted performance in Donāt Look Now as a primary example of his talents as an actor. She not displayed great taste in cherry pickin” read more
“HMS Defiant, or Damn the Defiant! depending, is another entry in the early 60s Napoleonic Wars sea sagas from the Brits. Much like its brethren, Billy Budd and the Brando Mutiny on the Bounty, Damn the Defiant! is a creaky old-fashioned entertainment during an era when the cinematic landscape was ch” read more
“The Prisoner plays out less like an actual film and more like a televised stage performance ā mainly interiors, two great actors doing a two-hander, and an overall lack of specifics that plays better on stage than in a movie camera. When and where exactly does this story take place? Whatās the w” read more