You won’t find a lump of coal in this corny, but good-hearted Christmas Story Christmas movies seem to have lost their spirit as the 2010s come to a close. For one thing, […]
Last Christmas
Harriet
This Harriet Tubman biopic will leave you rooting for her. Cynthia Erivo has earned her recognition because of her memorable roles in “Widows” and “Bad Time at the El Royale,” and because […]
The Report
Adam Driver must expose the CIA in this riveting post-9/11 drama. The next time I hear a news report about a corrupt government, I’ll ask this: “they just wanted a screenplay, didn’t […]
Knives Out
This whodunit forgets the Agatha Christie cliches, and the clues are ingenious and hilarious. I attended an advanced screening of “Knives Out” at the Chicago Film Festival, where I met and commended […]
Honey Boy
Shia Labeouf’s autobiography brings tears to your eyes. When you see two different actors being pulled away by wires at the end of their scenes in an orchestrated manner, you can tell […]
Jojo Rabbit
The latest Nazi parody has its heart in the right place. If we spliced Roberto Begnini’s “Life is Beautiful” with Wes Anderson’s “Moonrise Kingdom” and spiked it with a bit of Monty […]
The Lighthouse
Dafoe and Pattinson both go mad in Robert Egger’s latest masterwork. You recall in my “Midsommar” review when I admitted one of my fears? It would be me standing out in a […]
Parasite
An unemployed family has consequences of fraud in riveting black comedy. Bong Joon-ho is a South Korean filmmaker who’s best known for such foreign thrillers like “The Host,” a monster import from […]
Jackie Brown
In memory of Robert Forster, let’s see his only Oscar nomination. Robert Forster sadly passed away the other day, and I know the only Oscar-nomination he’s received was for his role in […]
Motherless Brooklyn
Norton’s crime caper talks the talk and doesn’t really walk the walk. “Motherless Brooklyn,” Edward Norton’s first directing job since “Keeping the Faith,” is a 1950s crime noir that mostly relies on […]
