Movie Guide

His Three Daughters - 4 Stars - NETFLIX - September 6, 2024 

Great actresses Carrie Coon, Elizabeth Olsen, and Natasha Lyonne find truth in drama of a father's last days.  

Ghostlight - 4 Stars - STREAMING - PRIME - July 30, 2024 - A grieving construction worker wanders into a community theater group and winds up playing the lead in Romeo and Juliet - a role that heals him and his family.  

Steve Martin:  A Documentary in Two Pieces - 4 Stars - APPLE - March 29, 2024.  Steve Martin receives the documentary he deserves, divided into his rock star days, film career, and current third act.  Delightful.  

Perfect Days - 4 Stars - December 1, 2023 - HULU - STREAMING - A beautifully simple story of a Tokyo public toiler cleaner and why he chooses the life he leads.  Will stay with you long after watching. 

Remembering Gene Wilder - 4 Stars - March 15, 2024 - NETFLIX - STREAMING - Surprisingly moving story of actor Gene Wilder's life - with much narration by Wilder - and career highlights of films worth seeing again.    

Jim Henson Idea Man - 4 Stars - May 18, 2024 - STREAMING - DISNEY PLUS - Ron Howard pays tribute to the genius of the man who invented the Muppets.  

The Zone of Interest - 4 Stars - February 2, 2024 - STREAMING - NETFLIX - The Auschwitz Commandant and his family live a beautiful life while millions die on the other side of their garden wall.  Powerful and un-nerving. 

Fancy Dance - 3 1/2 Stars - June 28, 2024 - STREAMING - APPLE PLUS - Lily Gladstone searches for her missing sister, on the run with her niece in a compelling watch covering elements of culture, crime, noir, and road adventure.   

Thelma - 3 1/2 Stars - June 20, 2024 - THEATERS - June Squibb as senior citizen out to get even with the cyber thief who scams her.  

Hit Man - 3 1/2 Stars - May 24, 2024 - STREAMING - NETFLIX - Geek posing as hit man gets involved with fem fatale who wants to off her husband.  Delightful update of Double Indemnity with charismatic Glen Powell and sultry Adria Arjona.  

The Apprentice - 3 Stars - October 11, 2024 - THEATERS - Surprisingly well done Donald Trump hatchet job.  Good acting and a plot right out of Citizen Kane.  Not sure the world needs this.  

The Instigators - 3 Stars - APPLE - August 2, 2024.  Matt Damon and Casey Affleck turn a robbery gone bad into a grand adventure.  Better than it ought to be.    

Killers of the Flower Moon - 3 Stars - NETFLIX - October 20, 2023 - APPLE - Moments of brilliance recreate story of 1920s murder of Osage Indians for their oil wealth.  Martin Scorsese takes too long and tacks on a jarring ending. 

Boys in the Boat - 2 1/2 Stars - PRIME - December 25, 2023 - depression era rowing team goes to the Olympics.  By the numbers inspiring sports story. 

Saturday Night - 2 1/2 Stars - THEATERS - October 4, 2024.  Tries to recreate the first night of Saturday Night Live and never comes close.  Maybe nostalgia isn't as good as it used to be. 

Between the Temples - 2 1/2 Stars - THEATERS - August 23, 2024 - Mildly entertaining crisis of faith with Jason Schwartzman as a Cantor who can't sing.  

Wolfs - 2 Stars - APPLE - September 1, 2024 - Superstars George Clooney and Brad Pitt phone it in as "cleaners" working the same job.  

Wicked Little Letters - 2 Stars - PRIME - March 29, 2024.  Olivia Coleman and Jesse Buckley do their breath to breathe life into the slight story of a proper English woman who receives vile expletive filled letters and blames her neighbor.  Slight stuff for two great actresses.  

The Apprentice (R) - 3 Stars - October 11, 2024 - THEATERS

The Apprentice surprised me --- as better produced and surprisingly well acted.  I expected a Donald Trump hatchet job.  Instead, The Apprentice goes for origin story, explaining how Donald Trump became Donald Trump.  The answer is---he meets cut-throat lawyer Roy Cohn, the same Roy Cohn who put the Rosenberg's in the electric chair in the 1950s for spilling the secrets of the A Bomb.  Cohn explains convincing the judge to fry Mrs. Rosenberg, granting her no mercy for motherhood or gender.  As Roy Cohn, Jeremy Strong makes Cohn an actual Devil, taking Trump's soul as he teaches the levers and uses of power.  I also found Maria Bakalova, best known for her role in the Borat follow up, as a credible and sympathetic Ivana Trump.  Sebastian Stan manages to capture young Trump of the 1980s - the guy some of you remember from the New York Post.  The Apprentice faces a lose-lose proposition.  Those who love Trump won't watch because it reveals their man's flaws, including vanity and addiction to diet pills.  Those who hate Trump won't want to watch a story about a guy they hate.  Who's left?  Maybe a few of us who like the plot of Citizen Kane and enjoy seeing it echoed.  Hurry if you want to see, The Apprentice won't be around long.  

Saturday Night - 2 1/2 Stars - THEATERS - October 4, 2024

How I wish I could tell you I loved Saturday Night --- a countdown story set during the 90 minutes before the first live Saturday Night show on NBC in 1975.  I loved the idea because I so fondly remember the first season, in my own young adulthood, when no matter where you were or what you were doing, you turned on NBC at 11:30.  Saturday Night crams almost everything that happened during the first year into the alleged 90 minutes leading to the first show.  Skits performed much later get rehearsal time.  Actors impersonate Chevy Chase, John Belushi, and Lorne Michaels.  Actress Rachael Sennott comes off best as Lorne Michael's soon to be ex-wife, writer Rosie Shuster.  The impersonation roster goes on and on, including J.K. Simmons as Milton Berle, and a threatening phone call from Johnny Carson --- did Dana Carvey do the impersonating?  I'm afraid Saturday Night, the movie, is about as disappointing as Saturday Night Live, the show Lorne Michaels produces 50 years later - a safe attempt that often falls flat too often.  Saturday Night. 

Wolfs - 2 Stars - STREAMING - APPLE - September 27, 2024

 Wolfs pairs George Clooney with Brad Pitt figuring, I imagine, they don't need to do much else, and that's what results. Clooney and Pitt play "cleaners" --- that is, guys called in to make a crime scene disappear.  In this case, a young guy appears to have died when he goes for a tryst with an older politically connected woman.  The usual rule is one "cleaner" per scene.  When both Clooney and Pitt show up, they get suspicious.  The crime scene segues into several interesting enough set pieces and a couple of big shoot outs.  I just felt Clooney and Pitt phoned this in: they appear to rely more on their charisma than anything else.  I found Wolfs hard to like or stay connected.  Wolfs --- is that a dog I hear barking? 

His Three Daughters - 4 Stars - STREAMING - NETFLIX - September 6, 2024

His Three Daughters begins with Carrie Coon delivering a monologue at her sister so brilliant, that in those first few moments we know what to expect.  His Three Daughters crowds a dying father's daughters into a small apartment where Hospice is administering end of life care to their parent.  In this small space, a generation of resentments and slights come to the surface.  Carrie Coon plays the over-functioning eldest.  Elizabeth Olsen inhabits the shut-down sibling, and Natasha Lyonne the laid-back sister who deals several surprises to as the story unfolds.  His Three Daughters feels more like a play than a movie, but with acting and dialog are so compelling, I couldn't even think of looking away.  This is truth, blinding truth.  His Three Daughters. 

Between the Temples - 2 1/2 Stars - STREAMING - PRIME - August 23, 2024

In Between the Temples, Jason Schwartzman plays a grieving cantor, who can't sing.  His grief for his wife causes his voice to croak.  Carol Kane plays an older adult who feels cheated because she wasn't allowed a bat mitzvah in her youth.  Together the two help each other.  There are moments of inspiration and faith in this story.  But there are moments where the amount of talking and arguing made me weary.  Frankly not my cup of tea, but others in the audience seemed to thoroughly enjoy. Between the Temples.