The word “sisu” is nearly untranslatable, but its closest meaning suggests an unbreakable determination, one that seems to even stave off death. Determination is exactly what Korpi will need when, on his way home with his fortune of nuggets hanging on his horse’s saddlebag, he comes across a band of sullen Nazis. The Nazis are … Read more
Director Steven K. Tsuchida, a TV veteran, was also behind 2021’s “Resort to Love,” another Netflix romantic comedy set in a picturesque vacation destination. This is pure formula, but the leads have such a sweet chemistry with each other, and the locations are so enticing, that you may as well just surrender. Cook stars as … Read more
Was this the year ‘Mandalorian’ jumped the sand worm? Continue reading…
The sensitive project features an incredible roster of people who sit with Hughes and crew to laugh, cry, and set the record straight about Afeni and Tupac, helping us see the many sides of both enigmatic figures. The documentary has a lingering personal nature, with Hughes shown hugging many of his subjects as everything wraps … Read more
This is the case for Michi (Chieko Baisho), an elderly woman who is let go from her job at a hotel at the beginning of the film. Customers have been complaining that it makes them sad to see elderly people still working, management explains. That’s all well and good, except that Michi has no family … Read more
The aforementioned screenplay is little more than a half-assed rehash of “True Lies,” “Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” “Knight and Day,” and the like that brings absolutely nothing of interest to the table. “Ghosted” is essentially a laundry line connecting its interchangeable action beats with tired characters, lazy plotting, and a complete lack of wit, humor, … Read more
The first “Little Richard Awards Show Moment” was at the 1988 Grammys, when he and Buster Poindexter (aka David Johansen, former frontman of the New York Dolls) presented the award for Best New Artist. Little Richard, resplendent in a shiny brown suit, glanced at Johansen’s towering pompadour and declared, “I used to wear my hair … Read more
It begins with a lone flamenco dancer performing alone on a wooden board laid across the sand in the middle of a Mexican desert. Her staccato taps seem to spell out in Morse code the thoughts we hear about men and the trouble they bring. And then one arrives, bringing trouble. He asks, “Where is … Read more
If “The Covenant” were only an interrogation of the hollowness of American exceptionalism, as its first hour suggests, it’d be among the most honest portrayals of the country’s role in the region. But Ritchie eventually awakens from his stupor, pushing this combat-action flick to gonzo territory. In “The Covenant,” we’re immediately given an immersive view … Read more
Before Judy Blume was a household name, she was a nervous child growing up in the shadows of a world war. Years later, after settling into her role as a young housewife, she began to write bedtime stories for her two children. Then, a publisher finally gave her a chance, and in a few years, … Read more