There are some laughs here and there, but they’re mainly in the first 15-20 minutes before the gang runs out of jokes and starts repeating the same ones. Honestly, the only real joy to be found in “Quasi” is the kind that comes from seeing a group of old friends having a good time. While … Read more
Keri Russell leads this solid political thriller that echoes The West Wing Plot: Kate Wyler is the new US Ambassador to the United Kingdom. She was supposed to go to Afghanistan. She’s great in a crisis zone. In a historic home… less so. War is brewing on one continent and boiling over on another. Kate … Read more
You can sense that condescension in the film’s unnatural development, as seen in commonplace scenes of prejudice: Eric Roberts briefly appears as a bigoted service station owner that shouts the Black Globetrotters away from his gas by touting a double barrel shotgun; a hotel rents a room to the monkey Mr. Bananas rather than the … Read more
This recounting of the Branch Davidians’ stories also makes for sandy-tinted flashbacks to the 1980s. We are shown the rise of Vernon Wells in the Branch Davidian community and how the man later became known as the Bible-quoting, mullet-topped titan known as David Koresh (played here by Keean Johnson). Part of that included gaining influence … Read more
“De Humani Corporis Fabrica”—the Latin title means “On the Fabric of the Human Body”—is not as groundbreaking a picture. But it is a compelling and possibly important one. Not so much because of what it shows, although what it shows can rightly be described as shocking and galvanic. (By the same token, it occurred to … Read more
“They were very violent, they were very witty, and they were very intelligent,” says Morrissey in an archival interview about The New York Dolls. That unpredictable blend of anarchy and wit has defined Johansen’s career as an artist, and it’s on display in all of the performances and excellent interviews in this project. Scorsese and … Read more
Along the way, and with the encouragement of his support group (led by an appealing Brandon Scott Jones with spot-on timing), Renfield realizes that a different life is possible for him—a happy one of his own. Hilarious details abound in production and costume design as Renfield seeks a cheerier, more colorful persona, far from the … Read more
Unfortunately, “The Pope’s Exorcist” is a watchable but far-from-special rehash of exorcism movie cliches, with detours into a Vatican conspiracy plot that has been compared to Dan Brown’s novels but half-assedly connects with church atrocities and scandals. The punchline is so convoluted and ridiculous that it seems to let the Church off the hook for … Read more
Suzume Iwato is an ordinary 17-year-old living on the island of Kyushu in southwestern Japan. She lost her mother over a decade ago and has been raised by a supportive aunt, but questions linger about exactly what happened when she was young. On her bike to school, she runs into a stranger who tells her … Read more
The wine incident is just the first of many stunts both Thomas and Signe will pull to draw attention from one another: exaggerating one’s role in an emergency, a faked allergy, an exhibition of repurposed stolen art, a self-aggrandizing magazine interview, developing an addiction to a Russian drug that causes a devastating skin condition, other … Read more