20s movies
Movie Review: The Friend
3.5 stars out of 5I’ll tell you what the ads won’t: Bill Murray is barely in this movie. His presence is in the movie, but the physical Bill — not so much. So if he’s your only reason for seeing it… don’t. For everyone else, this is a solid, slow-paced, grown-up movie about grief, loneliness, […]
Movie Review: Opus
2.5 stars out of 5This seemed up my alley: A reclusive pop star makes a comeback after 30 years. And the reclusive star is played by… John Malkovich! Oh, remember our carefree Malkovich Malkovich Malkovich days? We were so young and carefree! Could this offbeat film capture that old Charlie Kaufman-era magic? I would find […]
Movie Review: Black Bag
4 stars out of 5Since splashing onto the movie scene with 1989’s Sex, Lies, and Videotape, director Steven Soderbergh above all else seems to choose whatever project will be fun for him at a given time, regardless of genre. For Black Bag, he sinks his teeth into an old-fashioned drawing room whodunit. (“Someone in this […]
Movie Review: Parthenope
3.5 stars out of 5 In the past handful of years, I’ve become lightly addicted to vintage, melancholy summer-by-the-shore movies, with extra points if they’re European. They’re generally slow-paced, in beautiful settings, sexy, with complicated relationships, and often contain a coming-of-age element. Parthenope is a modern Italian film that checks all the boxes yet still […]
Movie Review: The Seed of the Sacred Fig
4.5 stars out of 5 Despite being made in Iran by Iranians, this is not Iran’s submission as Best International Feature for this year’s Academy Awards. That’s because writer/director Mohammad Rasoulof made the film — which is highly critical of Iran’s theocratic government — in secret, and then fled to Germany. Three of his lead […]
Movie Review: Wolf Man
4 stars out of 5 The day started out with me planning to see the movie September 5 in Montclair. But for the second week in a row I didn’t get an early-enough jump, so hunkered down in Vito’s Pizza of Bloomfield (last week it was the Tick Tock Diner in Clifton) to figure out […]
Movie Review: The Room Next Door
4 stars out of 5 Ticket clerk: “You’re in Theater 1.” Me: “Yes, but what’s in… the room next door?” After that bit of hilarity, I was ready to purchase my popcorn and settle in for Pedro Almodóvar’s first English-language feature with the boffo leads Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton. On the surface, this is […]
My Highly Subjective List of the Best Films of 2024
Movies, what’s new at the movies? It seems like my larger local theaters are devoting more screens to Indian and Asian films; that’s good, meet the needs of your demographic. Something called Terrifier 3 was also playing; I never saw a single commercial for it yet it was playing. Not playing: Juror #2 from 94-year-old […]
Movie Review: A Complete Unknown
4 stars out of 5 I saw this movie on Christmas Day but was then waylaid by the Yo La Tengo Hanukkah shows (where at least I did see two Dylan covers performed, “Something There Is About You” and “Baby, Let Me Follow You Down”) So my review has been delayed, sorry. If you wanted […]
Jack Silbert, curator