Asher Luberto
Jennifer Kent's sophomore feature--her last film was the terrifically taught "Babadook"-- opens with a close-up. If you look closely, it's a face on the verge of giving up. The time is the 19th century. The place ...
Asher Luberto
"Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbes and Shaw" is as overwrought as its title. It's also overlong, overblown and over-the-top. That's nothing new for a series known for its over-the-topness. Explosions, car chases and exploding car ...
Brent Goldman
Don't meet your heroes is how the old saying goes. They'll just let you down. Well, The Peanut Butter Falcon - from writer and directors Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartzis – is here to say otherwise. ...
Brent Goldman
In February 2014, a pastor named Jamie Coots from Kentucky died from a rattlesnake bite during his sermon. By the time an ambulance arrived, he'd gone home and declined medical treatment. Instead, he believed God would save him if ...
Asher Luberto
Remember when actors sold movies? Quentin Tarantino does. The director's ninth feature--presumably his second to last-- is a love poem of that era told on a magnificent scale. The time is 1969. The place is Hollywood. ...
Asher Luberto
"The Art of Self Defense" is a gender case studies that doesn't feel like homework. In other words, your psychology 101 professor would hate it, and you're bound to love it. It's a haunting, evasive and ...
Paula Farmer
In the West Village of New York, numerous blocks down from the uber trafficked and demonstratively commercialized Time Square/Mid-town area, and just before you get to the loud, busy Houston Street (pronounced hows-ton, not hue-ston, like the city), there ...
Asher Luberto
What is a movie? Your film studies professor might have limited their definition to "a video moving at 24 frames per second"-- that's the speed to picture ratio that creates the illusion of real-time on screen. Jean-Luc Godard, ...
Renata PoltSan Francisco,
If it's July, it must be the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival—the 39th edition this year. And as always, the festival promises a wide array of feature films, documentaries, shorts, director appearances, and discussions--not ...
Brent Goldman
The build up to the 2019 version of The Lion King seemed to escape the blowback on remakes (especially the Disney variety) of “why?” and “can’t we leave our classics alone?” The marketing plan was as big and epic ...
