The Peanut Butter Falcon (PG-13) This low-budget sleeper features sterling performances by Shia LaBeouf as Tyler and Dakota Johnson as Eleanor with a wonderful turn by newcomer, Down Syndrome actor Zack Gottsagen as Zak. The strong cast also features Thomas…
The Farewell (PG) This is one of my favorite films for the entire year. An exquisite study of the American belief in independent spirit versus the Chinese belief in family above all, this film is introduced by the warning: “This…
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (R) It is 1969. Everything is big cars, scantily clad hippies, overpaid starlets, drugs and, eventually, the Tate murders. The Tate murders are not previewed until a shot of the street name “El Cielo,”…
Pavarotti (PG-13) Director Ron Howard was able to somehow capture the sound of this miraculous talent through archive and live recordings. For it is sound that Luciano Pavarotti was known for—his was a voice like no other that, even on…
Yesterday (PG-13) If Lily James didn’t steal your heart in “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again” or “Downton Abbey,” Director Danny Boyle gives you plenty of chances to lose it in this movie. As Ellie Appleton, she is the long-…
Late Night (R) Katherine (Emma Thompson), though looking like soccer star Abby Wambach for much of the film, is bossy, cruel and out of it. (She can’t be bothered to learn her writers’ names, so she gives them all a…
Rocketman (R) Taron Edgerton is a magnificent Elton John. He manages to capture the out-of-control rock star who rose, as they say, “from humble beginnings” to become a legend. John’s status might have been less elevated without the partnership of…
Tolkien (PG-13) – I have not seen a single episode of “Game of Thrones.” I have seen an example of Tolkien by accident in one of the Middle Earth films. Obviously, I am not a general fan of fantasy. Yet…
Avengers: Endgame (PG-13) – Hollywood Revue—2019! Everybody but Busby Berkeley is in this wonderfully built film. Much of it is quiet and almost pastoral, but that is to set up the almost unbelievable sequence at the conclusion of the film.…
Shazam! (PG-13) Yeah, I know, it’s a comics superhero movie and they’re supposed to be lame. The writers and producers of this film know that as well, so they play the superhero for somewhat of a dunce. Zachary Levi (Shazam)…