Filing from The Town Courier’s West Coast office, I was privileged to take in a major film festival recently—The Palm Springs International Film Festival (IFF), now in its 29th year. This year the congenial village that I retired to (after…
Star Wars: The Last Jedi (PG-13) ***** This film, like its predecessors, overwhelms you early with a powerful musical score, visuals and the action but, unlike most of today’s special effects spectacles, it keeps you riveted until the last credits…
Lady Bird (R) ***** It’s pronounced Ser-sha (Saoirse Ronan) and you better get used to saying it and hearing it because this performance is a showstopper. She is 23 but in this marvelous film she is 17 and 18, called…
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (R) ***** Don’t be shocked if this black comedy wins the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Actress. It is that good. Our capacity audience applauded scenes, and when credits ran, individual actors were…
Murder on the Orient Express (PG-13) ***** Haris Zambarloukos is a name that you will not see unless you’re looking for “Cinematographer” for this remarkable film, yet he is as important as the stars. There are many of those, beginning…
Only the Brave (PG-13) **** A bear on fire is the symbol of the forest fire that haunts Superintendent Eric Marsh (Josh Brolin). It appears twice in the movie, once as a prelude to terror and another time as the…
Blade Runner 2049 (R) **** With terrific sound, stunning visuals and good actors at the top of their game, this film is still a huge puzzlement. First a note: Replicants come in two types, old replicants that are bad and…
Victoria and Abdul (PG-13) ***** This film earned its fifth star from me just by casting Judi Dench as Queen Victoria. The other masterstroke was casting Ali Fazal, famed Bollywood actor in India, as Abdul Karim, the man who became…
Home Again (PG-13) **** The summer has ended for most of us without a great romance. Sad to say, “Home Again” isn’t a great summer romance, but “it will serve.” Reese Witherspoon (Alice) celebrates her 40th birthday with friends as…
Wind River (R) **** This is one violent, harsh, forbidding film. Jeremy Renner anchors the piece as Cory Lambert, Fish and Wildlife agent in Wind River, Wyoming. The time is winter and Lambert discovers the body of a young Indian…
