April 4, 2024
Wander To Wonder (2024) ***
Quirky animated film that starts as a parody of children's TV shows, but soon shifts in an unexpected direction.
Papillon (2024) ***
The life of Jewish French swimmer Alfred Nakache, who competed in the 1936 Berlin Olympics in Nazi Germany.
The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year (2024) ***
A Halloween special with Sideshow Bob (Kelsey Grammer) singing with Simpsons, Disney, Marvel, and Star Wars characters.
March 3, 2024
Jimmy Carr: Natural Born Killer (2024) ***
"You can't go around apologizing for jokes. They're jokes. So I've got a plan. The next time I get cancelled over a joke, the next time I upset people with a joke, I'm gonna come out on the day of the cancellation, I'm gonna make a statement, a public statement. I'm gonna say, I've rehearsed this, I'm gonna say 'I'm SORRY!' And the people I've offended will say 'You don't really mean that apology.' And I'll say 'So you're saying I can say something and not mean it.' Now you're getting it."
Ellen DeGeneres: For Your Approval (2024) ***
Ellen DeGeneres’s reckoning with her cancellation. You can’t help but admire the chutzpah when she brackets her recent excommunication with the one she suffered when she came out as lesbian 23 years earlier.
Ancient Apocalypse: The Americas (2024) ***
A fascinating journey into the past of Easter Island, Sacsayhuaman, Pueblo Bonito, Palenque and other mysterious places.
The Perfect Couple (2024) ***
A murder mystery on Nantucket Island, starring Nicole Kidman as a novelist whose son is getting married. Directed by Susanne Bier.
Squid Game: Season 2 (2024) ***
The second season of the famous Netflix series from South Korea. Quite impressive overall, but the last episode is disappointing, and the ending is way too abrupt.
Evil: Season 4 (2024) ***
The last season of the TV series that examines the origins of evil along the dividing line between science and religion.
February 2, 2024
Alien: Romulus (2024) **
This is the ninth film in the franchise, following "Alien" (1979), "Aliens" (1986), "Alien 3" (1992), "Alien Resurrection" (1997), "Alien Vs Predator" (2004), "Aliens Vs Predator: Requiem" (2007), "Prometheus" (2012) and "Alien: Covenant" (2017).
Twisters (2024) **
Daisy Edgar-Jones gives a terrific performance is this otherwise routine disaster film set in Oklahoma.
Inside Out 2 (2024) **
An underwhelming sequel to the superb Pixar animated feature from 2015. There are many more emotions this time around, but the story is far less clever.
Queer (2024) ***
Excellent adaptation of William S. Burroughs' autobiographical novel about a gay American writer living in Mexico City in the early 1950's.
January 1, 2024
The Six Triple Eight (2024) *
Historical drama about a real-life US Army battalion during WWII, composed entirely of African-American women. Tyler Perry directs this film with a grace of an elephant in a china shop; his failed attempts to approximate prestige-picture gravitas are quite uncomfortable to watch, even though he’s dealing with genuinely inspiring and potentially fascinating material.
Argylle (2024) *
Except for a terrific dance sequence with Dua Lipa and Henry Cavill at the very beginning of the film, this is a truly awful spy comedy starring Bryce Dallas Howard and Sam Rockwell.
Maria (2024) *
A boring Maria Callas biopic, directed by Pablo Larrain. Curiously, this otherwise talented filmmaker fails rather miserably every time he tries to make a realistic movie about famous people ("Neruda", "Jackie", "Spencer"), while succeeding splendidly with more surrealistic and fanciful subjects (like "Ema" and "El Conde").
Gladiator II (2024) *
A weak sequel to the Oscar-winning "sword-and-sandal" epic from 2000, directed again by Ridley Scott. Predictable and dull.
Nickel Boys (2024) *
Very odd and very pretentiously directed film, that somehow became some critics' darling. But it fails to connect on any level, emotional or intellectual. Way too abstract for its own good.
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