Writer-director-producer Alan Ball has never been one to shy away from trying to make people laugh or make them grimace or shudder or think or get caught up in emotional chaos. He also has great command of dialogue. For TV, he created and wrote "Six Feet Under" and "True Blood." His film wri…

One of the biggest movies of 2020 is heading to a streaming service near you on Christmas.

The setting is a ranch house on a nice spread of land in woodsy, suburban New York. The time is ... well, we don't know the exact year, but President Reagan is talking on the radio. Mom and dad and their two kids appear to be happy together. Allison (Carrie Coon) has some rental properties a…

It took a while, but HBO Max is finally available on Amazon Fire TV.

The legendary Indian actor Soumitra Chatterjee, a famous protégé of Oscar-winning director Satyajit Ray, has died at the age of 85 of health complications related to Covid-19.

If you're familiar with, and enjoy, the documentaries by the prolific director Werner Herzog, here's another one to catch. If you've seen his films and didn't cotton to them, this one's not for you. If your plan is to make "Fireball" your first attempt at a piece of Herzog non-fiction, you m…

This first-time feature film by stage and short film director Seth Savoy has a few flashy moments that stick out from the rest of the proceedings, but stands, for the most part, as a piece of very assured filmmaking. And it neatly and imaginatively turns the overworked genre of the heist mov…

Somewhere buried deep within the hackneyed genre thriller "Let Him Go" resides a pretty nifty story about the give and take between a long-married Montana couple confronting age, grief and an elusive connection with their widowed daughter-in-law. Because said couple is played by Kevin Costne…

One responsibility of a film critic is to let prospective viewers know that even if a movie is being strongly recommended, it's imperative to point out that some of its contents could be upsetting. In the case of "Let Him Go," an adaptation of the 2013 novel by Larry Watson, my warning is th…

Sean Connery, the Scottish actor whose five-decade-long movie career was dominated by the role of James Bond, has died at the age of 90, according to his publicist.

Witches are everywhere and they hate children. That's the sentiment dropped early and often in "The Witches," director Robert Zemeckis' adaptation of the Road Dahl children's classic.

HBO Max -- WarnerMedia's answer to Netflix, Disney+ and the like -- is catching on quickly.

Most rock bands are content to just make music. But Bruce Springsteen, the bard of New Jersey, makes statements of intense recognition and empathy for the blue-collar folk who fork over as much as half of their weekly salaries to watch him and his indelible E Street Band perform the songs th…

Movies about stand-up comics haven't exactly flooded the market or even become known as a genre, but they do pop up now and then. Joaquin Phoenix played a guy who wanted to be one in "Joker." Adam Sandler took Seth Rogen under his wing to make him a better one in "Funny People." Tom Hanks an…

Hollywood has had a disastrous 2020 with the coronavirus pandemic leaving the entertainment industry reeling. But Hollywood's loss is Netflix's gain.

If you're old enough to remember the chaotic, violent events that took place during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, and the tumultuous, seemingly endless trial that followed it, you probably recall certain details of what went on, and undoubtedly know how it turned out. I…

Let me not mince words here. Even if you're an admirer of photojournalism, or believe that a picture is worth a thousand words, or you can appreciate how much work, skill - and sometimes luck - it takes to get a still shot that tells a good story, this documentary about former White House ph…

The pandemic had already ruined the movies this year -- and now it's affecting 2021's slate of films, too.

Cineworld Group, the owner of Regal Cinemas, said it is considering temporarily closing its theaters "but a final decision has not yet been reached."

So often, when a film starts off stating that it's "Based on" or "Inspired by" a true story, I find that I'm bracing myself, preparing to jot down notes on certain overly dramatic incidents, then Google them when I get home, proving that the film took too many liberties with the facts. I've …

The first words in Gloria Steinem's Website (www.gloriasteinem.com) sum her up as "a writer, lecturer, political activist, and feminist organizer." The new film "The Glorias," directed by Julie Taymor ("The Tempest," "Across the Universe") and cowritten by Taymor and newcomer Sarah Ruhl, exp…

2020 is a lost year for the movies.

Michael Lonsdale, the British-French actor famous for playing one of James Bond's most iconic villains, has died at 87.

"Antebellum" is not, as it's being advertised, a horror film. Certainly not the sort that comes to mind when you think of the term "horror film." Its contents and its messages are frightening and the protagonists are in grave danger. But the expertly crafted trailer is misleading and is not …

Guitarist Ronnie Wood has been in top name bands since the days of the second British Invasion. The earliest notable rumblings he made were when he played bass in the Jeff Beck Group, touring the U.S. in 1968 and 1969. Then he and the band's lead singer, a young gent named Rod Stewart, moved…

Goodbye, CBS All Access. Hello, Paramount+.

At Apple's September product launch event last year, two of CEO Tim Cook's splashiest announcements were about the company's new digital subscription services: Apple Arcade and Apple TV+.

"Mulan" was designed to be a blockbuster in China. But so far, the Disney film is off to a pretty anemic start at the Chinese box office.

A top Disney executive has acknowledged that the uproar over its movie "Mulan" has caused "issues" for the company.

This is a terrific documentary about the peanut farmer (high school valedictorian, Navy lieutenant, church deacon, Georgia state senator and Georgia governor) who became the 39th President of the United States. It's got archival footage of long-ago campaigns, old family photos, and interview…

After multiple delays and an international release, "Tenet" finally opened in the United States this weekend.

In their live-action remake of "Mulan," the folks at Disney have omitted many ingredients from the animated 1998 original. But that's fine because of what they've added to it. The significance of those omissions and additions is a reason to celebrate. The new version, in areas of writing, di…

It doesn't get any easier to review or understand or even think clearly about movies written by - better yet, written and directed by - Charlie Kaufman. The former include "Being John Malkovich," "Adaptation.", and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind." In the latter camp is "Synecdoche, N…

When Disney announced that it would be releasing "Mulan" on Disney+, one number stuck out: $30. That's how much Disney is charging viewers to watch the blockbuster when it debuts next week on its new streaming service.

Chadwick Boseman, the man who brought "Black Panther" to life, has died.

This is not, I repeat, not, a mockumentary. Admit it: When you heard there was a documentary about the actor David Arquette, who starred in the "Scream" movies, and his involvement in the predetermined-outcome world of professional wrestling, you thought, "Fake documentary. Silly stuff."

First, a note about the title. Why all the extra words? Why isn't it just called "David Copperfield?" You should be grateful. The Charles Dickens novel, published serially beginning in 1849, was known as "The Personal History, Adventures, Experience, and Observation of David Copperfield the …

There's a wrenching moment in the teen romance "Words on Bathroom Walls" in which a character draws a stark, shameful contrast between how society treats a child with cancer and one with a mental disorder like schizophrenia. Why, he asks, do we allow the former to "make a wish," while "wishi…

"I'm vengeance."

For the first time in roughly five months, AMC Theatres will pop the popcorn, dim the lights, and start the show.

Here are a couple of things you might know about the Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla: There's a pricey electric car named after him. He invented the Tesla Coil - a transformer that produces high voltages at low currents. Here are a couple you probably don't know: He held close to 200 …

You don't have to wait very long for things to get cooking in this engaging thriller about an illicit drug that can bring out the innate super power in each of us ... and how easy it would be to use that drug or those powers for all the wrong purposes.