A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
Sidney Lumet, “Murder on the Orient Express” (1974) Initially beginning as a lavish drama set in an exotic 1930s Istanbul, Sidney Lumet’s “Murder on the Orient…
British Films, North American Films
Dominic Cooke, “The Courier” (2020) The story of Greville Wynne, a most unlikely character ever to become a spy for MI6 during the Cold War in…
Deepak Chetty, “Hard Reset” (2016) The premise and the plot are predictable and rather tired, as are also the “Blade Runner” urban setting and that film’s…
Italian and Italian-language Films
Damiano and Fabio d’Innocenzo, “Bad Tales / Favolacce” (2020) A survey of three families living in a dull suburban estate on the outskirts of Rome, “Bad…
French and French-language Films
Nicolas Capitaine, Celine Desoutter, Lucas Durkheim, Leni Marotte, “Hors Saison / Out of Season” (2017) Few films can portray character and tell a story complete in…
French and French-language Films
Alix Arrault, Martin Hermane, Samuel Klughertz, Jules Rigolle, “Parfum Fraise” (2017) You can renounce a lifetime of crime and violence, and try to live a quiet…
Dan Gilroy, “Roman J. Israel, Esq.” (2017) Once in a while an intelligent and worthy film comes out of Hollywood that demonstrates someone there still knows…
Andrei Zvyagintsev, “Loveless” (2017) As with previous films of Andrei Zvyagintsev that I’ve seen, “Loveless” is as much a criticism of modern Russian society and what…
William Oldroyd, “Lady Macbeth” (2016) Adapted from Nikolai Leskov’s 1865 novel “Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District”, this character study investigates how an apparently demure young…
Paul Thomas Anderson, “Inherent Vice” (2014) Director Paul Thomas Anderson must be commended for daring to tackle a Thomas Pynchon novel and managing to be faithful…