In the film Donwhill starring Will Ferrell and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, a married couple barely escapes an avalanche during a family ski vacation and are forced to reevaluate their lives. Continue Reading In ‘Downhill,’ Read More
Films used to get a boost at the box office from Academy Award nominations — and the bounce still exists for films hanging on at the multiplex. But changes in the industry are altering the calculus. Continue Reading In An Age Of Streaming, Read More
Writer-director Bertrand Bonello uses the tale of a Haitian zombie to explore intergenerational racial trauma in this quiet, moody film. Continue Reading FILM REVIEW: In ‘Zombi Child,’ The Real Horror Is ColonialismRead More
This adaptation of attorney Bryan Stevenson's book about a wrongly condemned black man dramatizes that case while offering an unflinching look at the death penalty. Continue Reading FILM REVIEW: ‘Just Read More
Gerwig gives us the warm, homespun pleasures of Louisa May Alcott's beloved novel, but she also holds the well-worn text up to the light to consider some of its flaws and compromises. Continue Reading FILM REVIEW: Read More
Minhal Baig's new film about a Pakistani American teen captures what it's like to feel paralyzed, with one foot in adulthood and the other in childhood. Continue Reading FILM REVIEW: A First-Generation Teen Tests The Read More
The screenwriter's new movie is about a black couple who shoot a white police officer in self-defense during a routine traffic stop. Their ensuing flight, she says, is a "meditation on blackness." Continue Reading Lena Waithe’s Read More
Mati Diop is the first black woman to compete at the Cannes Film Festival — where her first feature won the Grand Prix. The movie about women left behind by refugees is coming soon to Netflix. Continue Reading ‘Atlantics’ Read More
Hanks watched "about 8 million hours" of Mister Rogers to prepare for A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. Hanks doesn't necessarily consider himself "a nice guy" but rather "a joyful person." Continue Reading Tom Read More
Life doesn't go according to plan for the family at the center of this wrenching drama. But while Waves doesn't peddle easy redemption, it does offer what feels like a state of grace. Continue Reading FILM REVIEW: Read More
Harriet, a biographical film directed and co-written by Kasi Lemmons, is out in theaters. "I don't want to rob her of either her womanhood or her superheroism," Lemmons says. Continue Reading Director Kasi Lemmons Read More
The French filmmaker first wanted to make a documentary about an accused pedophile priest. But the victims convinced him that fiction would reach more viewers. It's called By the Grace of God. Continue Reading François Ozon Takes Read More
A Marvel deal with SiriusXM and Pandora marks a deeper investment by the companies to claim a stake in the growing realm of podcasting, now on pace to become a $1 billion industry. Continue Reading It’s Superhero Time On Read More
Joker is a psychological character study of a disturbed man who turns violent. To give the comic book villain human depth, composer Hildur Guðnadóttir had to dig deep and empathize with the character. Continue Reading Composer Hildur Read More
The actress plays the title role in the new biopic Judy, which chronicles the iconic entertainer months before her death in 1969. Continue Reading Renée Zellweger On Playing Judy Garland: ‘A Different Kind Of Read More
Justin Chon's third feature, about a karaoke hostess forced to deal with her estranged brother while her father is dying, possesses an "emotional impact [that] is loudest in its quiet moments." Continue Reading FILM Read More
Two sisters (co-writers Hannah Pearl Utt and Jen Tullock) learn that their dead mother (Judith Light) is alive — and starring in a soap opera — in this "wise, witty and richly specific" film. Continue Reading FILM REVIEW: Read More
Conceived and directed by Matthew Cherry, it follows the story of an African American father — Stephen — and his daughter, Zuri. Stephen is trying to learn how to do Zuri's glorious natural hair. Continue Reading ‘Hair Read More
A young Russian-American (Chris Galust) drives a beat-up medical transport van full of demanding, quirky passengers through Milwaukee's backstreets in this funny, authentic film. Continue Reading FILM REVIEW: Read More
Director Nanfu Wang, who grew up in rural China, has made a film about the painful, unintended consequences of the Chinese government's one-child rule — including how it affected her own family. Continue Reading ‘One Child Read More
Double Indemnity is classic film noir: Men in fedoras walk mean streets shrouded in shadow and women are sometimes the sirens to beckon them to their doom. It's a film — and a genre — that endures. Continue Reading ‘Double Read More
The new Netflix film stars Angela Bassett, Patricia Arquette and Felicity Huffman as three best friend moms who decide to show up unannounced in New York City to pay their adult sons a surprise visit. Continue Reading When The Kids Read More
Disney's Lion King is so realistic-looking that, paradoxically, you can't believe a moment of it. The computer-generated blockbuster feels like the world's most expensive safari-themed karaoke video. Continue Reading FILM Read More
The breezy rom-com is set in a world where only one man remembers the fab four. The film so takes our affection for The Beatles for granted that it never bothers to give the music a proper showcase. Continue Reading FILM Read More
Though it's as dazzling as you'd expect from a Pixar animation, Toy Story 4 is also more ungainly than its predecessors, with coarser humor and audacious plot leaps that don't always pay off. Continue Reading FILM REVIEW: To Read More
A new film is inspired by the real-life story of Jimmie Fails, who hopes to reclaim his family's home in the gentrifying Fillmore District. It's also an ode to the city its creators used to know. Continue Reading ‘The Last Black Read More
In her Netflix miniseries When They See Us, DuVernay tells the story of five innocent teens who were pressured into falsely confessing to the 1989 assault and rape of a white jogger in Central Park. Continue Reading Ava DuVernay Read More
Amy Poehler directs and stars in this Netflix film that, while light on laughs and conflict, delivers a "cozy reunion happy hour and an ode to female friendships." Continue Reading FILM REVIEW: ‘Wine Country’ Is An Ode To Read More
The 1991 film earned him two Oscar nods and a spot in history as the youngest person and first African American ever nominated for best director. Singleton died in Los Angeles after a stroke. Continue Reading John Singleton, Pioneering Director Read More
For the first time in 20 years, a large body of films, music, and books has entered the public domain. That means they can be reworked by new creators in conversation with the originals. Continue Reading Freed From Copyright, These Classic Works Are Read More
After starting out in acting, Marshall directed well-loved and successful films in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Big and A League Of Their Own both have big hearts and real bite. Continue Reading Remembering Penny Read More
In Beirut, a young boy sues his parents for giving birth to him in poverty. That's the premise of a new film from director Nadine Labaki which features her most unapologetically activist agenda. Continue Reading The Chaos Of Read More
Michael Myers is back and, so is Laurie Strode. Jamie Lee Curtis was 19 when she starred in the original 'Halloween'. This sequel ignores the others to focus on what has happened to Laurie since 1978. Continue Reading This Read More
What to watch or read this Halloween. Maybe going out to get scared isn’t for you. Perhaps you prefer to scream inside with a room full people and a bucket of popcorn? Or maybe you just want to stay home and have more control over the bumps in the night. Read More
When it comes to motion pictures associated with Halloween–films that can really scare us–they can succeed in many ways. Sometimes a picture can literally shock us with its imagery; in other cases, it may disturb us (in an entertaining way, of course) on a deeper, purely psychological level. Here’s a short list of Steve Reeder’s… Read More
