PBS ‘Frontline’ and BBC ‘Panorama’ take on Harvey Weinstein
A good primer on the rapid unraveling of Harvey Weinstein, with hints of how much more story there may still be to tell.
A Fantastic Woman movie review: the horror of grief denied
A quiet yet resolute portrait of bravery and resilience in the face of unconscionable bigotry, and distressingly moving. Specific yet universal, and wonderfully human.
Red Sparrow movie review: undercovers agent
Ballerina turned whore-spy? This is like a cheap porn scenario, and the Hollywood gloss makes it worse. Risible yet tedious, yet another movie by men that thinks it’s critiquing misogyny yet is indistinguishable from it.
Icarus documentary review: on athletes’ compromised wings
Perfectly illustrative of the serendipitous nature of documentary filmmaking as it pivots from a personal investigation of doping in sports into a thriller with global geopolitical ramifications.
I’m on BBC World Service’s “The Arts Hour” again this Sunday, March 4th
We’ll be talking about Oscar nominees I, Tonya and Lady Bird, K-pop and superfandom, and a lot more.
The Lodgers movie review: home is where the haunting is
Cursed twins who speak in faux-byronic enigmas, a crumbling manse full of dead birds and velvet drapes, and strained psychosexual nonsense. There’s nothing eerie here, just the puerile and misjudged.
Game Night movie review: triumph of the nerds
Absolutely hilarious, full of smart snarksters, comedic suspense, and gleeful smashing of action-movie clichés. Part screwball comedy, part romantic adventure, all pure movie-movie joy.
movies by or about women opening UK/Ire from Fri Feb 23
Imelda Staunton and Celia Imrie are comedically opposite sisters, Margot Robbie is Tonya Harding, and more…
movies by or about women opening US/Can from Fri Feb 23
Natalie Portman and Bingbing Li have scientific adventures, Rachel McAdams has a nerd adventure, and more…
The Cured movie review: land of the living undead
A slow, mild exploration of guilt, grief, bigotry, and militant sectarianism, all in the context of a treatment for a zombie virus. Tepid and frustratingly underdeveloped, with few surprises.
