Radioflash movie review: it’s got no juice
Inept post-EMP survival thriller is no more thrilling than it is plausible, and inexcusably casts its resourceful teen heroine as a victim constantly at the mercy of others and in need of rescuing.
female protagonist
The Cave and For Sama documentaries review: life inside a war zone
Two intimate documentaries from inside the Syrian civil war, diaries of women who stayed to fight for their nation and help their people, pay tribute to human perseverance and chide Western apathy.
Last Christmas movie review: give it your heart, get your heart stomped
Love and life are pain, the glitz and sparkle of Christmas are but a momentary reprieve from it, and everything is pretty much unrelentingly awful. But Emilia Clarke and Henry Golding are adorable!
Terminator: Dark Fate movie review: it’s back… and we don’t know why
Fight the future. Change the future. Watch the future reset itself so that everything ends up much the same way anyway. Repeat. This time-travelling franchise is, ironically, stuck in the past.
Harriet movie review: a true American hero finally gets her due (LFF 2019)
Tubman’s heroics are excellent movie-movie fodder. This “origin story” embraces her towering legend and her profound symbolic power, finally sliding her into the epic American pop-culture narrative.
The Cat Rescuers documentary review: being the change you want to see in the world
A tiny, delicate, inspiring metaphor for the reshaping of attitudes we will need to make on a planetary scale, and for the effort we’ll need to expend to clean up the enormous messes we have made.
Bethany Hamilton: Unstoppable documentary review: she was born to surf
There are nowhere near enough movies about thrill-seeking women, so this documentary profiling the pro surfer is very welcome. But there’s no need for such a heavy hand on the “inspirational.”
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil movie review: mistress of what now?
An apparently unfairly maligned “wicked witch” has to be redeemed again. Anyway, bitches be evil, crazy and traumatized, or sweet dumb personality-free near-morons. You know, for kids!
Abominable movie review: a bit of a snow job
Lovely animation and gentle, kid-pitched life lessons can’t quite overcome the familiar feel of this E.T. retread, nor the forced sense of wonder that is more convenient crutch than anything organic.
Good Posture movie review: growing up, still deferred
A rare new expedition to the realm of messed-up young women is as unsatisfying as many of the ones about feckless young men. An unlikeable protagonist should at least be interesting. This one isn’t.
