While Woody Harrelson and Kaitlin Olson may be the stars expected to draw crowds to see Champions, the solo directorial debut of Bobby Farrelly, it is the film’s superb ensemble of supporting characters that make the film a winner. As a basketball team named The Friends, who go from a recreational league to the Special Olympics, the ensemble brings the perfect mix of levity, sincerity, and athletic competition to the screen. The rich tradition of movies about the game of…
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80 for Brady 2023
What was Tom Brady thinking when he read the script for 80 for Brady? Did he read this fawning, phony, embarrassing tribute to his greatness and think, “Ah, yes. This is right. I deserve this.” If, for some reason, impelled to watch, audiences will and should laugh at this movie for what it is: a hubristic money-grab that represents the worst of celebrity culture. It’s the kind of idol worship that would make gods and dictators blush.
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Till 2022
Near the end of Till, the remarkable, superbly crafted new film from director Chinonye Chukwu, the camera remains on the face of Mamie Till-Mobley, played by Danielle Deadwyler, in what may be the greatest movie performance of the year. She is on the stand testifying about the 1955 murder of her son Emmett, who had been lynched while visiting cousins in Money, Mississippi. The white male defense attorney begins questioning Mamie. But rather than cut to him, the camera stays…
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White Noise 2022
With a clear reverence for the source material, a seminal work of postmodern fiction, Baumbach succeeds in turning the written word into a cinematic spectacle. White Noise has a tremendous rhythm. It balances more themes and plot points than one could list: life, death, family, apathy, the nature of existence, and capitalism. Like the book, this is a film about big ideas, a satire that pokes fun at the big wigs who spend their days pontificating about theory and the…
