The story of Black Beauty has captured imaginations since the publication of Anna Sewell’s novel in 1877. Over the years, there have been numerous film and TV adaptations of the book, and even a theater production. The latest movie version, which is exclusive to the streaming service Disney+, takes liberties with the original novel while […]
The Sounding
What do you call it when you keep trying to fix something even when it isn’t broken? In The Sounding, you call it psychiatry. A strikingly unique debut from director and star Catherine Eaton, it’s the moving story of Olivia, a 30-something woman who doesn’t speak. She can, of course. There’s been no physical injury, […]
L’Autre
In the opening moments of the French film L’Autre (which translates to “The Other”), main character Marie (Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey) is dancing. Soon though, after her father’s sudden death in a terrible accident, she gives up on dance, just like she gives up on almost everything else in her life. What follows is difficult to describe. […]
The Racer
Set during the doping scandal of the 1998 Tour de France, The Racer is a fictional story reflective of cycling culture at the time, in which the use of performance-enhancing drugs was a widespread open secret. But director and co-writer Kieron J. Walsh isn’t interested in social commentary, and there’s very little judgment here of […]
The Ringmaster
The documentary The Ringmaster tells two stories. On the one hand, it focuses on the onion rings created by chef Larry Lang, which are considered the world’s best by those who’ve tasted them. On the other, it follows the filmmaker, Zachary Capp, as he becomes increasingly consumed by his project, sinks more and more time […]
Run
After putting a fresh spin on the missing-teen thriller with his 2018 debut Searching, which took place entirely on computer and cell phone screens, director Aneesh Chaganty opts for a more traditional format for his second feature, Run. Although it’s presented conventionally, Run still takes a smart approach to a familiar thriller plot, delivering another […]
Rom Boys: 40 Years of Rad
When you think of skateboarding culture, a working-class London suburb is probably not the first place that comes to mind, but that’s exactly where the mecca of European skateboarding emerged in the late 1970s. Matt Harris’ documentary Rom Boys: 40 Years of Rad explores the unlikely rise and even unlikelier legacy of the Rom Skatepark, a […]
Dreamland
With echoes of Bonnie and Clyde and movies set in the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, Dreamland feels familiar and original at the same time. The film follows Eugene Evans (Finn Cole) a teenager on the cusp of manhood. When Eugene was just five years old, his father left. The only contact Eugene has with […]
Wolfwalkers
Irish animation studio Cartoon Saloon started making movies on a small scale with 2009’s The Secret of Kells, a gorgeously illustrated fable inspired by Irish folklore, and the company has grown in size and reputation over the course of its first three features, all of which were nominated for the Best Animated Feature Oscar. Wolfwalkers […]
Chick Fight
Chick Fight centers on down-on-her-luck Anna (Malin Akerman), for whom things have gotten so bad, it’s pretty much impossible for her to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Her mother recently died, her car’s been repossessed, her coffee-shop business is failing and her widowed father (Kevin Nash), who’s come out as bisexual, […]
Come Away
On paper, Come Away sounds like a magical fantasy destined to captivate viewers young and old; its assets include a starry cast led by Angelina Jolie and David Oyelowo and a story that uses elements of Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan to tell an entirely new tale. Yet the movie, written by Marissa Kate […]
The Dark and the Wicked
When The Strangers was released in 2008, it looked like the beginning of a major horror career for writer-director Bryan Bertino, who created one of the most intense, unsettling movies of the past 20 years. But Bertino struggled to follow up his initial success and to recapture the acclaim of his debut. It was six […]
Flytrap
From its opening moments, Flytrap creates an atmosphere of palpable unease, which doesn’t let up throughout the film’s 80-minute runtime. The movie centers on Jimmy (Jeremy Crutchley), an English astronomer who is driving to UCLA to start a new job when his car breaks down just outside Los Angeles. Since he’s also not getting a […]
Over the Moon
Earlier this year, Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings stated a desire to “beat Disney in family animation.” So it’s no surprise in the effort to meet that goal the streamer enlisted one of Disney’s most renowned animators, Glen Keane, to make his feature directorial debut with Over the Moon. However, the movie has many elements that […]
Chasing Einstein
Even nearly 70 years after his death, Albert Einstein is still likely to be one of the top answers (along with, presumably, Neil deGrasse Tyson and Bill Nye the Science Guy) if the average person is asked to name a famous scientist. But there have been decades of further advancement on Einstein’s theories by dozens […]
Clouds
Actor turned director Justin Baldoni must really have a thing for the love lives of terminally ill teens, which have been the subject of both of his feature films thus far. After making his directorial debut with the 2019 weepie Five Feet Apart, about a romance between two teens with cystic fibrosis, Baldoni returns with […]
Spark: A Burning Man Story
Even back in 2012, the annual Burning Man gathering (organizers prefer not to call it a “festival”) was experiencing serious growing pains, and the event has only gotten bigger and more unwieldy since then. It’s also gotten much more famous and influential, and the 2013 documentary Spark: A Burning Man Story provides an interesting snapshot of […]
The War With Grandpa
The sight of Robert De Niro debasing himself in a moronic slapstick comedy barely even evokes a response anymore, so his presence in The War With Grandpa isn’t offensive, just depressing. Based on a 1984 novel by Robert Kimmel Smith, The War With Grandpa features De Niro in grumpy old man mode as Ed, an […]
Yellow Rose
Rose Garcia (Eva Noblezada) is a teenager growing up in Austin, Texas, with a love for country music and a dream of writing and performing her own country songs. She’s also an illegal immigrant from the Philippines, brought over to the U.S. by her mother Priscilla (Princess Punzalan) when she was a small child, living […]
Give or Take
An aimless man in his 30s leaves the big city where he works at a corporate job and heads back to his small hometown for the funeral of a close family member. There, he reconnects with old friends, reassesses his priorities and learns to appreciate a quieter, slower way of life. It’s the plot of […]