You remember the lyrics from the Beach Boys song:“Wouldn’t it be nice if we were older?“Then we wouldn’t have to wait so long“And wouldn’t it …
This week we offer a Halloween treat, a piece of candy with a razor blade in it, or the cinematic equivalent. “Halloween Kills” is the 12th in…
I used to belong to the Science Fiction Book Club in the 1960s. One of the selections was a novel by Frank Herbert titled “Dune.” I was gobsma…
Recently, I binge-watched old episodes of the 1960s TV show, “The Addams Family.” As the theme song said, “They’re creepy and they’re kooky, m…
The title sums up Clint Eastwood’s movie career: “Cry Macho.” Whether intended or not, it calls to mind the poncho-wearing Man With No Name in…
When Paul Schrader was a boy, his strict Calvinist mother stabbed his thumb with a needle to show him what Hell would feel like. It must not h…
Songstress Aretha Franklin — known to the world as the Queen of Soul — hand-picked Jennifer Hudson to portray her in the new movie, “Respect.”
I’ve read all of John Steinbeck’s books, but in some ways the most interesting is the one he didn’t finish, “The Acts of King Arthur and His N…
My friend Steve has a new neighbor downstairs. She threw a loud party right after moving in. Apartment walls are thin in New York City. It was…
In the movie world we’re used to sequels — “Fast & Furious” is up to 12. And occasionally we see prequels, a story that takes places befor…
We all know that professional wrestling is show biz. That the muscled, costumed grapplers are merely acting a part. After all, it says so in t…
Washington Heights is that multicultural neighborhood just north of Harlem in New York City. I’ve been there many times and noticed its slow g…
After an eight-year comedic run on TV’s “The Office,” John Krasinski reinvented himself as a leading man in the rough-and-tumble Amazon versio…
I like a good survival story. One where the protagonist overcomes all odds to stay alive. I think this will to survive, to continue living, is…
Move over, John Wick. Meet "Nobody," an unassuming family man who is more than he seems. When he acts like a wimp during a home invasion, his …
Legendary Pictures figures you have been cooped up long enough without any rock-‘em-sock-‘em blockbuster movies (read: “Transformer” movies, a…
What young person did not read “The Catcher in the Rye,” the 1951 novel that gave us Holden Caulfield, an icon of teenage rebellion. We all id…
Little did you know you were speaking Japanese when sending out texts and emails that contain those little smiley faces. Emoji is actually a J…
There’s a new Denzel Washington movie, debuting simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max. That’s Warner Bros. new COVID-19 strategy, a distri…
KEY WEST — Tropic Cinema will be a part of the 2021 Sundance Film Festival screening both in-person and online premiers.
Entertainment comes in many forms, so we try to mix up our reviews, covering a carousel of genres — dramas, blockbusters, documentaries, indie…
OK, I have to do it — review “Wonder Woman 1984.” After all, it’s a $200-million movie in a year where few big-bucks movies were released. And…
We haven’t seen many Westerns from Hollywood in the last decade or so.
While most critics were watching this season’s big tentpole movies — Tom Hanks in “News of the World” and Gal Gadot in “Wonder Woman 1984” — I…
Words matter. That’s why I own a Webster’s Dictionary and a Roget’s Thesaurus. Also, at one point in my career, I got to oversee the publicati…
Ben Mankiewicz is one of the hosts on Turner Classic Movies. He has a good pedigree when it comes to films. His grandfather was Herman Jacob M…
I grew up in Appalachia, so I know something about hillbillies. I guess you could say I am one. My wife affectionately calls me her Renaissanc…
Queen’s Gambit is a tricky chess move in which a sacrifice of the queen’s bishop’s pawn is offered. It’s an attack that puts constant pressure…