Home Video Review: 'Motherless Brooklyn' Looks Great and Has a Fantastic Cast—but the Story Fails to Engage

Jan 20, 2020 14:00  |  Bob Grimm

Edward Norton directs, writes the screenplay and stars in Motherless Brooklyn , a decent-enough adaptation of the Jonathan Lethem novel of the same name. It’s an OK movie, but it isn’t going to change a...

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Neighbors Onscreen: The Palm Springs International Film Fest's Local Spotlight Was Admirable, Even If the Films Were a Mixed Bag

Jan 16, 2020 13:00  |  Josh Bell

Love for the Coachella Valley was a running theme during the Local Spotlight series at the Palm Springs International Film Festival—whether it was expressed by filmmakers who live in the area, or by t...

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A Surprising Success: Despite Production Problems and Delays, 'Underwater' Entertains, Thanks to Kristen Stewart

Jan 16, 2020 10:30  |  Bob Grimm

Kristen Stewart proves she’s a badass movie star in Underwater , a long-delayed and surprisingly decent deep-sea horror/thriller from director William Eubank. While it stands to be the second big-budget...

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Fighting for Their Lives: Michael B. Jordan Is Splendid in 'Just Mercy' as a Lawyer Who Works With Wrongly Convicted Inmates

Jan 16, 2020 09:15  |  Bob Grimm

Michael B. Jordan stars in Just Mercy as civil-rights attorney Bryan Stevenson, a real attorney who has dedicated his life to freeing wrongly convicted death-row inmates.

Destin Daniel Cretton’s film foc...

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Home Video Review: Jason Bateman Helps HBO's Stephen King Miniseries 'The Outsider' Get Off to a Good Start

Jan 13, 2020 16:30  |  Bob Grimm

Jason Bateman stars in and directs the first two episodes of HBO’s The Outsider , the latest miniseries based on a Stephen King novel. Man, does King ever walk away from the keyboard?

Terry Maitland (Bat...

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Worldwide Stories: As Always, the Palm Springs International Film Fest Highlighted the Movies on the International Oscar Short List

Jan 13, 2020 15:45  |  Josh Bell

As the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has kept tinkering with the way the nominees for the Oscar for Best International Feature Film (recently renamed from Best Foreign Language Film) are...

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A War Masterpiece: Sam Mendes' '1917' Is a Mammoth Achievement in Filmmaking

Jan 09, 2020 10:30  |  Bob Grimm

A couple of British World War I soldiers stationed in France face a harrowing time in 1917 , a war action/drama from director Sam Mendes that is one of last year’s greatest technological achievements in...

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The Best of the Bunch ... and the Worst: Bob Grimm's Nice and Naughty Lists of 2019 Films

Jan 08, 2020 08:00  |  Bob Grimm

The Best!

1. Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood : Quentin Tarantino said a lot of interesting things while promoting this movie, including a threat that he would only be directing one more film after this (...

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