A good villain is never born. They are made. The great appeal of “Wicked” is how it takes a classic villain from our collective memories and genuinely humanizes her. As a musical,…
One of the biggest stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age was its least likely, and most critical, known for bashing the phoniness of celebrity and the film industry’s most egregious creative offenses. The best…
Even Santa Claus has been unsafe from the odd trends dominating franchises and corporate attempts at establishing brand “universes.” Consider “Red One,” an expensive, jacked up production that seems to believe Christmas…
Here is one of those wild cinematic gestures that almost forces the viewer to either love it or hate it. Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Pérez” nearly defies description. It’s an opera about modern…
Some of the most oppressive policies or practices in a society can stay under the surface. Cillian Murphy plays a man slowly building to confront such a reality in “Small Things Like…
There is a particular fear when it comes to questioning everything you believe in, even more so when someone presents a fierce challenge to those beliefs. Hugh Grant is the ultimate troll in…
Steve McQueen’s “Blitz” opens with a harrowing moment where firefighters respond to one of the many burning buildings in London under Nazi bombing raids. A firefighter’s face smashes into a firehose, which…
Time certainly flies in Robert Zemeckis’ “Here.” This is one of those films where the experiment of its structure counts for more than the story. For decades this director has been associated…