The dying of the bees has long been an urgent environmental concern and a clear symbol of humanity’s peril. If we lose those miniature wonders of nature, then our very existence will start…
Rock biopics have been undergoing a new cinematic resurgence over the past several years. Some of the better ones make the creative choice of not attempting to encompass an artist’s entire life, but…
Part of the timeless brilliance of Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel “Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus,” is how all the fame goes to its monster. Hollywood has, of course, contributed to this aspect of…
Doomsday will have to wait. Director Kathryn Bigelow sets up a nuclear scenario in “A House of Dynamite,” and forces fears to play out offscreen. Onscreen is a tense race to an…
When “The Black Phone” premiered in 2022 and became a hit for Blumhouse Productions, studio executives no doubt wanted a sequel, but the story posed a classic dilemma. Its memorable villain, played with…
You have to try and smile a little in our current phase of capitalism. Surely, there must be some light at the end of the gig economy tunnel. Aziz Ansari certainly hopes so…
Being a genius does not make life any easier, quite the opposite. Stories of great artists can be so compelling because of their pains and heartaches. Richard Linklater’s “Blue Moon” manages to…
Art can be a matter of both survival and resistance. That understanding gives a timeless relevance to the “Kiss of the Spider Woman” novel by Argentine author Manuel Puig, who published it in…