Search for Magnolia

Mother is a most atypical murder mystery. This is not only because it features an aging female "detective" who represents a bizarre fusion of Miss Marple and Jane Tennison, but because the surreal style contradicts the normally gritty approach we ...

What's the point? If I wanted to spend 12 minutes watching someone pushing a cart around a grocery store, I'd go to the local A&P, not sit in a movie theater. At least then I could get the week's shopping done. Nine Lives is a failed experiment...

Perhaps I am unduly harsh on motion pictures that waste a promising premise. One Last Thing is a case in point - the underlying concept is rich with possibilities, yet director Alex Steyermark (Prey for Rock 'n Roll) and writer Barry Stringfellow ...

There are three kinds of documentaries: those that lionize their subjects, those that attack their subjects, and those that attempt to provide a balanced, objective perspective. RBG, a cinematic biography of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Gi...

It has been nearly a year since I first saw Read My Lips, and the taste of the film still lingers. Time may leech away the specifics, but the overall impression remains. So it is with many great films. By far, the most impressive French film I s...

Distilled to its essence, Romulus, My Father is a standard-order coming-of-age movie. Like most movies of this sort, it's based on someone's memoirs (in this case, those of Raimond Gaita) and includes moment of tragedy, sentimentality, and serenit...

As Shaun of the Dead illustrated, it is possible to make a horror comedy that is both funny and scary. Severance, while not nearly as successful as Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg's zombie movie, manages to mix in a few good gags with the requisite go...

Employing his usual delicate touch to craft a uniquely compelling drama, Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda has provided a splash of freshness to a stale 2018 movie slate. By turns uplifting and poignant, Shoplifters explores one of Kore-eda�...

To say that The Signal has major tone problems is to understate the problem. While it's possible for a movie to function simultaneously as a horror movie and a parody of the genre, it's not the easiest trick to pull off and first-time feature dire...

The Square is an indicator that not only Hollywood blockbusters can be afflicted with bloat. At nearly 2 1/2 hours in length, this production takes what could have been a lean, incisive satire of art, commerce, and altruism and turns it into a...