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The work of journalist Susan Orlean has been adapted to the big screen a few times, most notably in 2002 by Charlie Kaufman for the Oscar-nominated rumination on the nature of writing itself, “Adaptation.” But even the girl power surfing film “Blue Crush,” also from 2002, had a unique rough and tumble charm to it. […]

I have never been afraid to write a review, let alone give it a rating, but the documentary “High and Low–John Galliano” by Academy Award-winning director Kevin Macdonald took me for a spin. Even after watching “America’s Next Top Model” throughout my entire adolescence, I had not wrapped my head around the fact that the

For a few minutes, “Arcadian” basically becomes “Aliens” on an Irish farm with Nicolas Cage in the Ripley role. That might be the best elevator pitch I’ve ever heard. You know if you want to sign up for that or not. Don’t get me wrong. This is not James Cameron-level filmmaking, but it is an

“Road House” likes to explicitly reference that it thinks it’s a Western. It’s more like a cartoon. While that may sound harsh, some of the Looney Tunes-esque qualities of this reimagining of the 1989 Patrick Swayze classic work in its favor. Especially in the first hour, when director Doug Liman and Anthony Bagarozzi & Charles

Opening night at the 2024 South by Southwest Film Festival may have been dominated by Doug Liman’s remake of “Road House,” but there was a major event unfolding just next door at almost the same time, a major stop on the career train route of one of the most unexpected public figures of the last

“Imaginary” is the newest chapter of the Blumhouse lineup, directed by “Truth or Dare” producer Jeff Wadlow. Blumhouse has a hit-or-miss roster, and “Imaginary” feels like another chapter in the list of filler films. It suffers from the plague of overly convoluted plots that are executed by overly simplistic means: flat expositional dialogue, car commercial

The crew of a space craft peering out its window at the vast, impossibly blue Earth below. An astronaut shares, “I really miss the sound of rain and the fresh air that comes with it.” The morose timbre of the astronaut’s voice contrasted with the beautiful image of our planet sets the bleak tone for

A bad first impression won’t necessarily ruin a movie. If anything, it’s more important that a film stick the landing, so the audience doesn’t walk out grumbling, “it was okay, but that ending.” Still, sometimes a movie stumbles so badly in its first five minutes that it never recovers. Such is the case with “Accidental

The Indigo Girls are having a moment. The upcoming documentary “It’s Only Life After All” profiles the beloved singer-songwriting duo Amy Ray and Emily Saliers in a way that feels long overdue. And then, of course, “Closer to Fine,” a single off their second album, released in 1989, showed up multiple times in Greta Gerwig’s

“There are many stories of chivalry where the heroic knight saves the damsel in distress. This is not one of them.” That is how Millie Bobby Brown’s sumptuous new fantasy film begins, so we know from the start that there will be a damsel, she will be in distress, and she will have to get