For over 25 years, I was the Film and Home Entertainment Reviewer for "The Villadom TIMES," a New Jersey weekly newspaper, and have written for several other publications. I developed and taught a Film Studies program for two New York City high schools that included Film History, Horror/Fantasy, and Film Making.
Key Largo (Warner Archive) stars Humphrey Bogart as ex-GI Frank McCloud, who visits the widow (Lauren Bacall) and father (Lionel Barrymore) of a man who died under his command. They run a hotel in the Florida Keys, and when McCloud arrives, he discovers that sadistic mobster Johnny Rocco (Edward G. Robinson) and his henchmen have …
The Great Hypnotist (Well Go USA) is a supernatural mystery thriller from China. Dr. Xu Ruining (Xu Zheng, who also directs) is a nationally renowned therapist skilled in hypnotherapy whose new patient, Ren Xiaoyan (Karen Mok), brings him a difficult problem. In this particular case, the struggle between doctor and patient isn’t as easy as Dr. Xu expected. Despite her thin …
Dixieland (IFC Films) focuses on the plight of Kermit (Chris Zylka), newly released from prison, who returns to the impoverished town of Pearl, Mississippi. Though determined to steer clear of the law and lead a clean life, Kermit underestimates the grim influence of his surroundings. When he develops a relationship with a neighbor, Rachel (Riley Keough), who dances in a seedy …
Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Walt Disney Studios), the most eagerly anticipated and most hyped motion picture of 2015, has taken in over two billion dollars in worldwide sales. Directed by J.J. Abrams from a script by Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan, who wrote two of the original films, the new episode is set thirty years after the events in 1983’s Return of the Jedi and offers three new major characters as well as the return of characters from the original trilogy.
The Winter (IndiePix Films) is the story of young, impoverished writer Niko Gounaras (Theo Albanis), an immigrant in London who, to escape financial difficulties, leaves for his shabby family home in the Greek mountain town of Siatista, only to discover that the home has been abandoned and is now haunted by the ghosts of the past.
In The Hateful Eight (Anchor Bay), director Quentin Tarantino presents a Western set in post-Civil War Wyoming during a raging blizzard. Bounty hunter John Ruth (Kurt Russell) is in a stagecoach en route to Red Rock with his prisoner, Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh), to deliver her to the authorities and collect a $10,000 reward. On the way, he encounters fellow bounty hunter Major Marquis Warren (Samuel …
After three years and four major motion pictures, the Hunger Games series concludes with Mockingjay, Part 2 (Lionsgate) the final confrontation between the rebels, led by Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), and the Capitol, represented by the unctuous President Snow (Donald Sutherland). A series that should have ended on a spectacular note takes its final bow in an overlong, talky production surprisingly stingy with action.
Donovan’s Brain (Kino Lorber) is the story of Dr. Patrick Cory (Lew Ayres, All Quiet on the Western Front) and a scientific experiment gone terribly wrong. We first see Dr. Cory experimenting with a monkey’s brain. His wife, Janice (Nancy Davis, later Nancy Reagan) wonders whether they could not surgically remove the brain and keep it alive in a container filled with saline solution and electricity.
Gog (Kino Lorber) takes place in a top-secret underground laboratory in the desert where American scientists are putting the finishing touches on launching a space station into orbit. The massive installation is run by the supercomputer Novac. Novac also controls two …
Sisters (Universal Home Entertainment) combines the exceptional talents of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, partners in comic crime from Baby Mama and recent awards show hosting gigs. There is unquestionably considerable charisma between these two women, who effortlessly spar …