Category: drama
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The Trial Of The Chicago 7 [2020] ★★★
I love courtroom dramas and I love legendary writer Aaron Sorkin. So what do you get when you fuse the two together? Fireworks. That’s “The Trial of the Chicago 7” in a nutshell, a completely absorbing, high octane courtroom drama that hardly misses a beat. Sorkin also directs here, and he has assembled a first-rate…
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The Queen’s Gambit [2020] ★★★½
I know almost nothing about chess. It’s a game that I briefly played when I was younger but never truly picked up again. And yet, I fell in love with “The Queen’s Gambit”, Netflix’s latest limited series that hits all the right notes. How is that possible? Making chess a subject of compelling drama for…
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Rebecca [2020] ★★½
Let’s address the elephant in the room right away: this version of Daphe Du Maurier’s classic book is stylish and well-shot, but it’s nowhere near as good or memorable as Alfred Hitchcock’s 1940 masterpiece (which won an Oscar for Best Picture and propelled Hitch to Hollywood stardom). So yes, this 2020 Netflix movie has some…
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The Haunting Of Bly Manor [2020] ★★★½
Many will say that “The Haunting of Bly Manor” isn’t like “The Haunting of Hill House”, but it doesn’t have to be. This is a new story in a new house, and if you’re anything like me, you’ll find it just as captivating as its predecessor. And yes, I binged the hell out of it…
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The Boys In The Band [2020] ★★★
This hidden gem from Netflix is based on a Pulitzer prize-winning play from the 1960’s that still resonates even in 2020. I do suspect that no screen adaptation can do any stage play justice, but with a cast that features Jim Parsons, Zachary Quinto, Matt Bomer, Andrew Rannells and Robin De Jesus, the end result…
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The Devil All The Time [2020] ★★★
This gritty film from writer director Antonio Campos is one of the finest things you’ll stream on Netflix this year. One story links to another as we follow the journey of a young man (Tom Holland) and the bizarre characters that inhabit a small town in West Virginia. The movie is about many things, but…
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Cuties [2020] ★
Believe everything being said about this movie, and consider this a public service announcement: “Cuties” is difficult to watch and even more difficult to defend. I don’t usually mind “cautionary tales”, but there is nothing cautionary about this film. The backlash started when a clip from the movie was shared on social media, showing a…
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Everybody Knows [2018] ★★★
I read somewhere that this movie was a “disappointing step back” for writer director Asghar Farhadi. But how do you top movies like “A Separation”, “The Past” and “The Salesman”? “Everybody Knows” may not be Farhadi’s best and most compelling work, but it has an intriguing story to tell and just the right actors to…
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I’m Thinking Of Ending Things [2020] ★★½
First off let me tell you how much I admire screenwriter Charlie Kaufman’s work. From “Being John Malkovich” to “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”, Kaufman has left his stamp on so many films that are now regarded as “essential viewings”. That being said, I didn’t fully appreciate his latest effort, which you can now…
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All Together Now [2020] ★★
Yet another Netflix film about a high schooler who must overcome a lot of obstacles to fulfill her dreams. Auli’i Cravalho is good as Amber Appleton, a teenage girl with musical aspirations who has to juggle several jobs in order to get through high school. But 90 minutes do not do this movie any justice,…
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The Hater [2020] ★★½
This polish thriller currently streaming on Netflix juggles a lot of ideas at once, and at 135 minutes, it can be a bit too much, but it’s not a complete waste. In fact, it’s still entirely watchable, thanks to a solid performance by Maciej Musialowski, who plays a young man trying to find a purpose…
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Greyhound [2020] ★★½
It’s not as memorable as Christopher Nolan’s “Dunkirk” or as emotional as Steven Spielberg’s “Saving Private Ryan”, but “Greyhound” gets the job done by delivering some pulse-pounding action scenes that needed to be experienced on the biggest screen possible (Apple TV + will have to do for now). It also helps to have Tom Hanks…
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365 Days [2020] ★
Think of every bad movie you’ve seen (including the preposterous “50 Shades” trilogy), dig deeper and there you’ll find “365 Days”, a film so atrocious and so stupid, it shouldn’t be allowed to exist in this day and age. A truly awful Michele Morrone plays Massimo, a member of the Sicilian mafia family who has…
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Da 5 Bloods [2020] ★★★
Up until a chaotic final act, Spike Lee’s “Da 5 Bloods” is a potent and powerful film that is also very entertaining. In telling the story of Four African American veterans who return to Vietnam decades after the war to find the remains of their friends and a stash of buried gold, Lee injects his…
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Ingrid Goes West [2017] ★★½
If you want a film that has a few things to say about the digital age but also manages to be silly and amusing, then “Ingrid Goes West” could be that movie for you. Aubrey Plaza nails her role as Ingrid Thorburn, a social media stalker who moves to LA so she could be closer…
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Horse Girl [2020] ★½
“Horse Girl” is yet another Netflix movie that tries to juggle a lot of themes at once, only to end up falling flat on its face. Alison Brie co-wrote the script and stars as a socially isolated woman who becomes convinced that she is the cloned version of her grandmother. A series of increasingly lucid…
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Capone [2020] ★★
It sounds like Oscar bait: Tom Hardy starring in this fact-based story about notorious gangster Al Capone, who spent his final year suffering from dementia and constant paranoia, before his death at the age of 48. It’s a juicy role for Hardy, the kind awards were created for. Except it’s not, at least not in…
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Rattlesnake [2019] ★½
The thing about Netflix’s “Rattlesnake” is that it has an intriguing premise (hence the extra half star): a single mother (Carmen Ejogo) seeks help from a mysterious stranger when her daughter is bitten by a rattlesnake. The price? Take another soul before sundown or her daughter dies. Like I said, this sounds like a set-up…
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The Laundromat [2019] ★★
Steven Soderbergh is a director that I’ve greatly admire over the years, which is why it’s difficult for me to admit that I couldn’t entirely enjoy his latest satire “The Laundromat”, streaming on Netflix. It has an all-star cast (including Meryl Streep, Gary Oldman, Antonio Banderas, Jeffrey Wright, Sharon Stone, David Schwimmer and James Cromwell!)…
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The King [2019] ★★★
It’s not a classic in the making, but Netflix’s “The King” has an interesting history lesson to tell, and a great ensemble cast to bring it to life. I do not know how the real Henry V talked or acted, but I do know that Timothée Chalamet makes a believable young King, who was crowned…
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