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Gerwig’s ’LITTLE WOMEN’ Is Exquisitely Crafted, Beautifully Acted Holiday Delight

In 1868, Louisa May Alcott introduced the world to Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy in her semi-autobiographical novel “Little Women”. Alcott’s novel was almost immediately met with huge commercial success and has gone on to be retold generation after generation. First adapted for the screen in 1917 as a silent film, Little Women has gone on to become a cultural reflection of its times, a new version unspooling every twenty years or so to capture the attention of new young audiences. From 1933’s Katharine Hepburn cut to 1994’s Gillian Armstrong take (whose all-star cast included Winona Ryder, Christian Bale, Claire Danes, Susan Sarandon, and Kirsten Dunst), Little Women is a story destined to play on repeat. And, in this one such example, maybe that’s not such a bad thing.  Read More

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‘FORD V. FERRARI’ is an Anti-Establishment American Western…with Race Cars

In 1966, the Ford Motor Company took on the very best in the business, Enzo Ferrari, at the world-renown Le Mans. The race? A 24-hour deathmatch that raged from dawn through dusk, past midday and midnight, through rain or shine, to its brutal conclusion. A showdown for the best and the ballsiest, Le Mans was won by the best cars driven by the ballsiest drivers. Over at Ford, men in slick suits seek corporate glory and a much-needed rejuvenation in sales. They attempt to reinvent the dad bod of cars that was Ford’s current models, opting for something sleek, sexy, durable. And, most of all, fast. In essence, a Ferrari. But a little elbow grease and a bunch of smoke-filled boardroom meetings do not a champion make. A champion requires an intangible; the perfect union of fallible machinery and the grit of man. Read More

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Out in Theaters: ‘THE POST’ 

The Post, a Steven Spielberg-directed drama about the Washington Post’s critical role in discriminating the notorious Pentagon Papers, has Very Important Movie Streep written all over it. A newspaper procedural starring awards giants Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep, lit to resemble an Oscar winner by Janusz Kaminski and following a script from first-timer Liz Hannah and Josh Singer (The Fifth Estate, Spotlight) that touts the importance of its subject at every turn (sometimes in painfully obvious soliloquy), The Post is part important meditation on the unimpeachable import of the First Amendment, part desperate plea for Award’s attention and part Spielberg doing his Dramatic Spielberg thing.  Read More

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Out in Theaters: ‘CHRISTINE’

Almost 7% of the American population has been diagnosed as suffering from depression. That’s roughly 15 million people today. In 1974, though depression was recognized as a serious mental disorder, it wasn’t regarded with the same weight that it is today. After all, the mental disease didn’t enter the DSM III until 1980.  Christine, from Simon Killer director Antonio Campos, takes a look at infamous Sarasota reporter Christine Chubbuck and her struggle with depression in sad, sanguine, cinematic streaks. Read More

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Out in Theaters: ‘INDIGNATION’

The basic plot structure of Indignation couldn’t be simpler. The precocious son of a New Jersey kosher butcher heads off to college, goes on a date, changes dorm rooms and gets appendicitis. For a film with such narrative simplicity, the margins are sprawled with a rich tapestry of emotionally vibrant reveals, loaded with unconventional wordplay comedy and brimming with decadent forbidden relationships, all pumping along to a mule kick of a curtain act. As a crossbred of coiffed 1950s romance and genteel protest piece, Indignation is a delicate ballet that culminates in first time writer/director James Schamus doing a tap dance on your fluttering, caved-in chest. Read More

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Sundance ’16 Review: ‘CHRISTINE’

Almost 7% of the American population has been diagnosed as suffering from depression. That’s roughly 15 million people today. In 1974, though depression was recognized as a serious mental disorder, it wasn’t regarded with the same weight that it is today. After all, the mental disease didn’t enter the DSM III until 1980.  Christine, from Simon Killer director Antonio Campos, takes a look at infamous Sarasota reporter Christine Chubbuck and her struggle with depression in sad, sanguine, cinematic streaks. Read More