American Fiction: Monk Finds an Audience
Erika Alexander and Jeffrey Wright. Photo: Orion One of the opening scenes in this comedy is like catnip to culture warriors. The main character, who’s a teacher, is confronted by…
The Holdovers: Among Family
Dominic Sessa and Paul Giamatti. Photo: Focus Features That Alexander Payne is a child of the 1970s is not something to be taken lightly. As The Holdovers begins, a film…
A Man Called Otto
Widower Otto Anderson (Tom Hanks) is contemplating suicide, but his attempts are frequently interrupted. An American remake of the Swedish A Man Called Ove (2015) that gets the job done.…
Succession: Lion in Winter
Photo: HBO Jesse Armstrong, the British writer who created Succession, first intended to tackle the Murdochs, the Australian billionaire family that owns Fox News and are responsible for some of…
A Christmas Story Christmas
In 1973, Ralph Parker (Peter Billingsley) lives in Chicago with his wife (Erinn Hayes) and two kids when he learns that his father has passed away; the whole family goes…
Stolen Kisses: Antoine Doinel Finds Love
Claude Jade and Jean-Pierre Léaud. Photo: United Artists The opening shot places the film firmly in its time, capturing a moment that is long forgotten. We’re shown the French Cinémathèque…
Lilies of the Field
When Homer Smith (Sidney Poitier) makes a stop in the Arizona desert, he meets a group of German-speaking nuns whose mother superior (Lilia Skala) believes that she can make Homer…
Worst Person in the World: Millennial Angst
Renate Reinsve. Photo: Oslo Pictures As Joachim Trier was making his final chapter in a trilogy of films that began with Reprise (2006) and continued with Oslo, August 31st (2011),…
Brassed Off
In the small town of Grimley in Northern England, Gloria (Tara Fitzgerald) joins the local brass band, made up of miners; she has a secret they won’t like… A film…
Pretty Woman
Depressed corporate raider Edward Lewis (Richard Gere) hooks up with a Hollywood Boulevard prostitute (Julia Roberts) and realizes she’s a human being. An enormous box-office hit at the time, this…