Ryan Gosling’s Neil Armstrong keeps all his emotions encapsulated in First Man

Fifty years ago, Neil Armstrong stepped down that Apollo 11 ladder and made history. First Man takes us inside many places. Airplane rides to the edge of the atmosphere that led to the Gemini series, onward and upward. The tight-knit crew of men NASA tapped to ride into space. The capsules that took them. And,…

So what would happen if Pooh really needed to save Christopher Robin?

Imagine, if you will, a grown-up Christopher Robin ear-deep in a dilemma. He lives in London with a wife and daughter. He’s in charge of the family luggage company. That takes so much of his time, the family feels distant. Financial times are hard. He’s told that unless he saves the day by working even…

Spike Lee makes you think hard with BlackKlansman

Picture a proud African American police officer from the Colorado Springs force on the phone with David Duke, convincing him to send him this KKK card. Yes, it really happened. And under the direction of Spike Lee from his screenplay with Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz and Kevin Willmott from the book by that policeman, the…

The Seagull unleashes a new batch of stars to brandish their vanity

Stop, in the name of love! Oh, but try as they might, the characters in The Seagull can’t turn off their misdirected ardor. This latest version of Anton Chekhov’s classic play is, yes, staged in the 19th century Russian countryside, somewhere outside of Moscow. Directed and written by Michael Mayer, this lush adaptation turns loose…

The Kingdom may be falling, but these Jurassics carry a World of fight

In the fifth(!) installment of the movie series first adapted 28(!!) years ago from Michael Chrichton’s forward- and backward-thinking novel Jurassic Park, the island set aside for the dinosaurs is threatened by a volcano. Those roaming that piece of now isolated former amusement park land are therefore headed for extinction. Humankind is left debating whether…

Rediscover that, oh, edge The Favourite wielded back in the days of Queen Anne

There are rivalries, small and huge. The kid in class who always seemed to be getting one desk closer to the space you wanted up to the colleague who always seems to get the job that comes with the better office. There are grudges held, from refusing to sit next to somebody on the school…

I’m with Bruce Springsteen at the grown up stage, yup

There are many things that Bruce Springsteen cops to up there on the Broadway stage. With great good humor and the confidence of man who at last has nothing to lose, the 69-year-old rocker tells maybe not all but loads on stage with just his voice, a guitar and a keyboard there at New York…

With the first story as backdrop, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again steps up the game

The joy of ABBA’s music surely lives on with Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. Watching the 1-hour, 54-minute musical romantic comedy directed by Ol Parker in the comfort of our living room, I laughed. I cried. And, oh, yes, I danced, to no surprise to my dear wife Karen and somewhat chagrin to our…

Now we all know that Fred Rogers really was that nice, thank you

At some point about halfway through the strikingly poignant documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor? the parade of people who pay homage to the man whom America came to know as Mister Rogers were asked by the filmmakers put together by director Morgan Neville the question that’s no doubt on every film viewer’s mind by…

Let Green Book remind us about building understanding

At the start of Green Book, we see Tony “Lip” Vallelonga operating through famed Manhattan nightclub The Copa as if he owned the joint. Lip uses his reputation, guile and, yes, fists to keep order and his vision of right on a busy night so the headliner on stage, most patrons in the seats and,…