Whether documentary or fiction, the sports movie template is so well-worn — we were underdogs, then we won, and it was amazing — that it’s rare to execute a new twist on the formula. And in some ways, “We Beat the Dream Team” (streaming on Max), directed by Michael Tolajian, follows that recipe. Its title … Read more
Maybe Big Tech hasn’t delivered on its disruptive promise for movies after all: We’ve cut our cable cords for price and convenience only to pay just as much (if not more) to jump through hoops and across platforms, with diminishing returns in quality. But there’s always good work being made. This new column, then, is … Read more
Here’s a poem about patience, about self-control, about the need to conserve your energy and constrain your desire. Fittingly enough, it’s a proper old-school sonnet, orderly and elegant: 14 lines of iambic pentameter, crisply punctuated, with syllables cut to measure. But like a great many sonnets — most famously the 154 written by William Shakespeare … Read more
Goes bananas on the gore. ‘The Monkey’ After a cursed toy monkey from his childhood reappears, a man (Theo James) tries to stop it in this horror comedy directed by Osgood Perkins. From our review: The movie’s presumption is that the more inventive the means of death — and the more quickly those means are … Read more
“My name is Jean, and my comical best friend started referring to me using that phrase. We laughed each time she said it. Now, many years later, I would have never guessed how much I would long to hear her say that again. You see my BFF has had a series of strokes and can … Read more
“Hello. I’m Denis Villeneuve. I’m the director of ‘Dune, Part Two’.” [TENSE MUSIC] “So this scene happens exactly after the introduction of Feyd-Rautha, where we saw him as a psychopath. And here, we bring this character into his political environment, where it would be a strange celebration of its birthday, where in Harkonnen culture, the … Read more
“Hello. I’m Denis Villeneuve. I’m the director of ‘Dune, Part Two’.” [TENSE MUSIC] “So this scene happens exactly after the introduction of Feyd-Rautha, where we saw him as a psychopath. And here, we bring this character into his political environment, where it would be a strange celebration of its birthday, where in Harkonnen culture, the … Read more
Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous night’s highlights that lets you sleep — and lets us get paid to watch comedy. Here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now. King of the Road On Wednesday, President Donald Trump pre-emptively announced on social media that New York City’s congestion … Read more
In 2012, the actor Stephen Graham and his wife were having a quiet dinner at a chain chicken joint in London when a young man approached the table. The man, James Nelson-Joyce, told Graham that he had just left drama school and wanted to be an actor, too. Many would have sent the 20-something away … Read more
Review: In ‘Liberation,’ the Feminist Revolution Will Be Dramatized