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The original 1971 "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" may have been a delicious dream, lined with trees of gumballs and fields of lollipops. But never has there been a more cautionary tale about the danger of too much of a good thing.
Magical as that Roald Dahl-scripted film was, it...
Jeffrey Wright's Thelonious "Monk" Ellison is at the end of his rope at the beginning of " American Fiction, " a crowd-pleaser that's both funny and smart in its satire of race, media, artists, identity politics and even Hollywood. It opens in theaters this week.
A classic frustrated...
It is sickly hilarious to make a movie in which so much consensual sex is had, often so gleefully, that is not the least bit sexy. Though Bella Baxter's insatiable libido might be her guiding light at first in "Poor Things," sexual liberation (or "furious jumping," as she calls it) is only part...
When Hayao Miyazaki's "The Boy and the Heron" premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, the filmmaker Guillermo del Toro said in his introductory remarks: "We are privileged enough to be living in a time where Mozart is composing symphonies."
You might be tempted...
In Beyoncé's concert film, she describes her recent Renaissance World Tour as being run like a machine: From lighting to set design, the superstar had a hand in everything production-related to ensure her stadium tour exceeded expectations after four years of preparation.
As a...
Bradley Cooper's "Maestro," a high-wire act of a biopic, leaps constantly between on stage and off, flying through Leonard Bernstein's very public life as a conductor while diving into his more private marriage to Felicia Montealegre. How each side of Bernstein's existence interacts with the...
Two years ago Emerald Fennell stood on the Oscars stage hoisting her writing trophy for "Promising Young Woman," a scathing look at rape culture and a balancing act of wit, style, shock value, audacity, great acting and pitch-black humor — plus a timely #MeToo message.
That's a lot for a...
Walt Disney Animation's "Wish" is stunning to look at with textured and rich watercolor-inspired animation and easter egg treasures for audiences nostalgic for the classics. But it is also more concept than story: A strained and forgettable attempt to pay homage to the studio's 100 years. The...
In a movie year rife with grand, three-hour opuses from auteur filmmakers comes a slender 81-minute gem that outclasses them all. Aki Kaurismäki's "Fallen Leaves," short, sweet and utterly delightful, is the kind of movie that's so charming, you want to run it back the moment it's over.
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For such a famed historical figure, Napoleon has made only fleeting appearances in movies since Abel Gance's 1927 silent film.
Stanley Kubrick had grand designs for a Napoleon epic that went unmade. (Steven Spielberg is attempting to revive those plans as a series ). Napoleon and his...