“Stallone spills his saga with a breathtaking lack of self-awareness and the undisguised mean streak of the perpetually aggrieved. I suppose there’s something potentially tragic about a less-talented little brother feeling forever outshined, but the documentary is just a giant whine. It’s 73 minutes of Fredo’s ‘I’m smart and I want respect!’ speech from Godfather II.” – North Shore Movies, 01/11/2021
“After fifteen years of hotshot young directors ripping off Alfonso Cuarón’s battle sequences from Children Of Men, apparently now they’ve moved on to stealing the stillbirth scene from Roma? I suppose one can admire the technical bravado required to choreograph the 1917 of crib death while also wondering why such a thing would be necessary.” – WBUR’s The ARTery, 01/07/2021
Just when he thought he was out, breaking news compelled my buddy Blake Howard to revive his podcast so we could discuss the unfathomable idiocy of Donald Trump’s call commanding Georgia’s Secretary of State to commit election fraud. We also talked about The Irishman and Godfather III, because that’s what Blake and I do. – All The President’s Minutes, 01/04/2021
“It’s a horrible holiday mostly spent suffering from the nagging feeling that whatever you’re doing you’re still not having as much fun as you’re supposed to be having, often while surrounded by amateurs who have no idea how to hold their liquor. At least this year sitting on the couch and watching movies is what you should be doing, for the sake of public health!” – WBUR’s The ARTery, 12/30/2020
“It must be swell to live in Jon Stewart’s imaginary America where race, religion and women’s rights are never mentioned and the divisions driving people to the polls are merely matters of educated liberals using big words and eating fancy foods that alienate real, meat-and-potatoes patriots. His deeply incurious satire feels like the worst film of 2004.” – North Shore Movies, 12/26/2020
“Some of the year’s most affecting pictures were about just making it through to tomorrow. This terrifying time of isolation made emotional connections onscreen feel all the more precious and fragile, with crowd scenes and hugs feeling like gifts we’d been taking for granted. Whatever the new normal may be, I hope some of the lessons of 2020 will be remembered.” – WBUR’s The ARTery, 12/21/2020
“It’s an ungainly film but not ineffective, particularly in the silent scenes with a gruff Clooney hidden behind a large David Letterman beard, his haunted eyes filling in the missing dialogue. An unexpected spirit of can-do positivity carries it through to a revelation you can see coming lightyears away, yet made me cry all the same. Look, it’s been a long year.” – WBUR’s The ARTery, 12/17/2020
“For such a square story it feels wonderfully subversive, as Ashe has moved the entire aesthetic of the Technicolor melodrama uptown. These perfectly painted sets and impeccably pressed clothes aren’t attempting to replicate reality, but rather a dream life in the movies from which people who look like the cast of Sylvie’s Love have always been excluded. Until now.” – WBUR’s The ARTery, 12/17/2020
“The search for authentic experiences in our over-mediated age can be an elusive one, almost as slippery as this provocative mood piece from writer-director Kiyoshi Kurosawa. In the film’s quieter moments we feel the character’s yearning for real connections in a modern world where everything, to some degree or another, is a performance being staged.” – WBUR’s The ARTery, 12/17/2020
SPLICED PERSONALITY 