”It’s all kind of overwhelming in the way that a child remembers such celebrations — full of family members you’re supposed to know, even if you’re not entirely sure how they fit into the picture. Everything’s a bit larger-than-life, but also a little smaller. The morning after I watched the movie, it already felt like something I’d seen years ago.” – North Shore Movies, 12/06/2024

”The film alludes to the author’s accidental shooting of his second wife, Joan Vollmer, but doesn’t reckon with it in any real way. It’s there for the same reason as the Cobain songs and the bugs from Naked Lunch that turn up from time to time. These are things that people associate with William S. Burroughs, so they’ve got to be in the movie somewhere.” – WBUR’s Arts & Culture, 12/05/2024

“A literary conceit in search of a visual analogue. Heller’s insufficiently stylized direction can’t bear the metaphorical weight. It looks like a cable show. She’s a terribly pleasant filmmaker, and Nightbitch plays things way too safe for its own good, coming close to a couple of uncomfortable realities before sheepishly backing away. She barks, but the movie has no bite.” – WBUR’s Arts & Culture, 12/05/2024

“Norma Desmond as a doomed soprano, a fading legend parading around a Parisian apartment that’s more like a mausoleum. Dictatorial to her staff and zonked on pills most of the time, she’s imperious, insecure, impossible and irresistible. It’s finally a role the right size for its star, and Jolie is more than ready for her close-up. Maria, you’ve got to see her.” – WBUR’s Arts & Culture, 11/26/2024

”The band has been able to transcend generational turf wars for the past 60 years, and we should probably be thankful to have a movie like this available in everybody’s living rooms after such a divisive and exhausting election. To paraphrase Lester Bangs’ obituary for Elvis Presley, we may never agree on anything again the way we agreed on The Beatles.” – North Shore Movies, 11/25/2024

“Pascal barely registers onscreen at all, with a good deal of Gladiator II serving as a cautionary tale about what happens to lightweight TV actors when they come up against a bona fide movie star. It’s like every scene is being acted in lowercase letters until along comes big-D Denzel. He’s an absolute joy to watch, and the film languishes in his absence.” – WBUR’s Arts & Culture, 11/21/2024

“Unlike the Technicolor Oz we grew up with, Chu’s is a land of hazy, low-contrast pinks and faded pastels. The whole movie looks like an Easter basket, which can be tiring on the eyes over such a long haul. Still, it’s an engaging enough half-a-movie, anchored by a sublime comic turn from Ariana Grande as a privileged brat blithely oblivious to her own awfulness.” – WBUR’s Arts & Culture, 11/21/2024

”Such a noisy, witless puddle of CGI puke I can’t believe Ryan Reynolds isn’t in it. I suppose it will be tempting for critics to describe this movie as a lump of Christmas coal. Except that coal can actually serve a purpose, like heating people’s homes, or giving them black lung disease, both options preferable to sitting though Red One.” – North Shore Movies, 11/15/2024

”The story takes place almost entirely on Murphy’s face, swimming in the infinite sadness of those ice blue eyes. The movie is hushed and has the damp chill of Irish winters. Delicate in its observations and devoid of histrionics, Small Things Like These is pretty much exactly the opposite of the kind of project you’d expect an actor to produce after winning an Oscar.” – North Shore Movies, 11/08/2024

“It’s a classy crowd-pleaser, deftly executed with the no-frills finesse that’s been the Eastwood brand for as long as I’ve been going to the movies. Juror #2 was obviously shot on a budget, with sets that look like they went up yesterday, but it’s got the kind of clean, clear storytelling beats that have become a lost art in contemporary Hollywood.” – North Shore Movies, 11/01/2024