“It falls on neighbors of all races and religious beliefs to put aside their petty differences and drive away these demons together, as apparently only ‘Kumbaya’ can cast out Pazuzu. It’s an exorcism as a group hug. The Benneton angle is so overplayed, on the way out of the theater a pal said he wished they’d gone all the way and brought in a Hare Krishna to help.” – North Shore Movies, 10/05/2023

”A short film with the weight and breadth of an epic, traversing continents and time periods while remaining stock still. Based on a 1977 story by Roald Dahl, it’s a literary adaptation unlike any you have seen before; a dramatic reading that uses theatrical techniques to simulate the enveloping experience of burrowing into a book you don’t want to put down.” – North Shore Movies, 09/29/2023

“Statham and Fox have an irascible chemistry, beating the crap out of each other in a love scene that ends with her panties dangling from the ceiling fan. It is, to my recollection, the first time an Expendable has gotten laid in one of these movies. They’re usually too busy getting blackout drunk at biker bars and arm wrestling with each other. Platonically, of course.” – North Shore Movies, 09/22/2023

“Like so many movies siloed off to subscribers in our streaming service dystopia, this nifty alien-invasion thriller is only available on Hulu, where most people’s miscalibrated televisions and tinny laptop speakers will mangle the cool colors and excellent sound design. I wish I’d been able to see it in a theater packed with teens in the mood for a good scream.” – North Shore Movies, 09/21/2023

“Director Craig Gillespie specializes in smarmy takes on true-life tales, and he tries to turn the GameStop saga into a slobs-versus-snobs comedy, albeit one suspiciously short on jokes. Dumb Money is mostly montages of news footage and memes interspersed with a few scenes in which famous actors look at their phones and say swears.” – WBUR’s Arts & Culture, 09/21/2023

“Branagh has become such a puzzling filmmaker, always putting the camera in the oddest places. A Haunting In Venice isn’t slathered with as much tacky CGI as his previous Poirot movies, probably because nobody has to pretend to be on a train or a boat. But it’s full of ostentatious shots tilted up through the floorboards or from inside the fireplace.” – WBUR’s Arts & Culture, 09/14/2023

“As befitting this aesthetic, director D.B. Stockfleth’s film is a good deal more visually interesting than your usual rockumentary. Talking head interviews are intertwined with groovy animations and lovingly degraded home videos, all layered on top of each other with the same harmonic sensibility these musicians used for their four-track recordings.” – North Shore Movies 09/14/2023

“Not a lot of a surprises here, save for the quality of the performances from Campbell and Dickinson, who invest their slowly thawing relationship with genuine feeling. She’s a dynamo in the Tatum O’Neal tough cookie mode. There’s scarcely a scene you won’t see coming a mile away, but it’s comforting when formulas are handled with this kind of care.” – North Shore Movies, 09/14/2023

“Compelling, if confoundingly structured, director Danny Wu’s documentary borrows its title from an early draft of Kane and profiles three citizens epitomizing their country’s cruelly unfulfilled promises. The movie makes a convincing case that the American experiment requires constant care, because we’ve always been perilously close to the abyss.” – North Shore Movies, 09/10/2023

“These Skinemax After Dark specials all seemed to feature the same Pacific Coast Highway vistas, blue moonlit mansions and cherry red sportscars. Then come the gruntless, un-sweaty sex scenes in front of a fireplace or in the bathtub, typically surrounded by billowing drapes and candles. Lord, so many candles. Cue the cheesy synthesizers and sax solos.” – North Shore Movies, 09/01/2023