Not even the desert winds of the planet Arrakis can match the heat around the long-anticipated arrival of Dune, director Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of Frank Herbert’s landmark 1965 science-fiction classic. Staring Timothée Chalamet as the young nobleman Paul Atreides, Zendaya as his love interest Chani, Oscar Isaac as his father …
Read More »'The Climb' Review: Best Frenemies Forever
Weddings, funerals, Thanksgiving and the rest: These are the occasions that typically bring us together, which must be why The Climb — Michael Angelo Covino’s bristling new comedy — uses them to wedge two men apart. Take the title at face value: Uphill battles are the spine and central pleasure …
Read More »'Les Miserables': There's a Riot Goin' On in the City of Light
There are no trilled notes, no stirring group musical numbers, no talk of castles on clouds in French-Malian director Ladj Ly’s directorial debut. You will hear, however, the songs of angry men, expressed in a way that drives home the point of their rage and rancor. It is not a …
Read More »'Make My Day': J. Hoberman on Reagan, Rambo and '80s Movies
He was a former radio announcer who broke into movies in the late 1930s and served time as an actor in Warner Brothers’ B-movie unit and a TV host (and corporate pitchman) for General Electric Theater. Then, after flirting with the growing post-Goldwater conservative side of the G.O.P., Ronald Reagan …
Read More »