Unbalanced and tone-deaf, “The Laundromat” mistakes intention for story

When your director is Stephen Soderbergh and your cast includes Meryl Streep, Antonio Banderas and Gary Oldman, your expectations may be a bit inflated. That the resulting film is a rather ho-hum mishmash of various vignettes that overtly barrel down a theme is a bit of a disappointment. There are a few elements to like...

“Little Women” adds great acting and directing to an old classic

Little Women has been adapted to the screen a fair number of times of varying quality. What has been missing from most of them however was strong directing and acting. Greta Gerwig's most recent adaptation adds that in spades and elevates a familiar story in a new way, giving us a female-centric narrative that offers...

“Mary Poppins Returns” is a low-flying kite

Mary Poppins as a character has loomed large over Disney's cannon ever since her inception. It's a bit surprising, given Disney's track record of dusting off, refurbishing and remaking all of their IPs, that it's taken this long for her to return to the big screen. And when you throw in Emily Blunt, Lin-Manuel Miranda,...

“The Post” is a solid piece of craftsmanship

When a film's writing, directing and acting all work together, the result, no matter the film's other shortcomings, is poetry. The Post finds director Steven Spielberg with stars Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep and writers Josh Singer working together and balancing their talents to create a great film. The Post focuses on the Washington Post's...

“Into the Woods” is a solid film

Whenever Disney dabbles into fairy tales, especially darker ones, there's an inherent perception that studio executives will dampen down the story and 'Disney-fy' it, making it more accessible for families and taking the darker tone out of it. With Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods, there was fear that the studio would subdue the darker third...