Elvis Presley, with the exception of the Beatles, is the most mythological figure in the history of popular music. That makes him a singularly tempting figure to build a biopic around. But...
When a documentary gets made, as an off-ramp passion project, by a noted filmmaker who normally directs fiction films, there’s a special curiosity and excitement to seeing the angle — and the...
When I watch a movie by the writer-director James Gray, I often have the sensation that I’m seeing two films in one: the story being told and the one hovering offscreen —...
The last time the Cannes Film Festival dropped a zombie comedy into its coveted opening-night slot, it was 2019, and the movie — Jim Jarmusch’s “The Dead Don’t Die” — was no...
In the ’70s and early ’80s, the era that defined him, Stephen King came up with a whole lot of horror-story metaphors for anger. There was Carrie, the angry telekinetic nerd-turned-pranked-prom-demon, and...
If Brad Pitt were a geek, and a gravely serious one — not a more serious actor but a more doleful and pensive presence — he’d be something like Owen Teague. At...
There are times in nonfiction film when daring — and magic — arrives in a surprisingly simple and quiet way. “Hello, Bookstore” is a documentary about a venerable and beloved independent bookstore...
The word “tabloid” has a sleazy mystique. It’s such a potent word that it can influence the way you think about the subjects that fall into that category. “The Mystery of Marilyn...