‘The Tender Bar’ review: George Clooney’s spirited cocktail character drama is in need of more reflection

There are stories that need to be told and stories that earn the right to be told. J.R. Moehringer’s best-selling 2006 memoir, The Tender Bar, fits squarely in the latter.  Mining from the author’s challenging childhood, this acclaimed text often…

Always at the Carlyle Movie Review: A Documentary You’ll Want to Stay and Live In

There’s a certain facet of people who love to swoon over the elegant (and with it, the expensive). I’m one of those people who has justified staying at an expensive hotel because of the “ambiance,” the knowledge that it’s where…

Top 5 Best and Worst Actors/Actresses Turned Directors

This past weekend actor Ewan McGregor made his directorial debut with his new film American Pastoral. As of the initial critical reception, this film isn’t doing as well as most films do on their opening weekend. In the past we’ve all…

Cannes Report #2 (Money Monster, Staying Vertical, I, Daniel Blake)

If the Cannes Film Festival has taught us anything in the past it’s that it can be a real sucker for unwarranted buzz. Like any other prestigious film festival, it has been known to sometimes give in to star power…

Film Review: Money Monster

There are quite a lot of topics tackled in Jodie Foster’s new film, Money Monster. It makes statements – both overt and subtle – on Wall Street, class, sexism and politics. While the film is a well-executed thriller, managing to…

Is Hail, Caesar! Pro or Anti-Hollywood?

One of the defining features of Joel and Ethan Coen’s Hail, Caesar! are its blatant parodic references to Hollywood or, specifically, to Hollywood in the 1950s. Its glamorous, classic Hollwood aesthetic and throwbacks to 1950s cornball cinema begs a certain…

Movie Review: ‘Hail, Caesar!’

Every year that the Coen Brothers release a new movie, I treat it like an event. The duo’s glorious, genre-busting brand of filmmaking has made them one of the best auteurs working today, and they surprise me time and time again for…