FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)

Tomatometer-approved publication
Rating Title/Year Author
9th CIRCUIT COWBOY, The Long Good Fight of Harry Pregerson (2020) Wade Major It gives you a wonderful portrait of the man. I think it's worth seeing, no matter what your persuasion is. EDIT
Posted Jan 22, 2021
Preparations to be Together for an Unknown Period of Time (2021) Wade Major Even if it plays some cloying tricks with you here and there that feel a little manipulative and fraudulent, it winds up going to an emotional place that I think is very authentic and rewarding. EDIT
Posted Jan 22, 2021
A Woman's Work: The NFL's Cheerleader Problem (2019) Lael Loewenstein It's attractively shot, briskly edited, and overall recommended. EDIT
Posted Jan 22, 2021
You Will Die at Twenty (2019) Wade Major I wish it were a little more polished and tighter dramatically, but it has some incredibly powerful scenes and I do applaud it. EDIT
Posted Jan 22, 2021
Notturno (2020) Wade Major This is a haunting, compelling film. EDIT
Posted Jan 22, 2021
Spoor (2017) Wade Major It is beautifully made, very tense, has all these quirky, weird, and noir-y edges... [But] it really is quite peculiar, and the lead character is really hard to like. EDIT
Posted Jan 22, 2021
Spoor (2017) Lael Loewenstein It's a mix of style over content, but I think it's a very interesting film that deserves some acknowledgment. EDIT
Posted Jan 22, 2021
Cowboys (2020) Wade Major Unfortunately, and I hate saying this... but I think there's a surplus of ambition here that undermines the film. EDIT
Posted Jan 22, 2021
The White Tiger (2021) Lael Loewenstein I can't call it "fun," but it's certainly engaging. EDIT
Posted Jan 22, 2021
The White Tiger (2021) Wade Major I think it's a very good film, I think it's a fascinating film, but it really lays bare all the contradictions of modern India in a way that is very non-glamorous. EDIT
Posted Jan 22, 2021
Coming Clean (2020) Lael Loewenstein It's really quite an eye-opening film, from recovering addicts to those still in the throes of addiction. It taught me so much more than I was aware of, and I really strongly recommend it. EDIT
Posted Jan 22, 2021
The Human Factor (2019) Wade Major The broad scope of this, over the course of 30 years, is one of futility and misdirection. I don't know if that makes it a successful documentary, but it certainly is interesting. EDIT
Posted Jan 22, 2021
Our Friend (2019) Wade Major It's extraordinary, the razor's edge that [Jason Segel] walks, because he's a comic actor primarily. That's what we know him as, and here he brings levity where it's needed, but he also brings severity where it's needed. EDIT
Posted Jan 22, 2021
Our Friend (2019) Lael Loewenstein In the end for me, this was really about Jason Segel, who brings great light, humor, and levity to the part of Dane. He is always the most winning element of this film. EDIT
Posted Jan 22, 2021
Penguin Bloom (2020) Lael Loewenstein For the most part, it avoids sentimentality where it could have gone super mawkish. It is predictable... But it's got a tremendous performance by Naomi Watts. EDIT
Posted Jan 22, 2021
Penguin Bloom (2020) Wade Major Despite the fact that it is somewhat predictable and formulaic, I really loved it... It is an amazing part for Naomi Watts. She is just superb. EDIT
Posted Jan 22, 2021
Outside the Wire (2021) Amy Nicholson This film really wants to be smart... [But] it's just a lot of death and destruction. EDIT
Posted Jan 15, 2021
Shusenjo: Comfort Women and Japan's War on History (2019) Peter Rainer A fascinating movie. EDIT
Posted Jan 15, 2021
Love Sarah (2020) Peter Rainer It's always nice to see these faces, but it's pretty benign. EDIT
Posted Jan 15, 2021
Love Sarah (2020) Claudia Puig This is a very slight movie. It's likable and warm-hearted. EDIT
Posted Jan 15, 2021
The Marksman (2021) Amy Nicholson A Clint Eastwood reject. EDIT
Posted Jan 15, 2021
My Little Sister (2020) Claudia Puig It's emotionally powerful and not fussy... It doesn't really go in any direction that audiences expect. EDIT
Posted Jan 15, 2021
Some Kind of Heaven (2020) Peter Rainer One of those documentaries that has a great subject, but doesn't really know what to do with it. EDIT
Posted Jan 15, 2021
Some Kind of Heaven (2020) Amy Nicholson All that psychological stuff was very interesting. But the point that I really walked away with was that in this community, every man in this community seemed to act like a crazy teenager. EDIT
Posted Jan 15, 2021
Some Kind of Heaven (2020) Claudia Puig Sometimes it's poignant, other times it's chilling, sometimes just depressing... I just wanted to know more details than were explored here. EDIT
Posted Jan 15, 2021
Locked Down (2021) Claudia Puig Like a play in the worst possible way. It feels stagy, claustrophobic, and overacted. EDIT
Posted Jan 15, 2021
Locked Down (2021) Amy Nicholson Quaint and bizarre... It feels outdated, even though it's just coming out. EDIT
Posted Jan 15, 2021
One Night in Miami (2020) Claudia Puig Masterful. It never felt static even though it was all in a hotel room, because of the superb dialogue and the masterful acting. EDIT
Posted Jan 15, 2021
One Night in Miami (2020) Amy Nicholson During it, I kept toggling back and forth over "Which one is my favorite?" Because all the performances are really strong. EDIT
Posted Jan 15, 2021
One Night in Miami (2020) Peter Rainer A compelling, well-made movie based on a play. Uniformly well-acted. EDIT
Posted Jan 15, 2021
Acasa, My Home (2020) Peter Rainer It's a remarkable piece of documentary access. EDIT
Posted Jan 15, 2021
Acasa, My Home (2020) Claudia Puig It's a very empathetic portrait, but it also shows the complexity of this family... I think it's most poignant when it focuses on the children. EDIT
Posted Jan 15, 2021
MLK/FBI (2020) Claudia Puig I think it really shows the importance of King as a person, as a human, as opposed to the icon that we have come to think of him as. EDIT
Posted Jan 15, 2021
MLK/FBI (2020) Amy Nicholson This documentary is a really necessary rewind... to remind everybody how Martin Luther King Jr. was seen in his day, at his time. EDIT
Posted Jan 15, 2021
If Not Now, When? (2021) Tim Cogshell This is a drama with a capital D... Every sistah I know is going to love this movie. EDIT
Posted Jan 12, 2021
The Reason I Jump (2020) Lael Loewenstein A beautiful film that goes very deeply into autism and makes these people come very much alive. EDIT
Posted Jan 12, 2021
Stars Fell on Alabama (2021) Tim Cogshell This is a perfectly affable, well-produced, well-acted, and wholly familiar romantic comedy. EDIT
Posted Jan 12, 2021
Skyfire (2019) Tim Cogshell It's extremely heroic and a lot of fun. I had a hoot! EDIT
Posted Jan 12, 2021
The Dissident (2020) Tim Cogshell This film made me think of the plight of journalists writ large. EDIT
Posted Jan 12, 2021
The Dissident (2020) Lael Loewenstein It is as suspenseful as Citizenfour and as well-made as Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. This in itself takes so much material and lays it out almost like a lawyer would. EDIT
Posted Jan 12, 2021
Pieces of a Woman (2020) Tim Cogshell When I watched this film, my mind kept going back to [John] Cassavetes... It's vérité almost, and it's really good. EDIT
Posted Jan 12, 2021
Pieces of a Woman (2020) Lael Loewenstein Very powerfully portrayed, particularly by Kirby's performance. She gives all this nuance to the portrait of a woman trying to find herself. EDIT
Posted Jan 12, 2021
Blizzard of Souls (2019) Tim Cogshell A very powerful film made on a particularly small budget. EDIT
Posted Jan 12, 2021
Herself (2020) Tim Cogshell [A] perfectly beautiful and very moving movie. EDIT
Posted Jan 12, 2021
Herself (2020) Lael Loewenstein It's got a real quiet intensity about it that comes from Clare Dunn's careful, meticulous, beautifully felt performance. EDIT
Posted Jan 12, 2021
One Night in Miami (2020) Lael Loewenstein [Regina King] has a real sense of how to let a scene unfurl naturally, but also how to frame, cut away, and let her actors take a beat at just the right moments. EDIT
Posted Jan 12, 2021
One Night in Miami (2020) Tim Cogshell It's a very powerful film. It's a stage play, but Regina King in her directorial debut has opened it up. EDIT
Posted Jan 12, 2021
We Can Be Heroes (2020) Wade Major Arduous and juvenile. EDIT
Posted Jan 4, 2021
The Minimalists: Less Is Now (2021) Wade Major I saw no point to it whatsoever. EDIT
Posted Jan 4, 2021
The Minimalists: Less Is Now (2021) Charles Solomon This is a case where less really is less. EDIT
Posted Jan 4, 2021