By now, film adaptations based on the oeuvre of the two most prolific British writers of crime fiction, Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie, form a respectable body. Of the latter, probably the best-known work remains “Murder on the Orient Express.” Today comes a new version by the, himself now almost venerable, Brit actor, Kenneth Branagh. From the get-go in this iteration, the actor/director makes no attempt to shake the

Do sleeping dogs lie forever? The question can be asked about Peter Landesman’s biopic of Mark Felt, the FBI agent who leaked drop after drop of damning information regarding the Watergate burglary to Bod Woodward and Carl Bernstein of the Washington Post, until they turned into a flood that drowned Nixon and acolytes in 1974. If one relies on the story as it is told here the dogs will indeed not wake. Mark Felt

Taylor Dunne and Eric Stewart’s forthcoming documentary “Off country” examines the devastating, still-lingering effects of atomic bomb testing on the communities around the White Sands missile range in New Mexico, the Nevada Test Site and the Rocky Flats Plant in Colorado, where plutonium triggers were manufactured until its 1992 shutdown (the latter facility was studied in the galling 1982 documentary “Dark Circle"

When last year I spoke with Illeana Douglas we discussed her work highlighting the accomplishments of women behind the camera. We also talked about her involvement as executive producer of the Kino Lorber five-disc collection “Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers.” As I've discovered, Douglas is continuing her mission by hosting TCM’s annual “Trailblazing Women” series for the second year in a row. The current

There is always a time when the topic of Female Directors becomes pertinent. Kathryn Bigelow winning her Oscar for “The Hurt Locker” certainly raised the subject.  But that was seven years ago.  Now, Patty Jenkins’s recent “Wonder Woman” success is picking up the topic.  The problem seems to be continuing the trend.  In an effort do just that, writer/producer Ryan Murphy (“American Horror Story," “Feud”) has started a new fellowship aimed at supporting the cause. 

"Brad's Status" is one of the better films I've seen in a long time. Mike White has crafted a movie, and a hero, that is sad, funny, smart, maddening and 100% human. Ben Stiller has been criticized for overexposure, usually when he appears in four junky slapstick comedies in one season, but I think audiences will want more of him after the one-two punch of "Brad's Status" and the (almost nearly as excellent)

Some time ago I attended a screening of “A girl walks home alone at night” in Paris, where I'm based. The film felt novel and contrarian enough to warrant attention. Its diminutive director, Ana Lily Amirpour, present at the screening, appeared to me like one of independent cinema's great new hopes, a stentorian counterpoint to the languid cinema of Sofia Coppola. The Q&A afterward was a little perplexing, though. A squeamish Amirpour stood