Festival season is in full swing, even with fests either going hybrid or one-hundred percent virtual as the pandemic continues. Here are some films I was able to catch at this year’s Garden State Film Festival, Santa Barbara Film Festival, as well as another interesting film that will be available on demand soon—hopefully along with these other ones. “The Knot” (SBIFF) is an intriguing work from filmmaker Ashish Pant, an unusual work that can’t precisely be

“The problem is, people think the party is over after college... they stop trying, stop doing new things...” The pressures of today’s society can be hell on anyone. Growing up is hard for everyone. Navigating the culture for millennials is a minefield and when one has been gone for a lengthy period, that person may not change but life and society moves on. The pressure that weighs on Tyler (a quite good Munro Chambers), after returning from

Michelle Pfeiffer can do almost no wrong on screen, in my view, and I’m going to declare that it’s not her fault that the new film “French Exit” suffers from overambition and a trace of boredom despite her still-electrifying presence.

Not that she doesn’t lean into the role of Frances Price with considerable verve. A lifelong New York socialite, Frances is devastated to learn that her late husband has left her with little

One of the many issues with modern films is how they do not strive to be cinematic enough. Few filmmakers today take their time to properly design shots, use their frame in uniquely meaningful ways, and craft profoundly artful moments where the camera is both the artist and the tool.

Daniel Kremer’s “Overwhelm the Sky” is a most welcome film that’s cinema to its very core.

If you’ve never heard about the exploits of the British Cold War spy Greville Maynard Wynne, you’re not alone.  Even Dominic Cooke, the director of the new fact-based film about Wynne’s spy exploits, had never heard of Wynne before the script for “The Courier” came his way.

“It was interesting that Brits over a certain age knew who he was, but anyone below the age of sixty-five could not recall the case

Anthony Hopkins gives the performance of a lifetime in “The Father,” which is saying something for a man who has been acting professionally for more than a half-century, and who already has one Oscar to his credit.  Hopkins is 83, at the top of his game, and also of the right age to infuse his character in the new film with the most assuredly correct amount of pathos and humanity, and elicit our sympathies.  It’s an absolute masterpiece

“The WORST thing you can do is to slip in ‘little’ white lies just to save yourself from confrontations & emotional conversations. ⁃ Sijdah Hussain

In “White Lie” Katie Arneson is a university student who tries hard to keep her cancer diagnosis a secret. The fact that it is not true and there is no cancer is what Katie is hiding.

What a cruel and unforgivable