Skate Kitchen: An actual crew of young women boarders becomes less real as fiction
ReviewJim SlotekSkate Kitchen, Skateboarding, Female skateboarders, Youth Culture, Crystal Moselle, Jaden Smith, Dede Lovelace, Nina Moran, Docudrama, Documentaries, The Wolfpack
The Last Suit: One stellar performance in a tale of chasing ancient Holocaust memories halfway around the world
Crazy Rich Asians: Engaging(ish) Story, Strong Cast Buried by Garish Materialism
Original-Cin Q&A w/the romantic leads of Crazy Rich Asians PLUS video yuks w/Ken Jeong and Awkwafina
By Bonnie Laufer
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InterviewJim SlotekCrazy Rich Asians, The Joy Luck Club, Asian American actors, Stereotyping, Diversity, Minority acting opportunities, Singapore, Fresh Off The Boat, Constance Wu, Jon M. Chu, Henry Fielding
Its empowerment story aside, characters in Puzzle are hard to figure out
By Karen Gordon
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Spike Lee's reality-based BlacKkKlansman: campy, preachy and entertaining
ReviewJim SlotekSpike Lee, Ku Klux Klan, Cannes Grand Prix, John David Washington, Ron Stallworth, David Duke, Stokely Carmichael, Angela Davis, Adam Driver, Paul Walter Hauser, The Black Klansman, Richard Gilden
The Meg: A toothless 'Jurassic Jaws' not even bad enough to be good
ReviewJim SlotekMonster movies, Shark movies, Megalodon, Jaws, Jason Statham, Rainn Wilson, Jon Turteltaub, National Treasure, Cliff Curtis, Chinese produced Hollywood movies, Masi Oka
Cielo: The desert sky as backdrop makes for a profound contemplative experience
ReviewJim SlotekDocumentary, The night sky, Chile, Atacama Desert, Light pollution, Planet hunting, Stars, Galaxies, Star-gazing, Alison McAlpine
Dog Days: Adorable pooch performances overshadowed by 'meh' human rom-com
ReviewJim SlotekVanessa Hudgens, Ken Marino, Eva Longoria, Nina Dobrev, Adam Pally, Tone Bell, Garry Marshall, Romantic comedy, Anthologies, Family films
Original-Cin Q&A: Dog Days' Vanessa Hudgens calls cats 'the spawn of Satan'
By Bonnie Läufer
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Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood: Bisexual secrets of everyone from Tracy & Hepburn to the Duke & Duchess
ReviewJim SlotekScotty Bowers, Secret Hollywood sex lives, Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Bette Davis, Matt Tyrnauer, Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Stephen Fry, Charles Laughton, Randolph Scott, Documentaries
Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda is a joyous ode to sound and a soundtrack-guru's life
ReviewJim SlotekRyuichi Sakamoto, Stephen Nomura Schible, Fukushima disaster, Cancer, documentaries, Sofia Coppola, Bernardo Bertolucci, David Bowie, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, The Revenant, Alejandro G Inarritu
Oh Bother!: Disney's Christopher Robin in limbo between dewy-eyed innocence-lost and wannabe family fare
ReviewJim SlotekTags Winnie-the-Pooh, Christopher Robin, A.A. Milne, Jim Cummings, Paul Winchell, Tigger, Disney, Ewan McGregor, Revisiting childhood, Hundred Acre Wood, Marc Forster
Spy Who Dumped Me: 'Best friends' action comedy is really an out-of-control one-woman show
ReviewJim SlotekMila Kunis, Kate McKinnon, Melissa McCarthy, Spy comedies, female action comedies, Justin Theroux, Susanna Fogel, Gillian Anderson, Saturday Night Live, CIA, Jason Bourne
The Darkest Minds sets the bar on dystopian teenager-killing movies even lower
ReviewJim SlotekYoung adult novels, The Darkest Minds, Divergent, The Hunger Games, Maze Runner, Super powers, Dystopian stories, Dystopian fiction, Bradley Whitford, Jennifer Yuh Nelson
Searching: Ace Thriller Asks Timely Questions about Digital-Age Identity, Privacy
TIFF 2018: An eco-legacy fulfilled, an aboriginal lacrosse tale and new films from Dolan and Arcand
ViewsJim SlotekTIFF 2018, Rob Stewart, Sharkwater Extinction, Xavier Dolan, Denys Arcand, Canadian films, Aboriginal films, Patricia Rozema, Don McKellar, Ron Mann, Jennifer Baichwal, Ed Burtynsky, Anthropocene
Original-Cin Q&A: Jim Cummings, the voice of Winnie the Pooh (and Tigger too!)
InterviewJim SlotekWinnie-the-Pooh, Christopher Robin, A.A. Milne, Jim Cummings, Paul Winchell, Tigger, Disney, Ewan McGregor, Revisiting childhood, Hundred Acre Wood, Marc Forster
Blindspotting: Ambitious Dramedy A Smart (if Messy) Look at Race and Class
Shock and Awe: Iraq War Newspaper Drama Meanders and Fizzles
