Ferdinand is a lively, animated film adaptation of Munro Leaf’s classic children’s book. The story concerns the title bull (voiced by John Cena), who would rather smell flowers than fight. […]
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Author: Gary M. Kramer
Gary M. Kramer is a Philadelphia-based freelance writer. He is the co-editor of Directory of World Cinema: Argentina. Volumes 1 and 2, and teaches seminars at the Bryn Mawr Film Institute. Follow him on Twitter @garymkramer.
Wait for Your Laugh review
Wait for Your Laugh chronicles supreme singer/comedienne Rose Marie’s 90 years of performing. It is an affectionate documentary that is more somber than funny. Director/co-writer Jason Wise charts Rose Marie’s […]
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Take Every Wave review
The fabulous surfing footage is the best—and perhaps only—reason to see Take Every Wave: The Life of Laird Hamilton, an overlong and underwhelming documentary about the pioneering big wave surfer. […]
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Year by the Sea review
Year by the Sea, based on Joan Anderson’s bestselling memoir, is a “nice” film. It could play well on either the Hallmark Channel or Lifetime Television. This comedy-drama, written and […]
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The Only Living Boy in New York review
The troubled, bespectacled title character in The Only Living Boy in New York is Thomas Webb (Callum Turner), the twenty-something scion of Ethan Webb (Pierce Brosnan), a wealthy New York […]
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The Big Sick review
Kumail (Kumail Nanjiani) is the Pakistani-American protagonist of The Big Sick, a romantic comedy-drama full of equal parts heart and humor. His parents Azmat (Anupam Kher) and Sharmeen (Zenobia Shroff) […]
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Slack Bay review
Slack Bay, written and directed by the enfant terrible, Bruno Dumont, is a highly idiosyncratic comedy, set in 1910, that revolves around two families. The Bruforts are working class fishers, […]
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The Hunter’s Prayer review
The Hunter’s Prayer opens with a bang. Actually, three bangs, as Metzgar (Martin Compston) an assassin has shot and killed Mr. and Mrs. Hatto (Eben Young and Stephanie Dooley) and […]
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The Wedding Plan review
The Israeli film, The Wedding Plan, was originally titled Through the Wall, a reference to the main character Michal (Noa Kolar) stating that her determination to get married is like […]
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The Dinner review
The meal in The Dinner is costly both in terms of the price for the food, and for the emotional and physical toll it has on the characters. However, in […]
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The Sense of an Ending review
Adapted from Julian Barnes’ celebrated novel, The Sense of an Ending is an exquisite coming-of-old-age story. Tony Webster (Jim Broadbent) is a divorced retiree in London who runs a store […]
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