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Movie Reviews

  • Movies 101
    It’s that time again when movie fans look back at their favorites of the year. And movie critics, as usual, tend to lead the way. This week Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss their picks for the best of what they saw during the year 2022.
  • Movies 101
    Most of us go to the movies for entertainment. Entertainment though, can be defined in any number of ways. This week, Dan Webster, Mary Pat Treuthart and Nathan Weinbender discuss two movies that are from a genre that entertains, in its best configuration, by being both interesting and informative. The two movies are documentaries: Luca Guadagnino’s “Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams” and Elvis Mitchell’s “Is That Black Enough for You?”
  • Movies 101
    Relationships are essential but sometimes they can be hard to negotiate, and this is true whether we’re talking about romantic or family connections. This week Dan Webster, Mary Pat Treuthart and Nathan Weinbender discuss a pair of movies that take very different looks at the nature of relationships. The first is Luca Guadagnino’s “Bones and All” followed by Joanna Hogg’s “The Eternal Daughter.”
  • Movies 101
    As we approach the end of the year, the film industry is already thinking about awards. And several movies, as well as the performances in them, are being touted. This week Dan Webster, Mary Pat Treuthart and Nathan Weinbender discuss two movies that feature actresses mentioned as being among the year’s best performers. We’re talking about Florence Pugh in the Netflix feature “The Wonder” and Jennifer Lawrence in the Apple TV+ feature “Causeway.”
  • Movies 101
    As we age, most of us have a tendency to look back at our lives. And when you’re a filmmaker, that tendency becomes an attempt to meld memory with art. This week Dan Webster, Mary Pat Treuthart and Nathan Weinbender discuss a pair of movies by first-rate directors who examine their pasts by imbuing a fair amount of fact with an overlay of calculated fiction. Steven Spielberg does so with “The Fabelmans” and James Gray does so with “Armageddon Time.”
  • Movies 101
    No matter what kind of story is being told these days in movies, women characters no longer serve merely as the eye candy on the arm of a manly protagonist. This week Dan Webster, Mary Pat Treuthart and Nathan Weinbender discuss a trio of movies that feature women characters at the heart of the action. Those movies are “She Said,” “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” and “The Menu.”
  • Movies 101
    As long as we avoid the more racy nuances of the term “show and tell,” we can certainly apply it to two movies that are now screening at the Magic Lantern Theatre. This week Dan Webster, Mary Pat Treuthart and Nathan Weinbender discuss those two films, the Korean-made “Decision to Leave” and the Scottish-made “Aftersun.”
  • Movies 101
    “An eye for an eye,” Mahatma Gandhi once famously said, “will only make the whole world blind.” No argument, yet revenge – perhaps the most supercharged of emotions – is clearly a major source of many a movie screenplay. This week Dan Webster, Mary Pat Treuthart and Nathan Weinbender discuss a pair of movies that explore the causes and effects of revenge. One, titled “The Banshees of Inisherin,” comes to us courtesy of the Irish filmmaker Martin McDonagh, while the other, titled “Triangle of Sadness,” is a product of the Swedish filmmaker Ruben Östlund.
  • Movies 101
    Movies are often seen as mere entertainment. Walt Disney, among others, made his fortune on that belief. But some of the best movies ever made don’t entertain so much as examine the social issues of their time. This week, Dan Webster, Mary Pat Treuthart and Nathan Weinbender discuss three movies that follow that latter formula: “Till,” the story of the lynching of the teenager Emmett Till, and its aftermath; “Descendant,” a documentary about the search for and salvaging of the last ship that carried enslaved peoples to America; and “Tár,” a narrative film starring Cate Blanchett as an embattled orchestra conductor.
  • Movies 101
    Love may make the world go round, as the song goes, but these days love is – as another song goes – a many-splendored thing. This week Dan Webster, Mary Pat Treuthart and Nathan Weinbender discuss two films that are different explorations of the classic love story. One is “Ticket to Paradise,” and the other is “Bros.” We’ll also tackle the recent adaptation of author Gregory McDonald’s second “Fletch” novel, “Confess, Fletch.”