Movie review by Greg Carlson The uncanny resemblance of Louis Ortiz to the 44th president of the United States supplies the fuel in Ryan Murdock’s “Bronx Obama,” an engaging and entertaining documentary that follows the ups and downs of a regular guy trying to make ends meet on the basis of his physical similarities to […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson Setting aside the inevitable comparisons to “Love Story” and the less inevitable comparisons to “Dying Young,” Josh Boone’s adaptation of “The Fault in Our Stars” is the most mordant and acerbic kids-with-cancer story to achieve such widespread appeal. Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort, who played siblings in “Divergent,” are now […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson Legendary magician and fraud investigator James “The Amazing” Randi is the subject of Tyler Measom and Justin Weinstein’s engrossing biopic “An Honest Liar.” Covering Randi’s extraordinary life from his early years in Toronto to his more recent decision to speak publicly about his homosexuality, “An Honest Liar” seamlessly integrates a […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson A dizzying whirlwind of cinematic sensory overload, Gyorgi Palfi’s “Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen” demands the attention of every serious movie lover besotted with the woozy power of the silver screen. Lyrically edited from more than 450 films – some bad, many good, several great – Palfi’s achievement is undeniable […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson In his sharp biography “The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz,” filmmaker Brian Knappenberger spends very little time on the heartbreaking January 11, 2013 suicide of the title figure. Even so, the death, at age 26, of the brilliant Swartz looms over the contents of the movie, informing […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson In “The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology,” his infectiously entertaining second collaboration with filmmaker Sophie Fiennes, the Slovenian cultural philosopher Slavoj Zizek expands his shaggy, ursine celebrity as the most accessible and engaging of contemporary Marxist, Lacanian psychoanalytic critics. In essence an illustrated lecture, Fiennes juices Zizek’s talking head performance in […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson Echoing the conflicted emotions that led Leonard Nimoy to title his first autobiography “I Am Not Spock” and then later publish another volume titled “I Am Spock,” the man who has given life to Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch since the inaugural season of “Sesame Street” in 1969 articulates […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson The brain dead “Brick Mansions” is, not surprisingly, a completely unnecessary remake of Pierre Morel’s “District 13,” (also known as “District B13,” “Banlieue 13,” or just “B13”) another title from Luc Besson’s seemingly endless supply of co-produced and/or co-written projects. Crammed start to finish with preposterous lapses in even the […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson Along with Stanley Kubrick’s proposed epic “Napoleon,” a film adaptation of Frank Herbert’s “Dune” that was to be directed by Chilean-born esotericist and spiritual guru Alejandro Jodorwosky is often listed as one of the “greatest films never made.” First pitched to the cult filmmaker by French producer Michel Seydoux in […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson Sharing connections with science fiction movies as wildly different as “The Man Who Fell to Earth,” “The Brother from Another Planet,” “Lifeforce,” and “Species,” “Under the Skin” represents director Jonathan Glazer’s boldest and most satisfying work to date. As hypnotic, hallucinogenic, and inscrutable as some of Stanley Kubrick’s most artful […]