review
“Mighty Mary” and the all-woman team that cannonballed America’s Cup
Most of the action in “Mighty Mary,” the new documentary about the first all-woman yachting team to vie for the America’s Cup in 1995, takes place in San Diego, where the women train and race. But the film also has plenty of Cambridge connections. Director and former Olympic rower Mary Mazzio lived in Cambridge in […]
An intimate documentary, a kidnapping rescue and a black comedy debut
“Remake” ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Rating: 3.5 out of 4. Ross McElwee’s “Remake” opens with a wry proposition: a Hollywood producer wants to turn McElwee’s 1986 documentary, “Sherman’s March” — the filmmaker’s meandering meditation on love, Southern culture, and romantic rejection — into a conventional scripted feature, perhaps even a comedy. Questions abound: Who would play McElwee? How […]
Cape Cod environmental crime drama has local flavor, minimal thrills
“The Scallop Plot” by former Boston Globe health columnist Judy Foreman seems like an ideal choice for a Cape Cod guest house bookshelf, a thriller to flip through idly on a rainy day. It’s full of immersive descriptions of Provincetown and vicinity, with plenty of local landmarks and restaurants namechecked. And it leaves the reader […]
A mishit and a backfire from two new movies
“The Dink” ⭐⭐ Rating: 2 out of 4. What if a top tennis player faltered in their career and had to slum it on the pickleball circuit? That’s kind of the loose “Happy Gilmore”—esque concept behind this not quite pickled-enough comedy that stars Jake Johnson (“New Girl,” “Drinking Buddies”) as said fictional tennis star Dustin […]
This film about dinner with the neighbors is a winner
“The Invite” ⭐⭐⭐ Rating: 3 out of 4. Questions of happiness and fulfillment take center stage in “The Invite,” a barbed comedy about a couple at a bitter crossroads in their marriage. Angela (Olivia Wilde) and Joe (Seth Rogen) are further challenged by their upstairs neighbors who, over the course of a single dinner, amplify […]
When Washington fought for the British
“Young Washington” ⭐⭐⭐ Rating: 2.5 out of 4. Happy 250th, ‘Merica, from Angel Studios, which brings us this founding father and first president origin story. We might not all be in the flag-waving mood, what with MMA on the South Lawn, war with Iran and ICE raids (though maybe that gets your patriotic fervor going), […]
A super summer flick and one with eerie edge
“Supergirl” ⭐⭐⭐ Rating: 2.5 out of 4. One year since James Gunn’s “Superman” (2025) kicked off DC Studios’ latesteffort to reestablish its suite of superheros on the big screen, we meet anothermember of the Kryptonian diaspora. As the titular Supergirl, Milly Alcock playsKara Zor-El, Superman/Clark Kent’s hard-drinking party girl cousin, who’s spentthe better part of […]
Toy Story’s 5th another fine production
“Toy Story 5” ⭐⭐⭐ Rating: 3 out of 4. The latest installation of the “Toy Story” franchise extends its record as one of the most adaptable film franchises. Perhaps its success comes from its palpable themes of vulnerability — being replaced, being outgrown or forgotten, becoming irrelevant. Maybe it’s the potpourri of misfits, voiced by […]
‘The Death of Robin Hood’
⭐⭐⭐ Rating: 3 out of 4. Revisionism is a powerful dispeller of myth. Consider how Oliver Stone, Francis Ford Coppola, and Stanley Kubrick reframed the public understanding of the Vietnam War. Or how Sergio Leone, Sam Peckinpah, and Clint Eastwood cut the morally righteous reins on the American Western. Read more At the Middle East, […]
Boosters ‘R Us and a serviceable space opera
“I Love Boosters” ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Rating: 3.5 out of 4. Rapper-turned-director Boots Riley burst onto the movie scene in 2018 with “Sorry to Bother You,” a dystopian comedy about a call-center drone who uncovers a Silicon Valley plot to create a race of “equisapiens” — horse-human hybrids to displace the labor force. The wildly inventive “I […]