Diederik van Hoogstraten

Before I talk about the drama Marshall, a moment to catch up on a film that has been in theaters for a week. Loving Vincent tells a crime story of sorts about the death of my Dutch compatriot, the painter…

We are a nation of dog lovers. America houses 78 million canines, almost half of all households have a dog. As the companion of an insanely energetic, loving Vizsla named Charlie I’m partial to them, so to me this love…

The only thing worse than awkward silence is small talk. That sentence in the new film Lucky sums up the mood of the character named Lucky, and of the film itself. Spare me the b.s., Lucky keeps telling his friends…

Before we move on to Stronger, an example of courage and terrific film making, a note on yet another cruel mistake by Jennifer Lawrence. I generally shy away from negative reviews; I prefer recommending the good ones. mother! by Darren…

Hollywood loves red-carpet affairs. Hollywood Boulevard shuts down, actors pose for selfies with screaming fans, and traffic becomes a special version of hell. None of this occurred Tuesday night, when American Assassin opened at the Chinese Theater. The publicity machine…

Oliver Stone’s 9/11 movie World Trade Center hit me hard in the gut. I saw the film in the summer of 2006 in a mostly empty multiplex theater, a stone’s throw from Ground Zero, then still a sad wasteland. As…

Dev loves pasta, Dev loves to cook, so Dev moves to Italy for a while to learn how to make pasta in Modena. He is an American of Indian descent: we know this character from the lauded comedy series Master…

Sam seems frozen. Any situation outside his family home can make him stand absolutely still, like one of his beloved penguins; Sam is obsessed with the minutiae of life in Antarctica.The only discernible emotion when he freezes will be in…

Until last week I didn’t know that listening to Nina Simone can now be considered cultural appropriation in countries such as Holland and Germany. (Thanks, Twitter.) Don’t ask me to explain it, just know that the idiocy on either side…

My guess is that most of us don’t need a reason to skip The Only Living Boy in New York. The title of the film, for one. The college graduate in question is not a “boy,” whatever the Simon &…