Cha Cha Real Smooth – Sundance 2022

Cooper Raiff follows up his SXSW award-winning Shithouse with Cha Cha Real Smooth, a film set on the Bar and Bat Mitzvah circuit. (If you are searching on Google to see if either Cooper Raiff or Dakota Johnson are Jewish, the answer is no. That’s just another frustration with the film). My worst fear going into this film was that Dakota Johnson would be the latest non-Jewish actress starring as a Jewish woman. This turns…

"Cha Cha Real Smooth – Sundance 2022"

AFI FEST 2020: Pink Skies Ahead

Pink Skies Ahead takes us back to the Los Angeles of the late 1990s when a college students drops out and moves back in with her parents. Aspiring writer Winona (Jessica Barden) drops out of college and gets diagnosed with an anxiety disorder after moving back home with her parents, Robert (Michael McKean) and Pamela (Marcia Gay Harden).  She’s in denial about Dr. Cotton’s (Henry Winkler) diagnosis.  After all, she’s never had a panic attack…

"AFI FEST 2020: Pink Skies Ahead"

The Hunter’s Prayer is A Different Kind of Thriller

The Hunter’s Prayer provides for a subversive take on the thriller genre as a hit man decides to go against orders and protect his mark.  Instead of providing us with a traditional thriller, this one is completely character-driven. Directed by Jonathan Mostow, the film stars Sam Worthington, Odeya Rush, Allen Leech, Amy Landecker, Martin Compston and Verónica Echegui.  Based on the novel by Kevin Wignall, the screenplay was penned by John Brancato and Michael Ferris.…

"The Hunter’s Prayer is A Different Kind of Thriller"