Leanne Tobias – Google

Waste of time, especially if you like rom coms. This clunker of a film is supposedly based on Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. With flat characters and lackluster dialogue, there is no resemblance to the original. Leads Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell should be a sure romantic pairing, but they are wasted here. If you loved Dermot Mulroney in classic rom coms, it’s likely you’ll be dismayed by his appearance here as a clumsy and charmless pater familias. The few faint pluses aren’t enough to save this disappointment. The Sydney, Australia backdrop is swoon-worthy, a winsome koala offers some cheer and the comical family dog is named Klonopin. The pity is that Klonopin’s moniker is the wittiest thing about Anything But You.

3.5 stars rounding to 4. Slow narrative development and hard to identify with the youthful protagonist for a considerable portion of the film, but ultimately built to a meaningful and affecting finish. Strong performances by the entire cast, although I’m hard pressed to accept Anthony Hopkins, even with a Liverpool back story, as a Jewish pater familias with Ukrainian origins. Special shout-out to Jeremy Strong as the protagonist’s dad and John Diehl in a small role as Fred Trump, Sr. Both were pitch-perfect and embodied their roles brilliantly.

Very funny rom com in the disparate family backgrounds genre. Examines the family kerfuffles that ensue when a young Black woman and a Jewish guy fall in love. Starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Eddie Murphy as the beleaguered parents. Jonah Hill and Lauren London play the young couple with sweetness and conviction. This is a broad comedy that engages unabashedly in stereotypes. If you’re looking for a serious and sensitive portrayal of interracial courtships, you’ll be disappointed. But if you’re in the mood for some laughs and a happy ending,You People delivers.

Very good but not great, especially in comparison to Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights, a far more effective musical film dedicated to the Puerto Rican experience in New York. That said, there is much to appreciate in Steven Spielberg’s remake of West Side Story, including the brooding sets depicting a West Side in the throes of urban renewal, superb cinematography and excellent performances by Ariana DeBose (Anita), Rita Moreno (the shopkeeper Valentina, a new character created for the film), David Alvarez (Bernardo), Mike Faist (Riff) and Ansel Elgort (Tony.) Spielberg depicts the Puerto Rican community sympathetically: his Sharks appear to have banded together for mutual protection against the racially-motivated aggression of the Jets. The Jets, by contrast, are portrayed as narrow-minded and resentful Whites intent on protecting their shrinking turf against the twin evils of racial change and urban redevelopment. Spielberg’s decision to starkly contrast the Sharks (sympathetic) and the Jets (thugs) is justified in order to reconsider and redress the previous Broadway and film portrayal of the Sharks as “other.” A far better choice, however, would have been to inject similar humanity into the portrayal of the Jets. The tragedy of youthful gang warfare would be further underscored by depicting all combatants as vulnerable, rather than casting one side as heroic and the other as villainous. The stereotypical portrayal of the Jets underscores the occasionally stilted quality of Spielberg’s West Side Story. Until the last quarter of the movie, the character of Maria is written as a bland Hollywood ingenue, depressing audience interest. The staging, while largely impressive, frequently emphasizes that the film was shot on a soundstage. These shortcomings reduce the immediacy and impact of the new West Side Story, detracting from the film’s many virtues.

Intelligent, well-acted behind-the-scenes look at the marriage and business partnership of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. The dynamics of the marriage and its influence on Desilu Productions and the making of I Love Lucy are fascinating, as are the portrayals of Arnaz and Ball as savvy business professionals. Nicole Kidman as Ball and Javier Barden as Arnaz deliver strong performances, as do members of the supporting cast.