Tribeca 2022: B.J. Novak's "Vengeance"

by Jason Adams

Weirdly conservative and as profound as a midnight tweet-storm during a Dexedrine binge, I give you (no seriously, take it away from me) actor B.J. Novak’s writer/director debut Vengeance. This feels like a movie that Elon Musk will just absolutely adore... and please never defile my memory by thinking I mean that as a compliment. A wannabe Coens-esque satire of red-state/blue-state warfare and the champagne simps caught in the middle, Vengeance ultimately reads like a love letter to "Both Sides"-ism that ventures nothing so gains a great plains worth of nothing in bold-type return...

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Tribeca: Intoxicating Experiences in ‘Good Girl Jane’

By Abe Friedtanzer

 

Everyone’s experience of high school includes something they wish they hadn’t done. It’s much easier to reflect back on what that might have been as an adult; you have more distant to consider the impact and meaning of a moment or relationship that might not have problematic or regrettable at the time. For some, there’s a great deal of regret from a repeated pattern of behavior that had an undeniable effect on their lives. With time, humor can also be found in deeply disturbing events, and Good Girl Jane does that exceptionally well.

Sarah Elizabeth Mintz describes her directorial debut (she also wrote the screenplay) as loosely based on her own life but with considerable liberties taken and modifications made...

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Extremely Belated Reviews: Batman, Dog, Yang, Adam, and Apollo 10½

by Nathaniel R

Each year we dream of saying something about *every* film we see but it never quite works out that way. Herewith some films we didn't review at the time. Better late than never or...? You decide.

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Tribeca: Facing the Certainty of Death in ‘Pink Moon’

By Abe Friedtanzer

 

There is one thing that is true for everyone: we’re going to die. Some worry that talking about it will make it happen sooner – that’s a quote that my wife, who works in the end-of-life space, often uses to dispel the stigma around the idea of planning for a good death. Just because one person might be ready to open up about it, doesn’t mean others in their immediate vicinity will be. In Pink Moon, a Dutch-Slovenian film premiering at this year’s Tribeca festival, one 74-year-old father, Jan (Johan Leysen), decides he’s ready to end his life, something his children, particularly his daughter Iris (Julia Akkermans) are not okay with at all...

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Tribeca 2022: Ray Romano’s Directorial Debut ‘Somewhere in Queens’

By Abe Friedtanzer 

Nearly two decades after the end of his beloved, Emmy-winning sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, Ray Romano continues to churn out consistently solid work. His follow-up TV shows include Men of a Certain Age and the just-cancelled Made for Love. He also starred opposite Mark Duplass in the underrated Paddleton, which you can stream on Netflix. And now he’s stepped behind the camera to direct himself in the very funny Somewhere in Queens, featuring a very loud family of Italians with plenty of spoken and unspoken issues.

The role Romano plays is one that tracks with his resume, that of a moderately awkward husband and father who hasn’t achieved much success in his life...

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