There’s some irony in the fact that this year’s Oscars fall during Black History Month. The #OscarsSoWhite controversy called attention to the lack of nominations for black performers and filmmakers (or any artists of color, for that matter) and how these nominations were a reflection of the larger issue of Hollywood’s racial bias. Like an […]
Adam Lubitow
Film critic for CITY Newspaper, writer, iced coffee addict, and dinosaur enthusiast.
Posted inMovies
Film preview: 2016 Oscar Nominated Shorts Programs
Magnolia Pictures and Shorts HD continue their fantastic annual tradition of bringing the year’s collection of Academy Award-nominated short films to theaters around the country with the “2016 Oscar Nominated Shorts Programs.” The Academy’s short film selections usually end up being a bit more adventurous than the feature film nominations, and it’s often a place […]
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Film review: “Anomalisa”
After my showing of “Anomalisa,” I watched a woman — clearly displeased with what she’d just seen — walk over and punch the film’s cardboard standee. Her friends muttered their approval, and they continued on their way, angrily discussing how much they regretted their viewing choice. All this to say: “Anomalisa” isn’t a film for […]
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Film review: “Ride Along 2”
The first “Ride Along” was an enjoyable, if never particularly good, action-comedy that coasted on the considerable comedic chemistry between actors Ice Cube and Kevin Hart as mismatched buddy cops (though with Hart’s character a wannabe police officer to Ice Cube’s veteran detective). Picking up not long after the events of the original film, “Ride […]
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Film review: “13 Hours”
Best known as the auteur behind crass, cartoonishly over-the-top action films and feature-length Hasbro commercials, director Michael Bay takes a stab at “serious” filmmaking with “13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi.” Adapted by Chuck Hogan from the book by Mitchell Zuckoff, the film dramatizes the 2012 attack on a United States embassy outpost and […]
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Top 15 movies of 2015
2015 has been over for almost two weeks now, and the big Oscar contenders have just about finished trickling into Rochester theaters. We’re still waiting on a few last-minute stragglers (“Anomalisa” opens next week and “45 Years” is due in February), but there’s more than enough to begin taking stock of the year that was. […]
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Film preview: “Sympathy, Said the Shark”
Two filmmakers return to their hometown for the Rochester premiere of “Sympathy, Said the Shark,” a new crime thriller from writer-director Devin Lawrence and producer Matthew Mourgides, both Sodus natives. On a dark and stormy night, a young couple — Justin (Lea Coco) and Lara (Melinda Cohen) — answer their door to find their estranged […]
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Film review: “The Revenant”
At last Sunday’s Golden Globe ceremony, Alejandro Gonzรกlez Iรฑรกrritu’s macho survival tale, “The Revenant,” took home awards for Best Picture, drama; Director; and Actor, drama. While it remains to be seen whether that will translate to Oscar gold (Academy Award nominations are announced Thursday), the Globes generally have a spotty record for predicting which way […]
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Film review: “In Transit”
“In Transit,” the lovely final film by legendary documentarian Albert Maysles, focuses on the various passengers aboard the Empire Builder, the busiest long-distance train route in America. Aided by co-directors Lynn True, Nelson Walker, Ben Wu, and David Usui, the filmmaker captures the conversations and connections formed between what were once complete strangers, and in […]
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Film review: “The Hateful Eight”
Quentin Tarantino’s latest cinematic cherry bomb, “The Hateful Eight,” has been the subject of spirited debate and dozens of finger-wagging think pieces: Is it misogynistic? Racist? Just wholly reprehensible? I’m a steadfast believer in the idea that depiction doesn’t equal endorsement, but the film is loaded with enough stomach-churning sadism to supply more than enough […]
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Film review: “Hitchcock/Truffaut”
Consisting of an extended interview between Alfred Hitchcock and Francois Truffaut, the influential 1966 book “Hitchcock/Truffaut” is a favored text among Film 101 professors everywhere. And with good reason: the conversation is endlessly enlightening. The book (and by extension, the film) offers a unique dialogue between one of history’s greatest directors (though Hitchcock was still […]
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Film review: “The Danish Girl”
As the first person to undergo sexual-reassignment surgery, Danish artist Lili Elbe (played here by Eddie Redmayne) is a transgender pioneer, but while Tom Hooper’s Oscar-baity biopic of Elbe’s life is well-intentioned and pretty to look at, it adds up to little else. As portrayed in “The Danish Girl,” Lili’s transition seems to spring forth […]
