Bennett Campbell Ferguson - Fools Who Dream Movies

Editorial: “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” the Pandemic, and Me

To most fans, “The Rise of Skywalker” is a compendium of clunky lines. To me, it was a welcome diversion at a desperate time.

“Nightbitch” is best described as a movie about a woman who turns into a dog, which is accurate and off the film’s narrative scent.

“Gladiator II” walks well-trodden ground, but with enough oomph, transgression, and rage to make it more than UFC in leather skirts.

To truly “get” Ridley Scott, you need to seek out his secret masterpieces.

“Anora” styles itself as an anti-“Cinderella.” Yet it can’t see past the empty, alluring image it tailors for the male gaze.

What do men want from movies? Skilled underdog bros, apparently.

If “The Apprentice” convinces one American not to vote for Trump, it will have been worth making. Beyond that, it’s barely worth seeing.

There’s nothing wrong with making a disappointing sequel. Just make sure you disappoint the right people.

Coppola creates a film mesmerizingly at war with itself: obvious and abstract, conservative and progressive, ugly and beautiful.

What’s a director to do after transporting us to moviegoing heaven? Reach for the sun and get burned, I guess.