Movie & Television Reviews

“Backrooms” (A24) is that rarity among contemporary horror films, an intelligent and unsettling psychological study that doesn’t substitute wallowing in blood for the work of evoking real chills. While the movie is mostly free of graphic imagery, however, it does include some briefly intense mayhem.

The following are capsule reviews of theatrical movies available now for streaming or scheduled for broadcast on network or cable television during the week of June 14, as well as notes on TV programming for the same week. Televised films may or may not be edited for language, nudity, violence and sexual situations while the […]

NEW YORK (OSV News) – Nate Bargatze, best known for his stand-up work, co-wrote and stars in the domestic comedy “The Breadwinner” (Sony). Although mostly wholesome, the film is also, unfortunately, sorely lacking in laughs. Bargatze plays Nashville, Tennessee, car salesman Nate Wilcox. While he constantly outperforms his co-workers on the showroom floor, Nate is […]

NEW YORK (OSV News) – For British meteorologist James Stagg (Andrew Scott), the central figure in the fact-based World War II drama “Pressure” (Focus), the “longest day” was probably not the eventual date of the Allied invasion of Normandy. Instead it was likely the day he had to advise that the greatest amphibious landing of […]

The following are capsule reviews of theatrical movies available now for streaming or scheduled for broadcast on network or cable television during the week of June 7, as well as notes on TV programming for the same week. Televised films may or may not be edited for language, nudity, violence and sexual situations while the […]

NEW YORK (OSV News) – Writer-director Guy Ritchie puts a twist on the heist movie with “In the Grey” (Black Bear). Although clever, the film is also harshly violent. So it can only be endorsed for grown viewers who don’t object to a steady barrage of gunfire, the occasional explosion and the sight of blood […]

The following are capsule reviews of theatrical movies available now for streaming or scheduled for broadcast on network or cable television during the week of May 31, as well as notes on TV programming for the same week. Televised films may or may not be edited for language, nudity, violence and sexual situations while the […]

NEW YORK (OSV News) — “More tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones,” the 16th-century mystic St. Teresa of Avila is famously said to have observed. To judge by the horror film “Obsession” (Focus), something similar — but far more drastic — might be said about fulfilled wishes. Socially awkward music store clerk […]