Jake Coyle May 05, 2021 - 11:47 AM
A sleepy and aimless stab at something earnestly âfeel-good, âHere Today is a wasted pairing of Billy Crystal and Tiffany Haddish that juggles dementia, grief and family squabbles about as adeptly as a daytime soap.
âHere Today,â which opens in theatres Friday, is genial and gentle enough to make it mildly restive. It is, in scenes around leafy Brooklyn Heights, at least leisurely. The film, written by Alan Zweibel and Crystal and based on a short story by Zweibel, is Crystal s first time directing in 20 years â since the Roger Maris HBO film â61(asterisk). That, a Yankee story, was more in Crystal s wheelhouse. The tones here, though, are more ambitious and out of reach for the limp âHere Today.â
Review: Billy Crystal and Tiffany Haddish in Here Today
by Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
Posted May 5, 2021 2:47 pm EDT
Last Updated May 5, 2021 at 2:58 pm EDT
This image released by Sony Pictures shows Tiffany Haddish, center, in a scene from Here Today. (Cara Howe/Sony Pictures via AP)
A sleepy and aimless stab at something earnestly “feel-good,” “Here Today” is a wasted pairing of Billy Crystal and Tiffany Haddish that juggles dementia, grief and family squabbles about as adeptly as a daytime soap.
“Here Today,” which opens in theatres Friday, is genial and gentle enough to make it mildly restive. It is, in scenes around leafy Brooklyn Heights, at least leisurely. The film, written by Alan Zweibel and Crystal and based on a short story by Zweibel, is Crystal’s first time directing in 20 years since the Roger Maris HBO film “61(asterisk).” That, a Yankee story, was more in Crystal’s wheelhouse. The tones here, though, are more ambitious and out of
Messenger
Ready for a documentary about three decades of agonizing fits and starts of the Mideast peace process, from the perspective of US negotiators? You’re probably thinking that doesn’t sound too enticing right about now. But there’s a reason “The Human Factor,” by Israeli filmmaker Dror Moreh, escapes what would seem a likely fate of being interesting only to policy wonks and those with a direct stake in the issue, and it has something to do with the title. It’s a reference to a line from Dennis Ross, the best-known negotiator of the bunch. “You can’t ignore the human factor,” he says at the beginning. “Someone who has a human touch treats someone else with respect. Someone who has a human touch doesn’t think they’re going to outsmart anybody.”
Friday the 13
th Part 2 arrived in theaters May 1, 1981.
Filmmakers faced a quandary from the outset, with almost the entirety of the original cast cinematically dead, including the main antagonist, Betsy Palmer’s aforementioned Mrs. Voorhees character. Director Sean S. Cunningham wasn’t keen on the idea of making her son, Jason, the new killer. Though he was used in the stinger ending of the first film, jumping out of Crystal Lake and pulling Alice (Adrienne King) from the canoe in which she was floating, Jason was meant to be a figment of her imagination.
Cunningham thought perhaps the next entry could be an entirely fresh story with no carryover roles or connection to the original other than in the title. Dissatisfied with the planned path of the story and his ideas for an anthology rebuffed, the filmmaker stepped away from the project, passing it on to friend and collaborator Steve Miner, who would make his directorial debut.
Review: Human Factor gets personal about Mideast peace
by Jocelyn Noveck, The Associated Press
Posted May 3, 2021 4:54 pm EDT
Last Updated May 3, 2021 at 4:58 pm EDT
FILE - President Bill Clinton, center, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, left, and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat walk on the grounds of Camp David, Md., at the start of the Mideast summit on July 11, 2000. The documentary The Human Factor shows the behind-the-scenes story of the U.S. s effort to secure peace in the Middle East. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds, File)
Ready for a documentary about three decades of agonizing fits and starts of the Mideast peace process, from the perspective of U.S. negotiators? You’re probably thinking that doesn’t sound too enticing right about now.