‘Jojo Rabbit’ successfully walks a comedic and emotional tightrope

“Jojo Rabbit” –  Taika Waititi is an immensely talented and creative actor, writer and director, but he needs to add tightrope walker to his resume, because he pulls off an impossible balancing act with his new film “Jojo Rabbit”. Set in Germany during the last throes of WWII, Jojo Betzler (Roman Griffin Davis), 10, is a devoted member of the Hitler Youth, but he discovers that his mother (Scarlett Johansson) is hiding a Jewish girl in their home, which throws his little fanatical mind for a loop. On the surface,…

‘The Lighthouse’ is a mesmerizing visual feast…and a rudderless waste of time

“The Lighthouse” – Robert Eggers’ follow-up to his eerie, creepy horror film “The Witch” (2015) (4/4 stars) is an equally eerie, creepy drama about two weathered men watching over a lonely lighthouse. There’s little doubt that this visual feast sets a disturbing tone, as “The Lighthouse” has an Ingmar Bergman-“Hour of the Wolf”-thing working greatly in its favor.  Filmed entirely in black and white and almost exclusively with a 1:1 aspect ratio (or very close to it), Eggers delivers a horrible sense of doom on a teeny, tiny island near…

Political Thriller Week: ‘Three Days of the Condor’

“Three Days of the Condor” – Joe Turner (Robert Redford) is a researcher at the American Literary Historical Society, which sounds like the most harmless job on the planet, next to elementary school librarian and feather duster.  Well, on an ordinary day, he leaves for lunch, and when he returns, everyone in the said place of work is dead.  He rightly assumes that he could be next. Oh, Turner, by the way, works for the CIA, and the historical society is simply a cover. Director Sydney Pollack keeps us guessing…