‘Problemista’ is an inventive, eccentric comedy, but a couple of problems trip it up

“Problemista” (2024) – Alejandro (Julio Torres) has a problem.  The 20-something, wide-eyed New York City upstart – with a slight frame and a mop-top haircut with a sometimes-noticeable cow lick – just lost his job at FreezeCorp, a cryogenic stasis outfit that dresses its clients in a tube to sleep for – perhaps – hundreds of years.  Alejandro didn’t calculate differential equations to pinpoint the math behind these science-fiction devices in the here and now.  He handled the Sleeping Beauties’ personal belongings, or for one client, an artist named Bobby…

‘Spoiler Alert’: Straight away, this touching romantic drama reveals its ending

“Spoiler Alert” (2022) – Has a friend, colleague, random stranger, or movie critic uttered a key plot point of a book, television show, or movie BEFORE you read a publication or watched a program or flick?  On a personal note, my worst experience occurred at the Portland International Airport around 2004.  While waiting for the boarding announcement, I held a copy of the “The Di Vinci Code”, and the bookmark visibly stuck above the binding, about 50 pages into the story.  Another passenger pointed at the precious literary cargo and…

‘The Cursed’ conjures up a strange and spooky cinematic hex

“The Cursed” (2021) – “She was bitten?  Where is she?” – John McBride (Boyd Holbrook) Both brave and fearful folks will ask these two questions when hearing that a woman is hurt due to “something” terrorizing a small village and regularly ripping human flesh like a twisted animal.  McBride resides in the former camp.  Set in rural 19th-century France, writer/director/cinematographer Sean Ellis’ (“Anthropoid” (2016)) horror movie feels like a throwback to tangible, soiled Hammer Films and a rich, atmospheric 21st-century production.  Many outdoor shots trigger unsettling memories of Robert Eggers’…