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      Presidents’ Day: 5 Ways to Make It Meaningful This Year

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyPresidents’ Day: 5 Ways to Make It Meaningful This YearWith kids off from school, here are suggestions for delving into our nation’s complex history with virtual museum visits, D.I.Y. tours and fun movies (Lincoln as a vampire slayer?).A replica of the Oval Office at the New-York Historical Society, which is open to the public with Covid-19 safety protocols in place.Credit…Glenn Castellano/New-York Historical SocietyFeb. 11, 2021, 10:00 a.m. ETMost years, Presidents’ Day is treated as little more than a shivery three-day weekend. But with a new chief executive in office, a former one on trial for impeachment and several statues of past presidents pulled down last year, maybe the holiday can offer time to reflect on the presidency and the ambit of our country in general.Do we still admire George Washington, knowing that he owned slaves? Abraham Lincoln’s treatment of Native Americans merits scrutiny, as well. But on the third Monday in February, a date that often falls between the two leaders’ birthdays, Presidents’ Day asks a nation to celebrate them, which should also mean questioning them, learning from our past so that we can envision a better future. While the kids are off from school, here are some suggestions for what to do virtually or in person in New York City.Visit the Resolute DeskLast year the New-York Historical Society opened a permanent exhibition that recreates the Oval Office as decorated for Ronald Reagan’s second term. (Love the rose curtains. And the matching pink phone.) The space includes a replica of the Resolute Desk, a gift from Queen Victoria. Visitors cannot sit behind it for photo ops right now, but they can still take selfies in the room. There are other presidential artifacts on hand, including Washington’s inaugural Bible.The society also invites visitors to participate in an interactive game, Playing the President: FDR’s First Hundred Days. By reading historical documents and consulting virtual advisers, you too can help pull America out of a depression. Tour presidential beginningsLincoln’s modest home in Springfield, Ill., remains closed, but the National Park Service has arranged a virtual tour instead. Enjoy the bold choices in carpeting! For a somewhat grimmer sojourn, click through a virtual tour of Ford’s Theater, the site of Lincoln’s assassination, in Washington, D.C.While Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate remains open, it also features robust virtual offerings, some of which include to-go food pairings. In the area for Feb. 13 or 27? Pick up hoecakes and sweetmeats for a virtual tea with Martha Washington. (Maybe not the actual Martha Washington?) The virtual jewel: An extensive tour, including videos, stories, 360-degree views and close-ups of furniture, curios and a recipe for Martha’s “Great Cake.” The tour includes quarters that housed enslaved people and some description of their lives on the estate. The long weekend is good time to visit Statue of Liberty, pictured in 1979.Credit…Barton Silverman/The New York TimesA chance to see Lady LibertyAmerica has a mixed record when it comes to welcoming the tired, the poor and the yearning huddled masses. But to acquaint yourself with a 151-foot symbol of its promise, consider a visit to Liberty Island and Ellis Island. While the statue’s interior remains closed, the museums on both islands have reopened, with Covid-19 protocols in place.At the Statue of Liberty Museum, visitors can see how the structure was produced and installed, as well as the original torch. On neighboring Ellis Island, visit the National Museum of Immigration to see photos, videos and heirlooms. Stop by the Family History Center in the hopes of learning your own story. Research assistants are on hand, if you and your genealogy need extra help. (The center is closed on Presidents’ Day itself.) A stroll-it-yourself in New YorkIn Lower Manhattan, Washington’s fans might begin at Fraunces Tavern Museum, where in 1783, before it was cool, he ordered takeout. The upstairs hosts a museum and a re-creation of the room where Washington spoke to his officers. Stop in front of Wall Street’s Federal Hall, a national memorial and the site of Washington’s 1789 inauguration, as well as the first Supreme Court and Congress. (While the original building was demolished in 1812, the new hall has a piece of the balcony where Washington stood.) The hall is currently closed, but there are virtual exhibitions for Black History Month and Presidents’ Day. A bit further uptown, you can stand outside Cooper Union, where Lincoln gave a famous antislavery address. Or head to the Bronx to see the Morris-Jumel Mansion, which Washington briefly used as a headquarters during the Revolutionary War. It is open for in-person visits, with a virtual tour also available. Anthony Mackie, left, and Benjamin Walker as our 16th president in “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.”Credit…Alan Markfield/20th Century FoxMeet the president, on filmMost likely you have seen “Hamilton” on Disney+ by now. And perhaps you have enjoyed Daniel Day-Lewis’s grizzled visage in Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln,” available on HBO Max. But there are plenty of other filmic and limited-series takes on past presidents.Consider a young Henry Fonda as “Young Mr. Lincoln,” free on Tubi, or for a somewhat more fanciful take: “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter,” with Benjamin Walker’s face beneath the stovepipe hat, available on Cinemax.If real presidents have you down, you can feel even more down with the recent limited series “The Plot Against America,” on HBO, which imagines that the aviator Charles S. Lindbergh, a fascist sympathizer, has won election. Or relax with romantic comedies like “The American President,” in which Michael Douglas’s POTUS falls for Annette Bening’s elegant lobbyist, or “Dave,” in which Kevin Kline’s presidential impersonator sort of becomes president. Both are rentable on various sites.Remember that even a terrible president can inspire a delightful movie, like 1999’s splendid “Dick,” available on Showtime, in which two teenage girls (Michelle Williams and Kirsten Dunst) bring down Nixon.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      ‘Breaking News in Yuba County’ Review: Lampooning Suburbia

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story‘Breaking News in Yuba County’ Review: Lampooning Suburbia“Awkwafina head-butts Wanda Sykes” could be a satisfactory one-sentence recap of this movie.Allison Janney in “Breaking News in Yuba County.”Credit…Anna Kooris/American International PicturesFeb. 11, 2021, 7:00 a.m. ETBreaking News in Yuba CountyDirected by Tate TaylorComedy, Crime, Drama, ThrillerR1h 36mFind TicketsWhen you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.In the 2020 comedy “Lazy Susan,” the superb actress Allison Janney strove mightily to make a credible character out of what, as written, was a glib, nasty caricature and the centerpiece of a facile lampoon of suburbia. Janney now stars in “Breaking News in Yuba County,” which gives one the sinking feeling that Janney actually likes starring in facile lampoons of suburbia.Here Janney plays Sue Buttons, a housewife who likes to spend her time watching daytime TV and repeating affirmations that were already stale joke material by the time they made “Stuart Saves His Family” (that was 1995). Her husband (Matthew Modine) is involved in money-laundering; when he meets with a farcical mishap, she sees an opportunity to find fame, all the while in ignorance of a big bag of money that she, in a sense, has inherited from her spouse.[embedded content]Early on, this Mississippi-shot story leans in the direction of a warm-weather “Fargo.” It is replete with big names playing nasty characters doing ugly things. “Awkwafina head-butts Wanda Sykes” could be a satisfactory one-sentence recap of the picture.Only there’s more, and it’s worse. People who believe that the “Fargo” creators Joel and Ethan Coen hold their characters in contempt ought to have a look at this. It’s how contempt is really done, only at a much lower level of wit and intelligence.One may wonder how Tate Taylor, who has overseen high-profile, conventional, ostensibly respectable Hollywood product like “The Girl on the Train” and “The Help,” came to direct this amoral, repellent bag of sick, a movie whose biggest ambition in life is to start a bidding war at a late 1990s Sundance Film Festival and then bomb at the box office. Call it water finding its own level, maybe.Breaking News in Yuba CountyRated R for “repellent” (actually language, violence, brief nudity). Running time: 1 hour 36 minutes. In theaters and available to rent or buy on Amazon, Vudu and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators. Please consult the guidelines outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before watching movies inside theaters.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      ‘Ruth: Justice Ginsburg in Her Own Words’ Review: Still Notorious

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }Justice Ruth Bader GinsburgObituaryJudicial LegacyHonored at CapitolHer Advice for LivingPhotosAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story‘Ruth: Justice Ginsburg in Her Own Words’ Review: Still NotoriousThis documentary puts her words front and center, relying on clips to provide a sweeping view of her ideals.Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the film “Ruth: Justice Ginsburg in Her Own Words.”Credit…American Film Foundation/Virgil FilmsFeb. 11, 2021, 7:00 a.m. ETRUTH – Justice Ginsburg in her own WordsDirected by Freida Lee MockDocumentaryNot Rated1h 29mFind TicketsWhen you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.Despite what its title may imply, the documentary “Ruth: Justice Ginsburg in Her Own Words” does not recount Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s career through her words alone. But it does put her words front and center, relying on video and audio clips — of an address she gave as a law professor on the Equal Rights Amendment, of her Supreme Court confirmation process, of her arguments before and from the bench — to provide a sweeping view of her ideals.[embedded content]Little here will seem new to those who paid attention to Ginsburg’s career or watched the Oscar-nominated documentary “RBG” (2018). But the director, Freida Lee Mock, repeatedly returns to the idea that change comes in steps. We hear from Jennifer Carroll Foy, who attended Virginia Military Institute after the Supreme Court’s Ginsburg-authored decision in United States v. Virginia led to the school opening to women, and from Lilly Ledbetter, who lost a dispute over pay discrimination suits before the court but whose case (and Ginsburg’s dissent) paved the way for the subsequent Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.While there may be no bad time to listen to Justice Ginsburg, this documentary, first shown in 2019 and finalized last year, is getting a release belated enough that it needs updating. Justice Ginsburg’s death in September is acknowledged only an “in memoriam” title card; when Irin Carmon, an author of “Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg,” says that Ginsburg is “in great shape,” it’s difficult not to cringe. And though filled with valuable details, the documentary has the misfortune of arriving after countless other appraisals.Ruth: Justice Ginsburg in Her Own WordsNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 29 minutes. In virtual cinemas.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      ‘Music’ Review: A Woefully Misguided View of Disability

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story‘Music’ Review: A Woefully Misguided View of DisabilityThe pop star Sia’s feature directorial debut, about an autistic teenager, at times seems indistinguishable from mockery.Maddie Ziegler, left, and Kate Hudson in “Music,” directed by Sia.Credit…Merrick Morton/Vertical EntertainmentFeb. 11, 2021, 7:00 a.m. ETMusicDirected by SiaDrama, MusicalPG-131h 47mFind TicketsWhen you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.The cringeworthy drama “Music” introduces its central character in a song and dance sequence so gasp-inducingly crass, the scene almost demands that the movie be shown in theaters. At least then, audiences would be able to exercise the right to walk out.The film is directed by the pop singer and songwriter Sia, and it stars her frequent collaborator, Maddie Ziegler, as an autistic teenager named Music. The film begins with Ziegler performing an interpretive dance set to a new song by Sia about bodies failing and spirits being set free.[embedded content]Ziegler’s dancing is as expressive as ever, but she has been directed to pantomime an exaggerated apery of disability. She gapes, her eyes wide and unfocused, as the choreography leads her through a cruel approximation of twitches and whoops. Neither Ziegler nor Sia are autistic, and their collaboration on this film reduces disability to mannerisms that look indistinguishable from mockery.The film spins away from this shocking opening to introduce its characters in a more realistic world. There, Music lives in New York with her loving grandmother, Millie (Mary Kay Place). When Millie suddenly dies, she leaves the teenager in the care of Music’s half sister, Zu (Kate Hudson, nominated for a Golden Globe in the role).Zu is ill-equipped for the responsibility of watching Music, but the attention of a handsome neighbor, Ebo (Leslie Odom Jr.), provides her with enough incentive to stick around. As Zu and Ebo begin to imagine what a family with Music could look like, they sing Sia songs composed specifically for the film in their fantasies.This is a bizarre movie, one that parades confused ideas about care, fantasy and disability with a pride that reads as vanity. It is audacious, in the sense that making it certainly took some audacity.MusicRated PG-13 for language, drug references and brief violence. Running time: 1 hour 47 minutes. Rent or buy on Google Play, FandangoNow and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      ‘There Is No “I” in Threesome’ Review: Monogamy Alternatives

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story‘There Is No “I” in Threesome’ Review: Monogamy AlternativesA director and his fiancée chronicle their yearlong open relationship in this documentary that offers a clever examination of perspective.Jan Oliver Lucks, right, with Zoe in the documentary “There Is No ‘I’ In Threesome.”Credit…HBO MaxFeb. 11, 2021, 7:00 a.m. ETThere Is No I in ThreesomeDirected by Jan Oliver LucksDocumentary1h 27mFind TicketsWhen you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.The documentary “There Is No ‘I’ in Threesome” (on HBO Max) begins with a couple stripping naked atop a high diving board. Giddy and clasping hands, they brace for the jump.The director Jan Oliver Lucks, who goes by Ollie, and his fiancée Zoe are taking the plunge into an open relationship. Living on opposite sides of New Zealand, the long-distance duo are free to date and sleep with other people for a year leading up to their wedding. Using iPhones, they will each record the experience: Ollie hopes the documentary will make them poster children for an enriching alternative to monogamy.[embedded content]Ollie and Zoe prove a sweet match, but as they coo and cuddle, they can be difficult to root for. Both are attention-seeking and excessively admiring of their project, and the home video of their hangouts tends toward indulgence. They may aim to present polyamory as tenable and fulfilling, but it comes off more as a risky experiment — particularly once Zoe’s fling with a theater director named Tom develops into a serious romance that strains her bond with Ollie.But as our central couple’s connection falters, the documentary evolves into an astute examination of perspective. Zoe captures her own footage of her time with Tom, yet we begin to see her affair through Ollie’s eyes. As the film’s director and narrator, Ollie controls the story, and he uses this role to showcase his jealousy and his hurt. His cleverness culminates in the documentary’s startling final act, where Ollie shows how the artifice of filmmaking can mirror the lies we tell ourselves about love.There Is No “I” in ThreesomeNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 28 minutes. Watch on HBO Max.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      ‘Young Hearts’ Review: Movie Love by Algorithm

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story‘Young Hearts’ Review: Movie Love by AlgorithmThe brother and sister filmmakers Sarah Sherman and Zachary Ray Sherman deliver romance, unadorned.From left, Quinn Liebling and Anjini Taneja Azhar in “Young Hearts.”Credit…Blue Fox EntertainmentFeb. 11, 2021, 7:00 a.m. ETYoung HeartsDirected by Sarah Sherman, Zachary Ray ShermanDrama, Romance1h 35mFind TicketsWhen you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.The indie romance “Young Hearts,” by the sibling team of Sarah Sherman and Zachary Ray Sherman, feels like an algorithm-generated product of its time. A clear attempt to follow the subgenre of acne-baring teen films of recent years (“Eighth Grade,” “Lady Bird”), this one misses its landing.A mutual attraction develops between Harper (Anjini Taneja Azhar), 14, and her older brother’s best friend, Tilly (Quinn Liebling). Sarah Sherman supplies deliberately inelegant lines for Harper as she tries to flirt with Tilly on an autumnal walk home. “Leaves are, like, really cool,” she tells him.The film’s hand-held camerawork contributes to the amateur aesthetic. But what initially feels like a creative choice to capture adolescent authenticity quickly becomes painful. Imagine mumblecore with actual mumbling and no wit, even though those lo-fi auteurs, the Duplass brothers, are executive producers.[embedded content]When Harper and Tilly lose their innocence, they also (temporarily) lose the person closest to them: Harper’s brother Adam (Alex Jarmon), who doesn’t ship this couple, finds out about them during a music montage that undercuts the emotional impact. Identity-shaping details are glossed over, too. Harper, who was adopted by white American parents, was born in India and defines her feminism through that country’s strict laws limiting reproductive rights, but the political themes she raises feel slightly disconnected from the narrative arc.Although Harper and Tilly share a mutual first sexual encounter, their public reputations diverge (she is labeled the school harlot). The film’s premise itself is not original, but what is even more frustrating is the film’s timid handling of the story, opting for a grand finale monologue in which Harper throws out buzzwords like “racial tolerance” and “inclusivity” without their bearing any weight.Young HeartsNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 21 minutes. In theaters and available to rent or buy on Apple TV, Google Play and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators. Please consult the guidelines outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before watching movies inside theaters.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      ‘The Map of Tiny Perfect Things’ Review: Another Do-Over

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story‘The Map of Tiny Perfect Things’ Review: Another Do-OverThis film from Ian Samuels aspires to be “Groundhog Day” for teenagers.Kathryn Newton and Kyle Allen in “The Map of Tiny Perfect Things.”Credit…Dan Anderson/Amazon StudiosFeb. 11, 2021, 7:00 a.m. ETThe Map of Tiny Perfect ThingsDirected by Ian SamuelsFantasyPG-131h 38mFind TicketsWhen you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.Last year, “Palm Springs” proved that the time-loop conceit from “Groundhog Day” still had some laughs in it. “The Map of Tiny Perfect Things” shows it’s a perfectly fine pretext for teenage treacle.Adapted by Lev Grossman from his 2016 short story, the movie begins with its timeline already on repeat. Mark (Kyle Allen), a 17-year-old aspiring art student, has found that foreknowledge hasn’t gotten him any closer to a date. Then one day — or, technically, that day — he spots Margaret (Kathryn Newton), clearly out of place at the public pool he knows well. She’s stuck in the same loop. And better to loop together than loop alone.[embedded content]Mark has to memorize Margaret’s number to keep it in his iPhone once the day resets. But such logistics aren’t a big part of this film’s DNA. Margaret, who wants to work for NASA, is the rationalist of the pair (she helps Mark with his algebra). Mark, for his part, gets an unscientific whim that breaking the cycle requires cataloging “perfect” moments — a bird catching a fish, an expertly executed skateboard move — that the two would only notice with unlimited time. What defines a perfect moment? Again, asking is pointless.There’s more, and much to spoil, but the director, Ian Samuels, has clearly thought through this trite material in cinematic terms. In a fun sequence, shot in lengthy unbroken takes, Margaret and Mark show off their prescience and balletic grace in a record store and a restaurant kitchen. That the interlude is scored to the repetitions of Pachelbel’s Canon does not qualify as “Groundhog Day”-level wit. But if you have infinite time, it might do.The Map of Tiny Perfect ThingsRated PG-13. Teenagers unbound by time and space. Running time: 1 hour 39 minutes. Watch on Amazon.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      ‘The Mauritanian’ Review: A Tale of Truth-Seeking

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story‘The Mauritanian’ Review: A Tale of Truth-SeekingTahar Rahim and Jodie Foster star in this dogged, uninvolving drama based on the story of Mohamedou Ould Slahi.Tahar RahimJodie and Foster in “The Mauritanian.”Credit…Graham Bartholomew/STX FilmsFeb. 11, 2021, 7:00 a.m. ETThe MauritanianDirected by Kevin MacdonaldDrama, ThrillerR2h 9mFind TicketsWhen you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.The most enjoyable moments of the Guantánamo drama “The Mauritanian” occur during the end credits as the film’s real-life subject, Mohamedou Ould Slahi, listens to a Bob Dylan song. Laughing delightedly and singing along, he’s the picture of contentment — not of someone who just spent more than 14 years in an infamous American prison.That extraordinary resilience will, if you’re lucky, be your most vivid takeaway from this dogged and punishing tale of torture and truth-seeking. Trapped for the most part in featureless rooms, a stellar cast — including Jodie Foster, Benedict Cumberbatch and Shailene Woodley — deliver dull speeches and sift through redacted documents, brows furrowed and lips compressed. In parallel scenes, Slahi (an exceptional Tahar Rahim), arrested after the Sept. 11 attacks because of connections to Al Qaeda, endures the kind of abuse and deprivation that multiple movies and television shows have rendered all too familiar.[embedded content]Directed by Kevin Macdonald and based on Slahi’s 2015 memoir, the story focuses mainly on the efforts of the defense lawyer Nancy Hollander (Foster) to obtain a hearing for Slahi and, hopefully, his release. She’s more hindered than helped in this endeavor by a junior associate, Teri Duncan (Woodley), who’s written with a gullibility that borders on unprofessional.“We know that you’re innocent!” Teri blurts out during an interview with their client, undermining the movie’s emphasis on the universal right to due process. Flavorless characters and a blizzard of flashbacks further repel our involvement in a drama whose timing, to say the least, is unfortunate. After weathering almost five years of rolling political scandals, American audiences could be less than eager to be reminded of one more.The MauritanianRated R for torture, including sexual assault. Running time: 2 hours 9 minutes. In theaters. Please consult the guidelines outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before watching movies inside theaters.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More