Larry Oliver Film Reviews

  Greta Gerwig ( Lady Bird , Little Women ) is the first woman Hollywood film director to make three hit movies in a row since Penny Marshall between 1986 and 1992 ( Jumpin’ Jack Flash , Big , A League of Their Own ). Moreover, she’s a writer-director. That’s unheard of. The reported opening US box-office gross for Barbie , a film about a girl’s toy used for female empowerment, isn’t just phenomenal by the standards of woman directors - $70 million earned in one day - but by Hollywood norms. Greta Gerwig outperformed Tom Cruise at this summer’s box office. How crazy is that? If this does not make Hollywood’s biggest star want to work with a female director for the first time in his career, I don’t know what will? Actually, I can guess – it might be some nutty religion that tells him not to take orders from a woman. Barbie benefits from its association with intellectual property. Foremost, it’s a doll enjoyed and accessorised by young girls with moderately well-off parents around...

  Pictured : Sisters reunited. Anne ( Awkwafina ) and Jenny Yum ( Sandra Oh ) in a scene from the 2023 comedy, ' Quiz Lady ', written by Jen D'Angelo and directed by Jessica Yu . Still courtesy of 20th Century Studios / Hulu. It can cost millions of dollars to promote a film. Sometimes studios prefer not to take the risk. 20 th Century Studios’ comedy Quiz Lady starring Awkwafina and Sandra Oh, written by Jen D’Angelo and directed by Jessica Yu skipped cinemas and debuted on Hulu last November. It is a film that twice asks, ‘do you know you difficult it is to be Asian in America?’ and doesn’t dwell on the answer. Ostensibly, it is a sports movie in which Awkwafina plays Anne, office worker by day, quiz show addict by early evening. A terry-cotton warrior, so to speak, Anne can fire out an answer on ‘Can’t Stop the Quiz’ as fast as the best competitor. She admires the host Terry McTeer (Will Ferrell) who has asked the questions on the weeknight show for 32 years throug...