It’s been a minute since Angelina Jolie has starred in a proper adult action movie- in fact, her last one was “The Tourist” in 2010 (god, remember “The Tourist“?). But Jolie is back at it, soon to appear in Marvel’s “The Eternals,” and currently starring in writer/director Taylor Sheridan’s “Those Who Wish Me Dead.” But […]
Review: “Those Who Wish Me Dead”
“American Traitor: The Trial of Axis Sally” is the new film from Michael Polish that tells the story of Mildred Gillars, later given the nickname “Axis Sally”. She was an American broadcaster who shared propaganda over the airwaves for Nazi Germany during World War II. After the war she was taken into custody and put […]
First Glance: “American Traitor: The Trial of Axis Sally”
Director – Joe Wright (Atonement) Cast – Amy Adams, Julianne Moore, Wyatt Russell, Gary Oldman, Fred Hechinger, Anthony Mackie, Jennifer Jason Leigh Plot – Agoraphobic New Yorker Anna Fox (Adams) lives a secluded life stuck in her apartment afraid to venture out into the outside world but […]
Film Review – The Woman in the Window (2021)
Not everyone remembers that “Undine” or Ondine is a name from mythology, a water nymph of “The Little Mermaid” variety — one with a great gravitas attached to her love life. With or without that knowledge, the opening “break-up” scene in Christian Petzold’s German fantasy based on that myth is dark and intense. Johannes (Jacob […]
Movie Review: A dark romantic fantasy, in and out of the water — “Undine”
It’s great seeing Eric Bana not just getting a leading role, but getting a really meaty one in a movie that lets him show why he’s such an underrated actor. “The Dry”, an Australian thriller from director Robert Connolly, marks Bana’s first feature film appearance since 2017. Written by Connolly and Harry Cripps, it’s an […]
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Rating: 8 out of 10. When I first started this blog, one of my main aims was to complete what many believe to be the Big Three: The Silence of the Lambs, Psycho and The Shining. So far, it’s two out of three. But only three psychological horrors really fails to whet the appetite, […]
Misery: A Love Letter To Annie Wilkes
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Rating: 8 out of 10. It’s been interesting that while writing all of these reviews, I’ve been surprised how many have been adapted from books: the likes of Misery, Marathon Man, M*A*S*H and Manhunter. Maybe it’s just because they begin with M, but in order to try and break the funk, I’ve gone for […]
The Shining: The Perfect Lockdown Viewing?
Emmy-winning production designer Elisabeth Williams got more dynamic with location work, including an Ontario town standing in for the Chicago war zone.
‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Season 4: Recreating the Chicago War Zone in Episode 5
Catherine Clare… trades life in 1980s Manhattan for a remote home in the tiny hamlet of Chosen, New York … She soon comes to sense a sinister darkness lurking both in the walls of the ramshackle property—and in her marriage (Letterboxd) In its dialogue, editing, and overall presentation it’s a bit clunky and contrived; the […]
A husband and father of four contemplates killing his wife and her lover in this atmospheric and brooding drama.
Walkaway Joe seems like little more than a run-of-the-mill kitchen sink drama with a nine-ball angle. But Wright’s film is remarkably poignant.
WALKAWAY JOE: A Charming Coming-of-Age Pool Hall Drama
The Goldfinch (2019), Ansel Elgort, Warner Bros. Pictures The Goldfinch is a movie for which I had high hopes post trailer viewing. The primary reason is the reliable cast and intriguing themes. Starring Ansel Elgort, Luke Wilson, Nicole Kidman, Finn Wolfhard and Sarah Paulson; director John Crowley’s film is based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by […]
THE GOLDFINCH (2019): The Things I Liked…
Time: 81 Minutes Cast: James Stewart as Rupert Cadell John Dall as Brandon Shaw Joan Chandler as Janet Walker Cedric Hardwicke as Mr. Henry Kentley Farley Granger as Phillip Morgan Constance Collier as Mrs. Anita Atwater Douglas Dick as Kenneth Lawrence Edith Evanson as Mrs. Wilson Director: Alfred Hitchcock Two young men, Brandon Shaw (John Dall) and Phillip Morgan […]
A deadly hiccup in space. So this is about a crew of three (Toni Collette, Anna Kendrick, Daniel Dae Kim). They’re on a mission to Mars to research how to sustain life there, but there is a small problem: there is a fourth person aboard (Shamier Anderson), and there isn’t going to be enough oxygen […]
The Oxygen Quandary – Stowaway (2021)
While it may not be as ambitious or as deep as it could have been, it is an exciting genre film with a charismatic performance from Angelina Jolie.
THOSE WHO WISH ME DEAD: Nature Always Bites Back
“Dark Woods” is a German police procedural that is less about tracking down a serial killer than about the ripple effects of random, senseless violence and the pain of not-knowing what’s happened to a loved one who simply vanishes. There’s mystery in this account of a 30 year-long German case that only dogged persistence by […]
Featured on SLICEOFLIFE.COM Genre: Historical/Biographical Forget Rocky vs. Creed, Luke vs. Vader, or Batman vs. Joker. These cinematic duels rely more on testosterone than wit, and, sometimes, wit throws the stronger punch. Take the notorious interview between President Nixon and David Frost, for instance. There are no boxing […]
“CINEMA” REVIEWS: NOMADLAND (2020) & SOUND OF METAL (2019) Due to the being very busy at my day job I have fallen slightly behind with my film reviews. Thus, I am consolidating two quality dramas I have watched in a double bill review presentation. In fact, it is quite apt that these two films are […]
“CINEMA” REVIEWS: NOMADLAND (2020) & SOUND OF METAL (2019)
“The Killing of Two Lovers” is a break-up story as stark as its Utah-in-winter setting, as brutal as its title. The debut feature of writer-director Robert Machoian throws us into the seemingly quiet aftermath of a split, the calm after what appears to have been a just-as-calm “we need to work through some things” parting. […]
Movie Review: Divorce, as personal as it gets — “The Killing of Two Lovers”
Jupiter’s Legacy premieres May 7 on Netflix. By Chris Flanagan Superheroes and comic book adaptations are everywhere. And Netflix is no stranger to greenlighting known properties that have a proven track record with literary fans into marquee tent poles that are required bingeing from the streaming giant. The Umbrella Academy, The Old Guard, Lucifer, and […]
Jupiter’s Legacy: Season 1 – Review