This is the first post in The Cinematic Mr. Ripley, a series for the MovieThoughts category of my blog that considers moral themes in Patricia Highsmith’s Tom Ripley novels and the film adaptations of those books. This post looks at Purple Noon, the 1960 French adaptation of The Talented Mr. Ripley, starring Alain Delon. It…
Gliding almost without speech down the dawn streets of a wet Paris winter, these men in trench coats and fedoras perform a ballet of crime, hoping to win and fearing to die. Some are cops and some are robbers. To smoke for them is as natural as breathing. They use guns, lies, clout, greed and nerve with the skill of a magician who no longer even thinks about the cards. They share a code of honor which is not about what side of the law they are on, but about how a man must behave to win the respect of those few others who understand the code.
Woody Allen’s 50th film, “Coup de Chance” made a pretty good impression after premiering at last year’s Venice International Film Festival and then in France a short time later. Since then it has been finding its way to screens including here in the States courtesy of MPI Media Group. It’s Allen’s first French-language feature. And…
I feel like I should start out this review by saying I was a big fan of the 2 previous A Quiet Place movies. You can read my reviews here and here. They did a great job establishing atmosphere and creating compelling characters I could breathe with for the moment. However, they are not movies…
The bluntly titled “Something in the Water” hearkens back to those good old days of perusing the horror section of my local mom-and-pop video store, carefully examining the VHS boxes of movies I’d never heard of, in search of some fun late-night entertainment. For better or worse, “Something in the Water” plays a lot like…
“Can you please just give us the Cliff Notes version, should we take our kids to see it and will we enjoy it too?” – sure, you will all have a good time, grab some popcorn safe in the knowledge that Pixar rarely fail, but that is why, whilst I liked Inside Out 2…it was…
Maestro (2023) is a biographical drama film from sophomore writer-director Bradley Cooper. Cooper also stars in the film as Leonard Bernstein, renowned Broadway composer, following his life and relationships, particularly with his wife Felicia (Carey Mulligan). The film debuted at the Venice Film Festival to strong reviews, and releases in theaters and on Netflix this December.…
What we get here is a solid action series that hits all the beats it needs to do, not revolutionary, but still solid. Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime subscription that viewed this series. Reacher Review – When I first heard there would be a new Reacher series, my first impressions […]
By Divina Sethi Kelebeğin Rüyası (The Butterfly’s Dream) is a 2013 Turkish romantic drama. It is based on the tragic true story of struggling poets Muzaffer Tayyip Uslu and Rüştü Onurx, played by (the gorgeous) Kivanc Tatlitug (Kuzey Guney, Ask i memnu, Kurt Seyit ve Sura) and Mert Firat (The Water Diviner, Baska Dilde Ask) […]
Kelebeğin Rüyası (The Butterfly’s Dream)
It’s a movie that you’ll be happy to get up and walk away from, simply for the astounding freedom of being able to get up and walk. Darren Aronofsky’s film, The Whale, takes morbid obesity to its most realistic, destructive level. It’s cringy, it’s sad, it’s unyielding, but more than anything it’s honest. With a […]
Martin McDonagh is one of our greatest living playwrights, with his work being widely produced, from the sacred stages of Broadway to the smallest public theatres in Asia, and everywhere in between, his penchant for darkly comical morality tales being the source of many fascinating discussions under the direction of a range of artists who […]
The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)
The latest US hit crime drama arrives in the UK. How far would you go to save your child? That’s the compelling tagline for Your Honor, the latest US hit show to make it’s way over to the UK. Described as a ‘limited series’ (which at 10 episodes stretches that definition somewhat – more of […]
Style is half the picture. Story is the other half. William Shakespeare’s 17th-century play, The Tragedie of Macbeth, might be one of the greatest stories ever penned. If not, it’s at least one of the most durable. The desire for power, the ruthlessness of rule, and the all-consuming descent into madness that comes with conspiracy and […]
When it comes to Wes Anderson and his star-studded casts, bigger is always better. According to a Deadline exclusive, Rupert Friend and Richard Ayoade are now the latest leading lads to join the eccentric director’s adaptation of Roald Dahl’s The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar. Previous casting announcements for the Netflix original film have seen […]
Richard Ayoade & Rupert Friend Added To Wes Anderson’s ‘Henry Sugar’ Adaptation
Channel 5 in the UK and Masterpiece in the US have announced the new version of All Creatures Great And Small has been commissioned for a third and fourth season. The show, which stars Nicholas Ralph, Samuel West and Rachel Shenton, has proven to be a ratings hit in the UK, with the first season […]
All Creatures Great And Small to continue for another two seasons
A swing and a miss this boring noir drama is brimming with quality visuals and A list talent. Bradley Cooper, Rooney Mara, and Cate Blanchett put the story through its paces and make it watchable to a point, but it is a hard watch.
A hilariously satirical disaster epic that pokes fun at the media, government incompetence, and capitalist excess. Don’t Look Up is a satirical, science-fiction disaster movie where two scientists discover a comet, a “planet killer”, that will directly hit Earth and destroy all of human civilization. Their efforts to warn and save humanity are hindered by politics, […]
Benedict Cumberbatch has an excellent shot at an Oscar nomination/win. I wanted to thank you for adapting Thomas Savage’s 1967 novel and directing The Power of the Dog (2021). Your films feel like good books that beg to be analyzed. Take The Piano (1993), for instance, your signature film for the past thirty years. I […]
The Lighthouse is going to be a movie you’ll either love or hate. You’ll either love it for its surreal imagery, strange story, isolating setting, all over the place tone, eerie filmmaking, crazy acting, or all of the above. Or you’ll hate it for these exact reasons. It’s one of the strangest […]
I’m glad that Sandra Bullock said yes to The Unforgivable, a well-executed tale of one woman’s journey to reconnect with her sister after finishing a twenty-year prison sentence. Directed by Nora Fingscheidt, what stood out immediately, in addition to the excellent performances, is how engaging the story is. I cared about Bullock’s character and couldn’t wait for […]
THE UNFORGIVABLE (2021): The Things I Liked…