Steven Soderbergh’s latest film may not have been shot on an iPhone, but it cut down production fuss in other ways. Over three-quarters of the screenplay was shot on the Queen Mary 2, in a crossing from New York to London, and the cast almost entirely improvised their lines, taking their cues from a rough […]
Soderbergh: Let Them All Talk (2020)
In the States it seems like “Stan & Ollie” came and went with barely a peep. Yes John C. Reilly earned a Golden Globe nomination and the film received a warm reception from critics, but otherwise it’s a film that got no real attention. I don’t remember it hitting any theater around me and the […]
As an action film, Chaos Walking works, it’s a fun popcorn flick, but It’s a pity most of these characters can’t stop talking.
CHAOS WALKING: Talk Less, Do More
Sixteen is already a difficult age, with lots of challenges to navigate, but Sophie Jones has just lost her mother, so the regular rhythms of adolescence are tinged with grief and loss, which somehow makes normal rites of passage seem more trivial, yet each holds the potential power to make her forget, even for a […]
The oddest thing about the new “Tom and Jerry” film is that the titular cat and mouse rivals aren’t even really the stars of their own movie. The live-action/animated hybrid directed by Tim Story places its human characters in the center, the cartoon characters feeling more like comedic ornaments that adorn the scene as needed. […]
Review: “Tom and Jerry” (2021)
Psycho Goreman (2020) Little Girl. Big Psycho. If you imagine a riff on E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) but with the kindly alien botanist swapped out for a bloodthirsty intergalactic warlord who’d look right at home in a GWAR music video, you’re on the right track here. Written and directed by Steven Kostanski, The Void (2016), […]
FIRST COW is one of those films that drops you into another time and every small detail adds to its palpable authenticity. Nobody films slow and beautiful stories like Kelly Reichardt. Cookie (John Magaro) is a man trying to get by in a harsh time, meeting a fellow survivor, a fellow man without place (Orion […]
Review in Brief: First Cow (2019/20)
Every major / famous film director that have had their movie grace the silver screen started out at one point as a first-time director. Younger and less experienced in the director’s seat, first time directors often fumble around in trying to juggle such cinematic storytelling […]
Calm with Horses (2019) Director – Nick Rowland (feature debut) Cast – Cosmo Jarvis, Barry Keoghan, Niamh Algar, David Wilmot Plot – Ex-boxer turned enforcer for small-time Irish crime family the Devers Douglas “Arm” Armstrong (Jarvis) finds his loyalty being tested when he is tasked with murdering an acquittance that has wronged the […]
Film Review – Calm with Horses (2019)
You can’t murder a revolution. So this is about Bill O’Neal (Lakeith Stanfield). He becomes a Black Panther and starts to get close to the Party Chairman Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya). There is just one secret: Bill O’Neal is working with the FBI. Now, I was very much looking forward to this. Judas and the […]
I Am a Revolutionary – Judas and the Black Messiah (2021)
“I don’t want to be ordinary. I want to be extraordinarily.” Can’t blame anyone for that. It’s a life goal of the lead character in the upcoming drama “My Salinger Year”, written and directed by Philippe Falardeau. The film is based on the memoir of Joanna Rakoff and follows her days working for one of […]
First Glance: “My Salinger Year”
Underwater (2020), Kristen Stewart, 20th Century Fox It’s the promise of thrilling action sequences that take place at the bottom of the ocean that drew me to Underwater; an action/thriller about a group of researchers trying to survive after an earthquake devastates their subterranean laboratory. The good news is that I got the well-executed and thrilling […]
UNDERWATER (2020): The Thing I Liked…
In the upcoming horror thriller “The Devil Below” from director Brad Parker an abandoned Appalachian mining town holds a dark and deadly secret. Back in the 1970s the tight community of Shookum Hills was decimated by what was ruled an “environmental disaster”. As a result the town burned to the ground and as many as […]
REVIEW: “The Devil Below” (2021)
It’s a Tom & Jerry cartoon, so we’re not splitting the atom here. Besides, I’m pretty sure Jerry split that sucker over Tom’s noggin back in the ’50s, when they were at MGM. The “Tom & Jerry” movie is, first and foremost, cute. Animated animals — cats, a mouse, a rat, a dog, a goldfish, […]
Movie Review: “Tom & Jerry” terrorize NYC
Tom Holland once again separates himself from his friendly neighborhood superhero persona in the new Apple Original “Cherry”. Last year he did it with “The Devil All the Time”, a dark and violent Southern Gothic drama. Next to “Cherry” that flick plays like an afternoon special on the Disney Channel. This time Holland throws aside […]
This perfect little movie made my heart sing today. It’s humble and understated but flawlessly distills everything that is right about life and love and family and hope into a simple yet effective cinematic microcosm. Jacob (Steven Yeun) moves his family from their small apartment in California to a farm in Arkansas. Well, a potential […]
A filmmaker suffers from writer’s block in jet-black comedy drama Black Bear, the latest effort from Lawrence Michael Levine. The initial plot sees struggling artist Allison (Aubrey Plaza) head to a rural retreat seeking inspiration for her next feature. She is entertained by expectant couple Gabe (Christopher Abbott) and Blair (Sarah Gadon) who own the […]
AN INFORMATIVE, YET A MIDDLING FILM Over the years, the dramatic efforts of biopic endeavors have been something of a cinematic fascination with Hollywood, finding filmmaking talents both in front and behind the camera flocking to be a part of these theatrical motion pictures. While the idea of creating a biographical feature film about […]
Son of the South (2021) Review
Synchronic is the latest from Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, and it’s a strange fever dream of a film. We start with a couple taking a drug that appears to transport them into an alternative universe, before shifting to a pair of paramedics, Steve Denube, played by Anthony Mackie, and Dennis Dannelly, played by Jamie […]
Benson & Moorhead: Synchronic (2021)
With the rise of the streaming services, Netflix, the major contender in this arena, has certainly “stepped up their game” in trying to amass viewers; exploring the ideas of original content in both in TV series, limited mini-series, and feature films. In the film category, […]
Outside the Wire (2021) Review
