Yikes! One of the unexpected fallers in 2021’s race for the drastically reduced box-office prizes on offer was James Wan’s return to the horror territories that he’d previously made his own. After the promising Dead Silence, the Insidious and Conjuring movies made Wan a brand, even if both franchises fizzled out in terms of appeal. […]
Apple TV + hasn’t exactly established itself as the go-to place for new movies; Ted Lasso is probably the biggest draw to date. But they certainly made a splash paying $25 million at Sundance for CODA, writer and director Sian Heder’s slight but utterly charming film about a fishing family living with deafness. CODA is […]
Korean cinema goes from strength to strength; the successes, including Parasite, are well-known, but the sheer breadth of quality films that have emerged over the last decade mark out Korean films as one of the most booming film-cultures. Aloners is a first time feature, but doesn’t feel like it; Hong Sung-eun’s film is something of […]
The presence of 2021 Oscar-winner Yuh-Jung Youn, now forever to be knows as the ‘granny from Minari’, is the obvious selling point for Kim Yong-hoon’s assured debut feature. But there’s a lot more going on here, and the long-time Brad Pitt fan only features in a few scenes, although her character is certainly memorable and […]
It took a bit of cajoling to get me to review this South Korean political thriller because…well, because it’s a South Korean political thriller. This is a hard sell, because while most of the world is hard-wired into US politics, the development of the Korean CIA and the abuse of presidential power is a rather […]
tick, tick…BOOM! is in select theaters and will stream on Netflix next weekend? Is Lin-Manuel Miranda’s directorial debut worth watching about the adaptation of the late Jonathan Larson’s work? Here’s my review RIGHT HERE!
‘tick, tick…BOOM!’- Netflix Film Review
While it doesn’t dig as deep as one may hope, Becoming Cousteau is an honest yet engrossing portrait of one of the most iconic explorers.
BECOMING COUSTEAU: A Legacy Of Reflection, Desperation, And Hope
A film of consequence and warning, Kenneth Branagh’s “Belfast” takes us back to the beginning of “The Troubles” in Northern Ireland and lets us see them through the eyes of a little boy. A very personal story equal parts pathos and warmth, it sentimentalizes the region’s “Bad Old Days” even as it reminds us and […]
Movie Review: “Belfast” takes us back to the City’s “Bad Old Days”
I will admit I do have some bias towards Red Rocket. Growing up in Texas and visiting the Galveston and Houston area as a kid made me nostalgic when the opening credits rolled with the refineries in the backdrop. However, what drew me in more than the refineries was the song that plays over the […]
‘Red Rocket’ Review: “Bye, Bye, Bye”
“Eternals” opens in a manner that isn’t typical of any previous film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Instead of jumping straight into the action, an opening scroll details the mythos behind the story we are about to watch unfold. In 5000 B.C., ten super-powered beings known as the Eternals were sent to Earth by the […]
Jake Gyllenhaal is one of the busiest working actors in Hollywood today. After appearing in recent hits like Spider-Man: Far From Home and Netflix’s The Guilty, the actor is apparently circling another big starring role. As first reported by Deadline, Gyllenhaal is in talks to star in a remake of the cult classic Road House…
Continue reading “Jake Gyllenhaal In Talks To Star In Doug Liman’s ‘Road House’ Reboot”
“Blonde. Purple” is a heist tale/hostage thriller with vague pretenses of Tarantino or Guy Ritchie and little of the style, panache, wit or adrenalin of either of them at their worst. The odd moment of acting heat dissipates in a sea of words, too much of it set in a bank where a failed robber […]
Movie Review: A hostage, a gunman, a bank — “Blonde. Purple”
Reporting from the Denver Film Festival. The animation is stunning. Fluid lines connect all different styles and textures: pencil drawings, cutouts, and computer-generated images. Some of them are on black backgrounds; some of them overlap archival footage of Montreal—the second-largest French-speaking city in the universe—and the thousands of islands that make up the archipelago. Over […]
The Danish star is grateful to mix franchise villains with deeper roles. Also: Why Leonardo Di Caprio will have to do the “Another Round” remake without him.
Mads Mikkelsen Is Ready for Hollywood to Stop Casting Him as the Bad Guy
With recent hits like Minari and The Green Knight under its belt, A24 continues its trend of releasing quality films featuring big-name actors. Up next, the studio will team with filmmaker Isaiah Saxon for his debut feature titled The Legend of Ochi. According to Deadline, the film is enlisting the services of Willem Dafoe and…
Willem Dafoe & Finn Wolfhard To Star In A24’s ‘The Legend of Ochi’
Mars Attacks (1996) Released: December 13th, 1996 Genre: Science Fiction, Comedy Director: Tim Burton Writers: Len Brown, Woody Gelman, Wally Wood, Norman Saunders, Bob Powell (trading card series) Jonathan Gems (Screenplay) Cast: Jack Nicolson, Martin Short, Jim Brown, Pierce Brosnan, Sarah Jessica Parker, Annette Bening, Tom Jones, Michael J. Fox, Natalie Portman, Rob Stieger, Pam […]
Retro Review: Mars Attacks (1996) Flash Review
Directed by Wes Anderson Written by: Wes Anderson, Owen Wilson Produced by: Barry Mendel, Paul Schiff Cast: Jason Schwartzman, Olivia Williams, Bill Murray, Brian Cox, Seymour Cassel, Mason Gamble, etc. *** CONTAINS SPOILERS *** Having recently written positively about my favourite films of Wes Anderson I was spurred […]
MEMORABLE FILM CHARACTERS #6 – MAX FISCHER – RUSHMORE (1998)
A pretty popular student, Bianca (Larisa Oleynik) cannot go on a date until her ill tempered sister Katarina (Julia Stiles) gets a date too, and that responsibility falls to mysterious Patrick (Heath Ledger). I had only seen Ledger in his role of William in the film Knight’s Tale, so when this film popped up on […]
10 Things I Hate About You (1999)
Medieval combat, “The Battle on the Ice,” music by Prokofiev and the Soviet master of montage (editing) makes a spectacle out of mise en scene (production design, epic shot compositions) — that’s what cinephiles summon up when revering Serge Eisenstein’s 1938 classic “Alexander Nevsky.” A filmmaker famed for telling his stories and making his (often […]
Classic Film Review: Eisenstein’s “Alexander Nevsky” (1938)
Reporting from the Denver Film Festival. It opens with sex: Explicit, hardcore sex in the bedroom. The woman before the camera is Emilia (Katia Pascariu), a teacher at a local private school. The man holding the camera is Eugene (Stefan Steel), Emilia’s husband. Looking to spice up a regular evening of rumpy-pumpy, they pull out […]
BAD LUCK BANGING OR LOONY PORN
