Category: Film Reviews
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Killers of the Flower Moon – Film Review
It’s hard to imagine a story more “American” than Killers of the Flower Moon. A true story about an Indian tribe being forced to give up their land along with their customs and freedom. Adapted from David Grann’s gripping non-fiction book, Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and…
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Apollo 11 – Film Notes
50 Years Ago, Man Walked on Moon Two Americans walked on the moon July 20, 1969. It was not the product of an internet start-up. No one Instagrammed the launch, and hashtags were not used to power the Saturn V rocket. Silicon Valley was just getting off the ground and…
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“Phantom Thread” Fashion, Power and Poison – Film Review
I always feel the need to prepare myself, at the very least, for an unfamiliar world before I see a Paul Thomas Anderson movie. That’s a given. As part of that preparation I did some serious research ahead of my recent viewing of Mr. Anderson’s latest film, Phantom Thread. Everyone knows by…
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“Lady Bird” Cinematic Album of Greatness – Film Review
One of my favorite films of 2016 was 20th Century Women. I’m a sucker for these social/cultural concept pictures that have a big cast, all with issues. They transport me back to my youth. Lady Bird is cut from the same celluloid and although it doesn’t take me all the…
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“The Big Sick” Romantic Comedy Remade – Film Review
I really enjoyed The Big Sick. l think in large part for its ability to make me laugh even through a life or death circumstance. Michael Showalter directs this surprising gem written by married couple Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani (HBO’s Silicon Valley). Its based, I’m assuming, on their real life…
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She holds all the Cards. “Molly’s Game” – Film Review
Every time I go into a theater or turn on a TV that has a script written by Aaron Sorkin, I’m convinced this is the time he will run out of words. That trading his soul for the talent to write unending, spectacular dialogue will have finally run out. Well,…
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Another side of Churchill in “Darkest Hour” – Film Review
Oftentimes we hear of the larger than life figures of history through a fairly narrow window. Their stirring quotes and courage summed to make decisions, all the while carrying the weight of a country on their shoulders. Certainly if you read in depth biographies you get to see various sides,…
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mother! Breaks the Hollywood Mold and It’s Terrifying! – Film Review
mother! defies description! For those who took the leap or were led there unwittingly by a friend or spouse, you found yourself peering into the abyss. Writer, director Darren Aronofsky’s latest film was written in five days. It may take me five months to be satisfied enough about the whats…
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“California Typewriter” QWERTY Shines in Important Documentary – Review
This post has been updated: Since writing about this film. I purchased two typewriters. A 1954 Smith Corona Silent and a 1958 Olympia SM-3. The Olympia is a work of art. Despite the abundance of digital software applications available to web designers, many prefer to sketch out their initial ideas…
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The Battle of the Sexes Revisited – Film Review
In The Battle of the Sexes, co-directors Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton, written by Simon Beaufoy, revisit an early and important story of Women’s Liberation movement. Tennis was dominated by men, even though there was a small group of dedicated women players who would have to tag along behind and pick-up the scraps…
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Jackie – Portrait in Distress
The decision to make Jackie was a risky one. Millions of people have strongly engrained beliefs of that famous first lady, while millions more have little to no connection at all to her or what happened on November 22, 1963. But the topic of Camelot and Kennedy royalty cannot be…
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Oliver Stone’s Snowden – There Are Many Ways to Serve Your Country
Traitor or Whistleblower? This question might cross the mind settling in for a screening of Oliver’s Stone’s first feature film in four years; Snowden. We are steered to a specific message, nothing unusual for Mr. Stone. He provides his usual dose of investigative dramatic filmmaking; a style he owns. In short…
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Real to Reel: The Oval Office on Film
Here we are once again. The four year presidential election is nye upon us. I’m at a loss for writing anything about how this cycle is, shall we say, unusual. No matter which side you’re on, or on neither side, or are not sure. We can always count on the…
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My 2016 Oscar Picks
The Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will will hold their 88th award ceremony Sunday, February 28th. I will not be discussing the over indexing of whiteness among the nominees, except to say it is something that certainly needs to be addressed. My interest here lies in the films, filmmakers and artists that were nominated by the Academy.…
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The Stakes are High in The Big Short
Adam McKay’s take on the bestseller by Michael Lewis is an investigative romp leading up to the financial meltdown that began in 2007. It’s full of colorful characters and even more colorful language. Mr. McKay uses voiceover and direct talking into an always moving, manic camera. He intercuts images, sounds and…
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“The Martian” and his Earthlings
Mars has long been the muse to writers, scientists and moviemakers. A wikipedia search for “films about Mars” will yield a page that lists 66 titles although many of them were television shows. The most common plot line that emerges when Mars and Earth are in the same script turns out to be mostly…
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The Walk
Robert Zemeckis has given us The Back to the Future trilogy, Forrest Gump, Contact, Cast Away and Flight. These are formidable works that strike a cultural nerve and straddle past, present and future. Indeed, Mr. Zemeckis has a way of transporting us across the space-time continuum with flair and style. He weaves humanism…
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Decoding The Imitation Game: It Wasn’t Hard
The Movie The Imitation Game Delivers and Disappoints I was drawn to this film because of my keen interest in history and technology. During WWII Germany created The Enigma machine that coded and then uncoded messages to their military machine around the world via radio signals. The communications carried intelligence…
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Interstellar Extends Life as we Know it, Maybe
It takes a while to get into the flow of Interstellar, Christopher Nolan’s latest film odyssey. But that’s not a problem because with a running time of 2 hours and 49 minutes you don’t need to be in a hurry. Mr. Nolan combines a number of narratives and even more…
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