“American Woman” opens with a scene from the recent past of a mother who had her daughter so young that she becomes more of a best friend to her daughter than a mother.
“Dark Phoenix” director Simon Kinberg has been involved with the X-Men movie franchise since “X3: The Last Stand” (2006).
Filmmaker Tate Taylor reunites with his award-winning actresses Octavia Spencer (“The Shape of Water”) and Allison Janney (“I Tonya”) following their blockbuster collaboration on “The Help” back in 2011. “Ma” is something entirely different for everyone involved, especially Spencer nay-sayer…
“Painting War: George Plante’s Combat Art in World War II,” by Kathleen Broome Williams, Naval Institute Press, 2019, 312 pages, $29.95
Olivia Wilde’s directorial feature debut could have easily been the gender-flipped version of “Superbad” with lame jokes and crude humor. However written by four females who understand what teenage comedies have been missing, inject “Booksmart” with wit, savvy and quotable dialogue. As an ac…
Taking place an hour after “John Wick 2” (2017), the latest chapter in the hyper-violent, pro-gun franchise, find our killer ready to defend his life again. The more of these films they produce, the less plot they accommodate. In one scene John Wick kills some people, then literally moves up…
For “The Lord of the Rings” fans, Dome Karukoski’s “Tolkien” might work as a way of celebrating the brilliant author and fantasy creator. The script, understanding most people’s familiarity with “The Lord of the Rings,” expects you to pick up on which characters and moments are inspiring tho…
Whether you realize it or not, “Long Shot” is “Notting Hill” re-imagined. Of course, “Notting Hill” was just a modern day, gender-flipped “Cinderella.” The screenplay isn’t written by actor/writer/director Seth Rogen, yet it’s the typical Rogen weird-guy-lands-the-hot-girl story, with plenty…
Horror film “The Conjuring”, released in 2013, offered a glimmer of hope for the genre in dire need of rehabilitation. James Wan curated that true story based on the Warren’s special abilities and highly documented cases, from facts and events combined with the dedicated performances from Os…
In the past, epic interpretations of the Bible like “The Passion of the Christ” or “Noah” have sought box office success on the weekend of Palm Sunday. These films are costly and often met with a divisive eye, both within Christianity and outside depending on the audience they want to reach.…
Part of the 2017 Toronto Film Festival “New Wave” series, Oscar-winning actress Brie Larson made her directorial debut with “Unicorn Store.” A welcome surprise and a more impressive actor-turned-director film than Andy Serkis’ “Breathe” which also debuted at the festival that year. Yet no di…
As Disney live-action remakes go, “Dumbo” is one of the better ones. Tim Burton (“Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children”) puts his creative visual spin on the 1941 original cartoon.
Following up on the kind of success Jordan Peele had with directorial debut “Get Out” was always going to be an anticipated event, hard to satisfy. “Us” will please the fans who discovered “Get Out” before it became a phenomenon and Oscar winner. What it won’t do, is make the leap to awards …
It’s usually a bad sign when half of Hollywood’s A-list actors circle a project and then drop out. Everyone from Tom Hanks, Will Smith, Casey Affleck, and Mahershala Ali were at once attached to “Triple Frontier.” Writer/director J.C. Chandor has made 4 movies, 3 of them have been about corr…
Irish director Neil Jordan is a bit unpredictable when you sit down for his films. “The End of the Affair” was unpredictably sexual, “The Brave One” outrageously violent and suspenseful, even his vampire flick “Byzantium” gave the genre a completely different perspective. His latest thriller…
Can a film be both really good and yet stereotypical in every way? “Arctic” is the best film of 2019, so far. The survival thriller received a ten-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival, but there isn’t much to celebrate in this compact 90-minute thriller that you can’t find els…
“Isn’t It Romantic” might be the first film to successfully please both those who despise romantic comedies and those who love them. Director Todd Strauss-Schulson describes his new film as “a romantic comedy about falling in love with yourself.” The script simultaneously makes fun of every …
It’s been nearly two decades since Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt starred in the original “What Women Want.”
It’s the first time Marvel Studios (aka Disney) has been behind the superhero curve. Eager to release their first solo female superhero, they managed to tie “Captain Marvel” (changed from an original male character to female) into the ongoing “Avengers” saga rather quickly. Oscar winner Brie…
There is an emerging trend in the film industry of remaking and Americanizing foreign films for the U.S. market. Of course this is nothing new, it’s been happening for decades, but never in such large numbers. The level and quality of foreign films is what has changed, as seen in the 2018 Ac…
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