Martin McDonagh’s (“Seven Psychopaths”) Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is a mix of black (and politically incorrect) comedy and heartfelt drama that takes us on a wild, mostly improbable but highly entertaining ride. Set in the fictional town of Ebbing, Missouri, Frances McDormand (“Burn After Reading”), who carries the film in one of her best…
It’s funny what language can do, the unintended irony behind words and concepts and colors that were likely never part of any authorial intent. But, then again, maybe they were. That’s the inexhaustible fertility of art; it transcends, whether it wants it or not, intentions. That’s the case with Spanish, still sprouting in a place…
Planes, running and Tom Cruise — three ingredients for a possible a box-office hit converge one more time in American Made, an action-comedy-thriller based on the life of Barry Seal, former pilot for TWA and drug smuggler for Pablo Escobar. It does not take long into this first trailer for chaos to brew with Seal,…
One night, on a quiet neighborhood street, a black man walks along, minding his business, trying to remember directions he was given. He mumbles to himself about street names and how “confusing and scary-ass” the suburbs are (true story). A white Porsche creeps up behind him, eventually pulling ahead of him to idle near the…
I have a friend who once wrote a novel about an entire minor league stadium (players and fans alike) which is suddenly transported through a wormhole to third century Palestine. There, the modern-day folks meet Barabbas (who was freed in Jesus’s stead) roaming about the desert. The players and fans change Barabbas’ name to Barry…
Guy is a criminal. Guys cleans up his act, goes legit and starts a family. Guys gets pulled back in because someone in his family screwed up. Guy wages war on the perps when things go sour. We’ve seen the premise many times before so there isn’t much to get excited about for Universal Pictures’…
