1917 is director Sam Mendes’ first film since 2015’s 007 picture, “Spectre,” and no doubt reaches the pantheon of respected war films. A Best Picture contender at this year’s Academy Awards, the film is a visual masterpiece, aided by the lens of 15-time Oscar nominee Roger Deakins, strong direction and an uncompromising look at No…
Cinema has long been home to inspirational “true story” interpretations, operating as a vessel through which filmmakers can translate fact into fiction. There’s an audience for it, so the biopic genre and its various filtered offshoots continue to be a mainstay of mainstream movies. There’s a seemingly endless collection of personalities and adventures to choose…
Okay. Alright. Okay. Alright. So. “Kingsman: The Secret Service” was admittedly a surprise hit for most people. I, like many, found that it was an inventive, satirical yet loving take on the spy genre in just the right climate. Much like “Kick-Ass” before, Matthew Vaughn took an imaginative, but ultimately flaccid, concept of Mark Millar’s…
When a pug is named after Jack Bauer, Colin Firth shoots stun rays through an umbrella and Samuel L. Jackson talks with an ear-piercing lisp while trying to wipe out the human race with disruptive waves sent from cellphones . . . well, it’s rather obvious you are dealing with a different kind of movie….
The disturbing case of the West Memphis Three has been covered extensively in Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky’s “Paradise Lost” trilogy, along with Amy Berg’s 2012 documentary “West of Memphis.” So what additional information can be brought to the table with the 114 minutes of Devil’s Knot? Answer: Not much. Director Atom Egoyan’s foray into…
It’s doubtful that any Christmas stories are as omnipresent as Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” Since cinema’s very inception, there have been tons of motion picture adaptations of this 1843 novella, as well as spoofs and updated variations (the Muppets, Mickey Mouse and even Mr. Magoo have all tackled this Yuletide morality tale). In addition,…
Directed by Tomas Alfredson (“Let the Right One In”), Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy successfully drops us right in the middle of 1970’s Cold War London where we join members of MI6 at a meeting in a bunker known as “The Circus.” Attendees are Control (John Hurt), George Smiley (Gary Oldman), Bill Haydon (Colin Firth), Percy…
