2020 is far from perfect. The world seems to be going in always more chaotic directions, with no sign of ever slowing down. And in a time in which the thoughts of enchanting strolls on the beach seem like a fairy tale of old, Jessica Swale’s first full-length film, Summerland, is a much-needed reminder that…
“I was just thinking that of all the trails in this life, there is one that matters more than all the others. It is the trail of a true human being” — Kicking Bird in the film “Dances with Wolves” Kelly Reichardt’s (“Certain Women”) First Cow is a song to nature, a tribute to intimacy…
Bona fide Hollywood A-lister, Tom Hanks (“A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”), strikes again in Greyhound, a World War II-set drama that drops viewers into the exceedingly cold, choppy waters of the Atlantic in the winter of 1942, as Allied forces attempt to deliver troops and supplies to the European Theatre. Director Aaron Schneider, who…
Danny Wolf’s three-part documentary sets itself a tall order. Identify, present and discuss a set of cult films, all the while trying to define what a cult film is and why. For the most part, director Wolf and his co-writers Paul Fishbein and Irv Slifkin succeed in this convoluted and potentially confusing task as, with…
The mission brief to Ghosts of War is simple: Five American soldiers must defend a chateau in 1944 Normandy, that, as luck would have it, is apparently haunted. Sadly, however, this trope-laden plot is the only pillar of stability in an incomprehensible mess of a film, which burns like a ragged bullet-wound to the stomach….
“. . . something is happening here but you don’t know what it is? Do you, Mr. Jones?” — Bob Dylan Mr. Jones, directed by Agnieszka Holland (“Julie Walking Home”) from a screenplay (Holland’s first) is based on the real life story of Gareth Jones (flawlessly played by James Norton, “Little Women”), a young Welsh…
Throughout history, the phrase “Behind every great man, there is a great woman” never seems to lose its poignancy. And when such a remarkable male figure happens to be creative, the statement deserves to be shouted rather than whispered. This is where Tom Dolby’s The Artist’s Wife, starring Lena Olin and Bruce Dern, comes into…
