Certain films are remembered by their opening sequences. Three “classics” that come to mind are “Saving Private Ryan,” “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,” and of course “Citizen Kane.” Rebuilding Paradise, the 95-minute documentary produced and directed by Ron Howard (distributed by National Geographic Films) that chronicles the destruction of Paradise, a town in…
“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…
Hope Gap is one of those typical independent movies, where mood, atmosphere and setting dominates more than the narrative. There are no complaints here, because the film’s frequent dallying at these seaside locations and our watching the characters walk along the shoreline or climb up various rocky features is quite beautiful to look at. I…
“Everywhere is the wind of heaven; round and above all are boundless sea and sky, infinite space and a great silence” — Katherine Routledge The familiar saying attributed to Charles Dudley Warner that “Everybody complains about the weather, but nobody does anything about it” is turned upside down by Japanese director Makoto Shinkai (“Your Name”)…
Francis Annan’s Escape from Pretoria describes the real-life adventures of political captives Tim Jenkin and Steven Lee as they attempt to leave the titular prison before their sentences are up. Set in the apartheid era of South Africa, the film spends most of its run-time within the walls of the prison itself, leaning on a…
It does feel that the romantic comedy is becoming a lost art. Big movie studios no longer want to invest in it, and if we think back to the biggest one of 2019, it was the movie “Long Shot” starring the odd coupling of Charlize Theron and Seth Rogen. And while it was good and…
