Intelligence professionals are understandably media shy. Israel’s Shin Bet stays out of the spotlight more than most. Other than the organization’s man in charge, all other senior leaders are unknown to the public. Furthermore, they do not give interviews. That was until filmmaker, Dror Moreh, pulled off a journalistic coup with The Gatekeepers, a documentary…
If the “Twilight” series had dialogue as witty and snappy as Beautiful Creatures, it would not be the target of so many jokes and eye rolls. Here we have another film with supernatural beings, but this time, we get witches and warlocks instead of vampires or zombies. There are teenagers involved; therefore, stay tuned for…
There are mass murderers and former dictators rotting away in prison cells who have done better for the human condition than author, Nicholas Sparks. If Nicholas Sparks was a conflict he would be the Hundred Years War; if he were a baseball team he would be the 1962 New York Mets; if he were a…
Zombie movies are always shot from the point of view of the last few and scared survivors. They are outnumbered, running out of ammo, their friends are bitten one by one, and the zombies just keep on coming after their brains. What about a zombie story from the zombie’s point of view? They experience the…
If a horror film’s story is strong enough, then there is no need for it to resort to “cheap scream” techniques to manipulate the audience. A loud, closing door during a quiet period will elicit the same scream as will a figure walking by a window with a sudden, shrieking violin. There is no earthly…
Cinematic sentimental gestures don’t come much more desperately inspirational than the slow motion shot of a person reaching skyward with a swelling score accompanying their ascent. In his syrupy drama The Impossible, director J.A. Bayona reserves this moment for the third act, but it’s not like the sentimentality sneaks up on us. This kind of…
In Michael Haneke’s Amour, Palme d’Or winner at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, Georges (Jean-Louis Trintignant) watches over his loved one, Anne (Emmanuelle Riva), as she gradually loses control of the precious attributes of body and mind after a series of strokes. In his usual austere style, Haneke avoids sentimentality and even outward displays of…
