“Take care of things close to home first. Straighten up your room before you save the world. Then save the world.” — Ron Padgett, “How to be Perfect” Interior, bedroom — Monday morning. An aerial shot on a sleeping couple. It’s about 15 seconds before the clock hits 6:12 and Paterson (Adam Driver, “Star Wars:…
First of all, despite the title, The Birth of a Nation, this film is in no way connected to the 1915 silent classic directed by D. W. Griffith. Secondly, I was led to the “Confessions Of Nat Turner” (the real jailhouse interviews in 1831, not the 1967 William Styron novel) from an article in “The…
Crimson petals. Red rose. Scarlet sheets. Silk shirt. That’s Julieta’s torso, moving with a breath of agony as she packs her stuff. When we finally see her face, we see the evened eyes of long held pain, the kind that leaves deep-carved scars in what seems to be a life-long depression. It would not be…
Comedy is big business. It can also be a very lucrative business. Many aspiring comics from all walks of life have sacrificed to make it their personal goal to become professional laugh-makers. The world is at their jocular fingertips if and when that elusive break comes down the opportunistic pike. One can imagine the humble…
Whether one thinks Edward Snowden is a patriot or a traitor for revealing CIA and NSA (National Security Agency) secrets will probably not depend on this movie, Snowden, as those who believe one way or the other will still hold those opinions after this 2-hour, 15-minute presentation. Still, director Oliver Stone (“Savages,” but better known…
During World War II, many European countries occupied by Nazi Germany had resistance movements that fought against the invaders with whatever methods they could. Czechoslovakia’s resistance led to Adolf Hitler’s third in command, SS General Reinhard Heydrich and architect of the Final Solution, being stationed to Prague, where he instituted a brutal crackdown on the…
As the story goes, in October of 1994, three college students wandered into the woods of Burkittsville, Maryland to investigate the legend of the Blair Witch. In the summer of 1999, their footage was released as “The Blair Witch Project,” a small movie that cost just over $20,000 to make, and instantaneously solidified its place…
