One man’s harrowing journey through a personalized hell has been the focus of each of Steve McQueen’s three features, but never has the metaphor been so effectively explored by the filmmaker as it is in his deeply moving fact-based drama 12 Years a Slave. McQueen’s penchant for precisely pointed perspective is applied again here, but…
Poet and naturalist Diane Ackerman said, “The great affair, the love affair with life, is to live as variously as possible, to groom one’s curiosity like a high-spirited thoroughbred, climb aboard, and gallop over the thick, sun struck hills every day.” One such high-spirited thoroughbred is Australian naturalist Robyn Davidson who, at the age of…
During a press conference promoting the newest release, Ender’s Game, directed by Gavin Hood (“X-Men Origins: Wolverine“), veteran actor Harrison Ford (“Paranoia”) compared the special effects technology from the “Star Wars” franchise in 1977 to this current production. “Back then, we would put together a plastic model out of car and boat parts, put it…
If ever you were looking for a movie where every day, conversational dialogue is turned into a form of deep, philosophical lecturing, then stop your search now, The Counselor is it. What you’ll also find is it’s a fresh, innovative, suspenseful film that, while suffering at times from a slow, disjointed tempo, has an intriguing…
Cinematically speaking, there are few places more moving, more honestly heartbreaking than on the big screen with a lone character struggling to survive. To be lost, stranded in a desolate place is to provide a narrative hook that is immediately intimate and resoundingly relatable. As modern movies like “Cast Away,” “127 Hours,” and “Life of…
Last Vegas, despite the clunky title and a tried-and-true plot, has plenty of funny moments, due mostly to the charm and enthusiasm of its aging cast and the script itself, by Dan Fogelman. But is it inspiring? A laugh-out-loud comedy? Well, no and no — but it still mostly works, at least as well as…
Despite Saudi Arabian officials refusal to budge on the rules concerning male-only driving and threatening the arrest of women activists who are planning a protest, repressive laws and customs directed at Saudi women are changing slowly. Women may now ride bicycles, can sit on the national advisory council, and a decision has been made by…
