In the pantheon of Bond, James Bond, there are shots that strike from a golden gun and others that leave one neither shaken nor stirred. One film often regarded as being among the latter is 1969’s “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service,” infamously featuring George Lazenby as 007 who never returned to don the tuxedo. Despite…
Candyman begins with inversion, as the studio logos of Universal, Monkeypaw Productions and MGM are presented in reverse. From here, we move into low-angled shots of the Chicago skyline. These imposing buildings express wealth, power and privilege, but rather towering over the viewer, they are inverted, viewed from above. Clouds wreath the building crests but…
Everyone should be able to digest a charming love story, right? How can one resist an urban romancer featuring attractive lovebirds coming from different sides of the tracks, the energetic rush of city life and the unsuspecting hands of fate? Well, this is the proposed premise for director Ry Russo-Young’s (“Before I Fall”) young adult…
Interestingly, it is the audience who seems to be the ones getting hustled in director Chris Addison’s forgettable feminine con-artist comedy, The Hustle. In it, Oscar winner Anne Hathaway (“Les Misérables”) and funny fireball Rebel Wilson (“Isn’t It Romantic”) are paired as a couple of cute scammers looking to manipulate the finances out of clueless…
To describe Booksmart as “Superbad” with girls is to be reductive and overly simplistic. Nonetheless, it is a not inaccurate description of Olivia Wilde’s directorial debut, due to its winning combination of coming of age trials and tribulations, the strains upon teenage friendship and profane humor. However, these elements are combined in such a way…
Fighting With My Family is a film of weird elements: The city of Norwich, England; wrestling, with all its “fixed but not fake” performances, alternative names and larger than life personalities; a very human and indeed true story of both pursuing and losing out on a dream. Based on the story of Saraya Knight aka…
Chris Weitz, director of “American Pie” and co-writer on last year’s “The Mountain Between Us,” delivers a watchable and important effort in Operation Finale, depicting the capture and extradition of Holocaust mastermind Adolf Eichmann. It’s a well-intentioned take on one of the ugliest personalities of the 20th century. Yet, its middling characterization and preference for…
