Loosely based on Shakespeare’s “Henry IV: Parts 1 & 2,” and “Henry V,” David Michôd’s (“Animal Kingdom”) epic medieval drama The King lacks the Bard’s poetry and soaring eloquence, yet its intensity, intimacy, and brooding power will keep you captivated throughout its 133-minute run time. Co-written by Michôd and Joel Edgerton (“Boy Erased”), the film…
In 2019’s Downton Abbey, creator Julian Fellowes succinctly blends the bold episodic wit of the “Downton Abbey” television series with charm and grandeur — the latter playing wonderfully on the silver screen. A mix of fan service and carefully scripted royal drama, the film is an exquisite homage to the six-season British TV mainstay. Playing…
The Beatles are one of the most iconic, influential and beloved musicians, or indeed creative artists, of all time. As well as producing such bestselling albums as “The White Album,” “Abbey Road” and “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” the Fab Four have been the subject of films, books, museums and anecdotes. They put Liverpool…
The most dramatic sequences of 2018’s Best Picture, “Green Book,” involved the piano playing of Doctor Don Shirley. In another recent awards winner, “Bohemian Rhapsody,” the recreations of Freddy Mercury’s performances proved to be a high point. These sequences, well-rendered by directors Peter Farrelly and Bryan Singer, respectively, are put into the shade of the…
It is clear from the opening scene that The Burying Party, directed by newcomer Richard Weston, is undeniably ambitious — an important narrative about poet Wilfred Owen’s final months during World War I. Its execution, however, is poor. Weston’s independent film runs just an hour long, though the minutes that comprise it feel more laborious…
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…
Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos, whose previous films have expressed a rather jaundiced view of humanity (“The Killing of a Sacred Deer,” “The Lobster”), has found a most appropriate target for his cynicism in his “mainstream” comedy, The Favourite, the story of sickly 18th century British monarch Queen Anne (Olivia Colman, “Murder on the Orient Express”)…
