Filmmaker Sofia Coppola is a mixed bag in terms of her big screen artistry as both an actress and movie-making siren. Specifically, Coppola’s auteur skills can run rather cold and dismissive (penning the flat and forgettable costume saga “Marie Antoinette”) or can inspire unexpected hypnotic greatness of roguish contemplation and isolation (as demonstrated in her…
For some, watching an M. Night Shyamalan film is an experience that fills them with dread. But this dread can be separated in two distinct camps: First, the good kind of dread that accompanied Shyamalan’s first blockbusters in Hollywood — “The Sixth Sense,” “Unbreakable,” “Signs” — all quietly unsettling thrillers that, despite some weaknesses, still…
The benefit of foreign cinema is that they tend to tell stories that shed a light on their own culture and tell stories a U.S. production would probably warp and bend into something more palatable for our sensibilities, losing that bit of cultural spark that elevated the material in the first place. The drawback is…
When I was young, “Poltergeist” scared me enough that I used to put a towel over my TV before I went to sleep. Obviously, this was a silly childhood fear, and I eventually outgrew the worry that my death would come at the hands of a spirit that emerged from my television. However, as I…
In an effort to recognize every genre and cultural sub-group, Walt Disney Animation Studios has scored again with Moana, a tale recounting how Pacific Islanders traversed the South Seas in search of lands to inhabit. Here, a few archaeological facts are mixed with the Legend of Maui, a demigod/shape-shifter/adventurer who, with his trusty ivory fish…
Sometimes gripping narratives detailing the familiar plight of teen girls do not necessarily have to be about the adversity of choice such as pregnancy, alcoholism, prostitution, domestic abuse, illiteracy or homelessness. There are youthful feminine coming-of-age stories that feel equally captivating in inspiration, determination and the spirit of competition and tradition. In filmmaker Otto Bell’s…
Indian filmmaker Mira Nair (“Amelia,” “New York, I Love You”) presents a rather uniquely touching, emotional and winning spirit in the coming-of-age biopic/sporting drama Queen of Katwe. Nair concocts an uplifting and personalized story of hope and adversity that should be profoundly inspiring especially for young females from all walks of life that face daily…
