The opening scene, skateboarding through the dilapidated outskirts of San Francisco, is one of the most beautiful cinematic sequences of 2019. It’s the kind of defining imagery that will be used in end-of-the-year montages. It’s also a prelude to the visual wonders first-time feature filmmaker Joe Talbot has in store for the next two hours. […]
Writer/director Benedikt Erlingsson’s Woman at War opens with cinematography that thrusts the viewer into the natural beauty of Iceland. As the credits appear across the screen, we’re introduced to the woman in the title and revel in delight at the little band, producing the unconventional musical score right before our eyes. Erlingsson’s imagination marries entertainment
Laika Entertainment Production Company is developing a notable reputation for its production design and animation that enliven well-conceived stories and get the viewers’ rapt attention. Writer/director Chris Butler (Kubo and the Two Strings, Coraline, ParaNorman) and production designer Lou Romano wow us again with artistically drawn images and sets and with a tale full of suspense
It’s 1971 in Durham, North Carolina, where segregation is still de rigeur. C. P. Ellis (Rockwell) owns a thriving gas station where all the customers are lily white and, by the way, he is president of the local KKK. But he is a good man, devoted to his wife, teenage daughter, and young son with Down’s Syndrome who
Wonder Park is a wonderful mixture of adventure, risk and daring-do, problem solving, optimism in the face of setbacks—even some philosophical musings (especially on the part of porcupine Steve in the voice of Oliver) and journeys into grief and depression. Ten year-old June (Denski) has a vivid imagination, which is encouraged by her mother (Garner) and
Take a trip to Africa to revel in the scenery, the music, the costumes, and the culture. Talented actor Chiwetel Ejiofor’s first venture in directing a feature film should assure him of a promising future in this aspect of moviemaking. His selection of story, timing of plot progression, and, in partnership with the producers, assembling a team
The Nutcracker and the Four Realms is just as enchanting as it should be, and involves a twist. In this case, the traditional hero’s journey is undertaken by a girl named Clara, the girl in Tchaikovsky’s popular “Nutcracker” ballet. The script is based on E. T. A. Hoffman’s 1816 story (“The Nutcracker and the Mouse King”), in which
Fashion designer Lee Alexander McQueen’s creations were eloquent expressions of the man himself; outrageously beautiful on the one side, horrifically graphic on the other, and playful delights on still another. According to this fine documentary by director Ian Bonhote and his co-director and writer Peter Ettedgui, these creations grew out of his complex personality and the
There are lots of survival films, many of them taking place in open water. “Adrift” is both similar to those before it, and strikingly different. Based on an incredible true story of a sailboat wrecked in the Pacific, Shailene Woodley (“The Descendants”) re-dons her bathing suit to give what’s easily her most ambitious and demanding
Wim Wenders, writer with David Rosier and director of the documentary, shows from his speeches all over the world how Pope Francis is a man of his word. He is the only pope taking the name of Francis, inspired by St. Francis of Assisi who took a vow of poverty and spent his life working for