The Czech Republic’s submission to the Academy Awards that was short-listed from over 90 films to one of the ten, was also one of the films that prompted walkouts during Venice and Toronto film festivals. Director Václav Marhoul’s controversial black and white film The Painted Bird is adapted from the equally controversial author Jerzy Kosinski. […]
With most feature films still holding onto hope for a theatrical release, “7500” will likely be the most suspenseful and edge of your couch thriller of 2020. Like most thrillers that find a way to isolate the protagonist and build a story around one or two people, “7500” limits the audience’s view to the cockpit
Finally, a somewhat uplifting VOD release for the Stay Homer’s desperate for new feature film content. Although “Military Wives” missed the prime Mother’s Day release window, Peter Cattaneo’s (“The Full Monty”) film shines a light on the often unsung heroes of the military: Wives and their resilience to support those defending freedoms. Based on a
A perfect allegory for the times. The Hunt is a 20thcentury take on George Orwell’s novel Animal Farm, in which the animals rebel against their masters. Only in this rendition, it’s the “Elite Liberals” against “The Deplorables.” Its plot is not a straightforward telling of a story. It starts out with a group chat on the telephone, then goes backward and
Another movie about basketball, another movie about alcoholism, how thrilling. Watching The Way Back is similar to voting for a candidate you don’t have much enthusiasm for. It’s not the most exciting subject matter, certainly nothing that will change anyone’s life, but it presses all the right buttons. Affleck is fine in the role of
Just when you think you have seen every topic about dealing with cancer, filmmakers Lisa Barros D’Sa, Glenn Leyburn strip away melodrama and focus on love under a microscope. They take a barebones script focused on a husband and wife coming to terms with cancer and allow these actors to dig into the
Writer/directors Nat Faxon and Jim Rash’s “Downhill” is less of a remake of the 2014 award winning “Force Majeure” and more of an English language interpretation. The premise is the same, however with older, American characters, a tightened script, and a slight imbalance in the point of view, “Downhill” is the simplified version for US
Director Hans Petter Moland has adapted Per Petterson’s dense novel of the same name into a film that’s cinematically ornamental. Internationally, the film is being sold as a Stellan Skarsgård vehicle, despite the fact he’s a minor character in the story. Narratively framed similar to The Reader, Out Stealing Horses exists almost entirely in flashback.
“Short and spicy”, “married or dead”, those were the parameters Louisa May Alcott was given on how to write women and end her stories in the 1850’s. Academy Award nominated director Greta Gerwig brings Alcott’s “Little Women” back to life 25 years after it’s last theatrical treatment that starred Winona Ryder and Susan Sarandon. Short
Brazil’s entry to compete in the Academy Award for best International Film debuted at Cannes earlier this year where it received the Un Certain Regard Award for director Karim Aïnouz. “Invisible Life” has some stereotype issues, all women are victims in a story set in the 1950’s and that all men are pushers. Beyond that