There are significant twists in this crime drama, but a fair amount of time is spent in figuring out who characters are. Like many horror films, the filmmakers keep you wondering and guessing, and in this case, that’s most of the movie. The reasons given are always that it’s too dangerous to be given details. No spoiler—this is […]
In Tyler Perry’s latest film A Fall From Grace, there is murder, sex, and family drama, all wrapped up in a crime mystery. Perry tosses aside his iconic Madea costume to deliver his first original film on Netflix. More interesting than the plot is the fact the Atlanta filmmaker shot the film in five days.
Family is at the center of Marco Bellocchio’s film, “The Traitor.” In the opening scene, a family is celebrating in front of the house while crime family leaders are meeting in the back. “The Traitor” chronicles Tomasso Buscetta’s, struggle to protect his family from the crime family he has become disillusioned with. A struggle that
Within three minutes of the first frame, the word Avenger is used. 21 Bridges is the first film Black Panther himself Chadwick Boseman has led since putting on the spandex. The directors of Avengers Endgame, Anthony Russo, Joe Russo, are also producers on the film. Brian Kirk makes his directorial film debut after a long
In Edward Norton’s sophomore feature as director (his first official writing credit), he takes the audience back to the early 1990s where lite mobster movies were a dime a dozen. The saxophone led original score by Daniel Pemberton (Steve Jobs) transports the viewer back to a different era of filmmaking. The cinematography, editing, and leisurely
Director Deon Taylor’s second film of 2019 is a tremendous improvement from “The Intruder,” which currently sits on many critic’s worst lists. “Black and Blue” is a step toward a better path as Taylor’s interest in suspense and the thriller genre is applied to better use. “Black and Blue” is a simplistic cat and mouse
The film opens to the song “It’s a Man’s World,” signaling the theme of DC Comics dramatic “mobster movie” adaptation and its gritty 1978 setting. It would be easy to compare this all-female cast to last years “Widows,” but they are entirely different, with very different goals. McCarthy and Haddish both play down their comic roots,
By the time you read this, “Roma” will have already won Best Foreign Language film at the 91st Academy Awards last month. “Dogman,” Italy’s submission for the race, won’t have even been nominated, and for good reason. Matteo Garrone, the visionary director of “Tale of Tales,” entirely misses the mark on this story that pits the wimp against
Of the myriad of films I have viewed in my years attending the Toronto Film Festival, “Out of Blue” is by far the worst. It goes beyond bad acting, an uneven screenplay and a low-quality production. Director Carol Morley has essentially transformed a low budget television episode into a disproportional murder mystery. Honestly, I’ve seen
In a different year, “Birds of Passage,” along with a myriad of other mildly interesting foreign film submissions would have been sure bets for the Oscar lineup. However, the bar for foreign films has been raised extraordinary high now thanks to Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma.” Colombia’s submission to the 91st Academy Awards didn’t make the nominee roster,