“Civil War” emerges as a riveting film that breaks the conventional boundaries of its genre to present a potent story centered on the ethics of journalism and the grim realities of war. Set in a future America devastated by internal strife, the movie offers an intense look at the duties and challenges journalists face in […]
Director Noah Hawley’s new film “Lucy in the Sky,” based on the astronaut who’s nervous breakdown made headlines a decade ago, is more complicated than it needs to be. The most disappointing element of the film which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival was that there was no diaper scene. Most reading this will
It’s only Drew Goddard’s second film as director, but the television producer has assembled an exciting cast in this Tarantino-esque thriller. Like most mysteries, the less you know, the more exciting the suspense, Bad Times at the El Royale is no exception. A priest, a pop singer and a vacuum cleaner salesman walk into a once glamorous hotel
After focusing on people in their twilight years in films like “I’ll See You in My Dreams” and “The Hero,” promising new writer/director Brett Haley has shifted his focus. “Hearts Beat Loud” is first and foremost a father/daughter “dramedy.” It is also a film about music and a story about difficult choices. Haley and screenwriting
From the director of The Mothman Prophecies, comes an ensemble drama that takes a look at the objects and possessions one acquires in a lifetime. The story and characters of this film are presented as a mosaic, with each short segment bleeding into the next one, but never making a full circle. Nostalgia explores the
I can appreciate clever, raunchy comedy, but there isn’t much to laugh at in The Little Hours. Writer Jeff Baena (I Heart Huckabees), also the director, takes what’s essentially a one-act joke and expands it into a feature. I think I laughed one time, but the jokes are not very creative, and I don’t find
Not to diminish Sam Elliott’s performance in his new film The Hero, but writer/director Brett Haley creates a vehicle for the iconic actor that’s strikingly comparable with Crazy Heart. Haley cast Elliott in 2015’s I’ll See You in My Dreams, playing against type. That film, Haley’s best accomplishment to date, created a bond between the
There isn’t any brilliant filmmaking here, Michael Keaton (“Birdman”) doesn’t land the performance of the year. “The Founder” instead works as a pure interest story, shedding light of the history of America’s most popular restaurant, McDonalds. John Lee Hancock is known for such family feelers as “Saving Mr. Banks” (exposing Walt Disney, it was a
The show must go on. Clever animation and a wealth of songs tell the story of Showman Buster Moon (Matthew McConaughey), a koala who has inherited a famous theater from his father, and he is desperately trying to keep it going. But he has had a number of failed projects and is about to lose
Best picture winner at Sundance this year, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl was snapped up by Fox Searchlight in hopes of pushing it into the awards season.