Malcolm Washington’s directorial debut, The Piano Lesson, adapts August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play into a deeply evocative film that reverberates with the weight of family legacy, grief, and resilience. Set against the backdrop of 1930s Pittsburgh, the film cleverly captures the essence of a Black family’s struggle over an heirloom piano, whose carved surfaces tell the […]
There is a clever premise to this action thriller: It’s about “finding things that don’t want to be found.” Little references to this pop up throughout the story, always in different contexts, a testament to the skillful work of director Martin Campbell and writer Richard Wenk. The story begins a little murky, jumping around from Viet Nam, Bucharest,
With a new title, marquee names on the poster and no jigsaw puppet, “Spiral” is a reboot of sorts to the “Saw” franchise (2004-2017) that ran out of steam around its third installment. Technically, “Spiral” is the ninth film in the franchise, and while there is new blood in front of the camera, director Darren
Why is it the reboots of Spider-Man feel like “they are going to get it right this time” and then we get to the sequel. Perhaps it’s because “Spider-Man: Far From Home” is the third, part-two. Sam Rami’s “Spider-Man 2” with Tobey Maguire (2004), “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” starring Andrew Garfield (2014) and now it’s
It’s a generational thing as all three “Shaft” men come together in the third installment of the movie series that dates back to the ’70s. Samuel L. Jackson who has built a career on playing Shaft-type characters was the optimal choice to bring the foul-mouthed detective back to the big screen in 2000. “Barbershop” director
Part of the 2017 Toronto Film Festival “New Wave” series, Oscar winning actress Brie Larson made her directorial debut with “Unicorn Store”. A welcome surprise and a more impressive actor-turned-director film than Andy Serkis’ “Breathe” which also debuted at the festival that year. Yet no distributor would buy the film, even with an Oscar winner
It’s the first time Marvel Studios (aka Disney) has been behind the superhero curve. Eager to release their first solo female superhero, they managed to tie “Captain Marvel” (changed from an original male character to female) into the ongoing Avengers saga rather quickly. Oscar winner Brie Larson (“Room”) is an ideal champion for this sarcastic,
If you have ever watched or been that child who bangs his toys together out of pure destruction, out of boredom or just being done with those particular toys; you can imagine what “Glass” is like through an adult prism. Writer and director M. Night Shyamalan is a polarizing filmmaker whose concepts and ideas typically
“Life itself is an unreliable narrator”, states this film in so many ways so many times, it becomes the major theme, with the corollary, “Life will always surprise you”. So life is an unreliable narrator because we never know what is going to happen next. What may seem like tragedy and death can be deceptive, particularly if
I am always partial to Brad Bird, and think that his production of Incredibles 2i s just that—impressive enough to be regarded as incredible, and a film that is likely to appeal to all ages. One of Bird’s strengths is in mixing lavish visual and special effects with an entertaining story of substance. Beyond the entertainment, values come