“Deepwater Horizon” is the latest entry in the “Contemporary True-Story of a Major American News Event” genre. Ripped from the headlines, with a script adapted from a New York Times article, director Peter Berg takes us through the events of April 20, 2010, which resulted the loss of nearly a dozen lives and created the […]
Rarely does a movie make me cry. On the few occasions it’s happened, it was at the end of the film. “Christine” not only brought me to tears during the climax, but on two other occasions earlier in the movie, as I watched Rebecca Hall give a painfully resonant and hauntingly brilliant performance as 1970s […]
Many thoughts were swirling around my head as I was watching “Storks”. The opening montage reminded me of the stork delivering baby Dumbo to Mrs. Jumbo in that Disney classic. Hearing Kelsey Grammer as the voice of the stork delivery company boss made me think of his role on the TV drama, “Boss”. I enjoyed […]
When done right, modern attempts at the Western can rise above ordinary standards. A couple recent examples: 2010’s “True Grit” and last year’s “The Revenant”. Director Antoine Fuqua’s remake / re-imagining / re-do / re-shoot-em-up of 1960’s “The Magnificent Seven” has the feel and flavor of a “classic” Western, maybe more so than any other […]
I could thoroughly describe how the low-budget drama, “Mr. Church”, is basically a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie that sugar-coats numerous serious issues and situations, including terminal cancer, divorce, single parenthood, both alcohol and child abuse, drunk driving and neglect. It’s also an extremely simple Circle of Life story that packs-in way too many coincidences […]
Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as Edward Joseph Snowden in Oliver Stone’s biopic on the infamous U.S. government contractor who, in 2013, leaked stunning, classified information from the National Security Agency regarding the organization’s monitoring of the personal lives of billions of people across the globe. Last year, Gordon-Levitt played tightrope master Philippe Petit in “The Walk”, […]
What does it mean to be deemed a hero? Clint Eastwood explored that question in his previous film, the powerhouse “American Sniper”, the story of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle. Now, Eastwood, at 86, tackles another heroic figure – Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger – the man who pulled-off the “Miracle on the Hudson”. Tom Hanks anchors […]
The making of “The Light Between Oceans” brought together two of the industry’s shining stars: Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander. Their chemistry on screen, as a loving husband and wife, sparked a real-life romance off-screen, as the two have been “a couple” since filming took place in 2014. But this isn’t PerezHilton.com – this is […]
Boxing movies, always a popular genre, have been a “main event” in Hollywood over the past few years. The latest on the card, “Hands of Stone”, is a lightweight compared to most fight films. But it does have an element of “class” and tone that provide for a satisfying viewing. This is the story of […]
“Mechanic: Resurrection” is the sequel to 2011’s action/thriller “The Mechanic” (which was a remake of a 1972 film of the same name, starring Charles Bronson). Buried in January, “ME1” only grossed $29 million in the U.S. This sequel opens at the end of August, the dreaded period of the movie year when studios dump films […]