“Allied” is All Lies, and That’s the Truth
Whoever coined the term, "all's fair in love and war," didn't account for the love affair of two wartime spies, which, as you can imagine, complicates things considerably. You've heard of marriage under false pretenses,...
‘Moana’ Makes Waves with Tall Tales
Legends? Check. Destiny? Check. Princess? Not exactly. Moana is a chieftain's daughter, a far more proactive role than princess, which, from what I understand, is primarily comprised of sleeping, waltzing and the careless loss of priceless...
‘Bleed for This’ Rolls with the Punches
A remarkable true story doesn't necessarily make for a remarkable film. In fact, it can almost be a detriment, as it can give a film a fatal sense of responsibility to the source material. The film will...
Wands at the Ready!: ‘Fantastic Beasts’ Packs the Adventure
As the Potter films became more numerous, their wide-eyed whimsicality was dampened by their darker, more "adult" ambitions, thereby losing what made them special in the search to be "important." "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" returns...
‘The Love Witch’ Casts an Enchanting Spell
It’s a fun campy drama/horror film shot in 35mm and wrapped up in a piece of cinematic entertainment that can best be described as a visual tribute to the Technicolor thrillers of the 1960s. “The...
Buckle up for “Arrival”
There's a quote from Emil Cioran, a Romanian philosopher, that goes a little something like this: "One does not inhabit a country; one inhabits a language. That is our country—our fatherland—and no other." George Orwell...
‘American Pastoral’ Falls Short
It was adapted from the Pulitzer winning book of the same name, which was written by Phillip Roth, but the “American Pastoral” film version is lacking in substance and gratitude and it does not follow...
The ‘Doctor’ is in
Studio interference is generally seen as a corrosive force in the making of a film—the moment when the creatives and the suits collide in a superhero showdown of their own. At Marvel Studios, spearheaded by Kevin...
See why “Inferno” is a Hellish Experience
The central philosophical question at the heart of "Inferno" is one we've seen often: would you kill a few to save many? The film raises the stakes to exterminating half the world's population, which would, in...
