I love my avocation of watching and writing about movies — yet sometimes it pains me when I do not connect with a movie or a trend that other people adore. Such is the case with the new romantic fantasy […]
Continue reading »Month: December 2016
Moana (2016) ☆ ☆ ☆
Just as the Star Wars universe is becoming more diverse, so is the stable of Disney animation characters and stories. Princesses still rule the roost, but The Princess and the Frog‘s Tiana and Moana‘s Moana at least look and sound differently than the […]
Continue reading »Rogue One (2016) ☆ ☆ ☆
I like the Star Wars franchise, but I don’t revere it the way some do. I’ve actually met people who claim to have seen the first one (A New Hope) fifty or more times. Now you can’t even see the original […]
Continue reading »Loving (2016) ☆ ☆ 1/2
Based on real people and events, Loving tells the story of Richard Loving (Joel Edgerton) and his wife Mildred (Ruth Negga). Richard is a white bricklayer; Mildred is black; after marrying in the District of Columbia they return to live in […]
Continue reading »Nocturnal Animals (2016) ☆ ☆
If Alfred Hitchcock were still alive and making movies, he might have made this slick, visually stunning, disturbing suspense drama. As I was watching it, I saw specific shots and camera angles that I feel he would have enjoyed and […]
Continue reading »Man Down (2015) ☆ ☆ ☆
Just now getting a release is a strange but compelling movie called Man Down, starring an actor for whom I have little feeling, Shia LaBeouf. However, he’s pretty good in this modern war / family drama / apocalypse story. Yes, that’s […]
Continue reading »Bad Santa 2 (2016) ☆
Raunchy comedies are not my cup of tea, so it should not be a surprise that I despise films like this. But allow me to give credit where credit is due — old pros Billy Bob Thornton and Kathy Bates […]
Continue reading »Allied (2016) ☆ ☆ ☆
War once again rears its ugly head in Allied, a World War II thriller that wanders from North Africa to England and occupied France. Intelligence agent Max Vatan (Brad Pitt) is assigned a suicide mission with French woman Marianne (Marion Cotillard) […]
Continue reading »Hacksaw Ridge (2016) ☆ ☆ ☆ 1/2
War rears its ugly head again in this old-fashioned but very effective World War II drama, Hacksaw Ridge. This was a story of which I was completely unaware, and I am glad to see it brought to the big screen. Based […]
Continue reading »Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk (2016) ☆ ☆ ☆
This Ang Lee drama looked really interesting to me, and it turned out to be a complex, multifaceted film that addresses America’s involvement in the Iraq War on a very personal level — but I also found it to be […]
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