Filmmakers hiring real-life subjects to portray themselves is not new. Sports figures such as boxer Muhammad Ali (The Greatest, 1977), daredevil Evel Knievel (Viva Knievel!, 1977), baseball players Jackie Robinson (The Jackie Robinson Story, 1950) and Babe Ruth (in several […]
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The Greatest Showman (2017) ☆ ☆
A couple of weeks after seeing it, I’m still not sure what to think about the musical The Greatest Showman. It’s a musical (loosely) based on the life of P. T Barnum (Hugh Jackman) and his attempt to make a living […]
Continue reading »The Shape of Water (2017) ☆ ☆ ☆ 1/2
The Creature of the Black Lagoon and Zaat aside, The Shape of Water is the Citizen Kane of amphibious man movies. Director and co-writer Guillermo del Toro has fashioned a singular cinematic experience that defies easy categorization, spans many genres, is genuinely beautiful […]
Continue reading »Phantom Thread (2017) ☆ ☆ 1/2
Paul Thomas Anderson is a truly accomplished filmmaker whose offbeat st0ries offer unique, different views of our world. When he is on point, as with Boogie Nights (1997), he’s one of the best in the business. The trouble for me is […]
Continue reading »Coco (2017) ☆ ☆ ☆
Perhaps the greatest attribute of Pixar Studios is that they take chances. Risks. Surprising paths. Nowhere is this more apparent than with their latest film, Coco. It takes place on Mexico’s annual Day of the Dead, and concerns the souls of […]
Continue reading »Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) ☆ ☆ ☆ 1/2
I am not a fan of the first Jumanji from back in 1995, which I feel is overproduced hokum with brutish special effects. And why does so much modern “adventure” mean putting children in peril so often? I don’t get it. So […]
Continue reading »The Post (2017) ☆ ☆ ☆
With all the anti-media bias coming from the White House these days, a film like The Post could not be more timely. Governments keeping non-essential secrets and blatantly lying to the public is, and must be, fair game for all journalists […]
Continue reading »I, Tonya (2017) ☆ ☆ ☆ 1/2
Revisionist history is a threat to any movie about real people, especially if they are still alive and kicking. As wildly entertaining as I, Tonya is, it certainly feels as if history is being rewritten for Tonya Harding’s behalf. Perhaps she […]
Continue reading »Molly’s Game (2017) ☆ ☆ ☆
Some movies, no matter how intricately detailed or complexly structured they are, don’t connect with viewers because of what they are about. Molly’s Game is one of those movies for me. Molly Bloom (Jessica Chastain) is a woman in legal […]
Continue reading »Wonder (2017) ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Some stories are patently obvious in their intent. A glance at the plot delivers all one needs to know about that story, from what to expect to a telling indicator of how one will feel about it. They say “you […]
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