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 »Category: Recent Releases
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 […]
Continue reading »The Edge of Seventeen (2016) ☆ ☆
Another film that was somewhat difficult to watch is the teen angst drama The Edge of Seventeen. This comic drama centers on awkward teenager Nadine (Hailee Steinfeld), whose life becomes ever more complicated when her only friend Krista (Haley Lu Richardson) […]
Continue reading »Moonlight (2016) ☆ ☆ ☆
This film festival favorite was a difficult drama for me to watch, though it did get better and better. It is a very realistic glimpse of life in a crime-ridden area of Miami, focusing on a handful of black and […]
Continue reading »Inferno (2016) ☆ ☆ ☆
Sometimes I seem to find myself out of step with other viewers; judging from many poor reviews of Inferno I have seen this is one of those times. Perhaps it is because I wasn’t overly impressed with The Da Vinci Code or Angels […]
Continue reading »Doctor Strange (2016) ☆ ☆ ☆
Having had my fill of superhero movies this year I was prepared to dislike this film, especially with its silly special effects of a city folding under itself. I was also wary of bald Tilda Swinton, the mystical aspects of […]
Continue reading »A Man Called Ove (2016) ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
It’s taken until the middle of November but I’ve finally awarded a 2016 movie four stars. It’s a Swedish dramedy entitled A Man Called Ove. The story is simple: a very grumpy old man called Ove (Ralf Lassgård) is fed up […]
Continue reading »Arrival (2016) ☆ ☆ ☆
This movie presents a real conundrum for me. I love science-fiction and Arrival is the best kind of sci-fi, an intellectual invasion tale with smart people attempting to make contact with a truly mysterious species before our human capacity for self-destruction […]
Continue reading »Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016) ☆ ☆
Generally the same type of film as The Accountant, the second Jack Reacher adventure tries very hard to entertain, but it cannot match The Accountant‘s wit, charm or payoff, not to mention those of its own predecessor, Jack Reacher. In the first JR film […]
Continue reading »