I was completely unaware of the true history behind this story, and I am glad that a movie has been made to convey it to a wide audience, for there are among us people who stubbornly refuse to accept historical […]
Continue reading »Category: Recent Releases
The Girl on the Train (2016) ☆ ☆ 1/2
This film, like the book upon which it is based, has garnered acclaim, some of it deserved. And yet I am not a fan of the film, for two reasons I will detail below. But first, the good. Tate Taylor’s film […]
Continue reading »Deepwater Horizon (2016) ☆ ☆ ☆
The 2010 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig led to the worst oil spill in U. S. history; it was in the news for months, with consequences that are still being felt in the Gulf Region. While it was […]
Continue reading »Masterminds (2016) ☆ ☆ 1/2
Like Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Masterminds takes a dramatic situation and plays it for laughs. A terrific comic thriller could have been made from this real-life caper; what we have instead is a slapstick comedy of errors. The movie makes […]
Continue reading »The Dressmaker (2015) ☆ ☆ ☆ 1/2
We stay in the South Pacific (following New Zealand’s Hunt for the Wilderpeople) with a quirky tale from Australia entitled The Dressmaker. It is comic, dramatic, mysterious, troubling, heartrending and beautiful — one of the best films of the year. Dress […]
Continue reading »Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016) ☆ ☆ ☆
Movies can succeed in many ways, one of which is taking a dramatic story with troubling aspects and making a wacky comedy out of it. That is what has occurred with Hunt for the Wilderpeople, a New Zealand production. An […]
Continue reading »Little Men (2016) ☆ ☆ 1/2
The title doesn’t do this movie any favors, suggesting as it does another Louisa May Alcott edition or a ensemble piece of height-challenged actors. Instead, this realistic drama spotlights how a budding friendship between two adolescent boys is threatened when […]
Continue reading »The Magnificent Seven (2016) ☆ ☆ 1/2
This is film is a textbook example of why remakes of classic films rarely measure up to the originals. The original, a 1960 western, based itself on the 1954 Japanese classic Seven Samurai, is a marvelous film that made stars of […]
Continue reading »Mr. Church (2016) ☆ ☆ ☆
I must confess I had never even heard of this film before my local art house picked it up, and had no idea what it might be. Actually, that situation is a wonderful way to experience a movie, for I […]
Continue reading »Sully (2016) ☆ ☆ ☆
Some events seem destined for movie production; such is the case with “the Miracle on the Hudson,” the January 15, 2009 incident when pilots Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger and Jeff Skiles successfully landed an airliner on the Hudson River after a […]
Continue reading »