— by JESSIKA OWENS — Airplanes seem like a logical place for thriller movies, until one closely examines the challenges and limitations of filming and storyline. In my experience, it generally doesn’t work. There’s only so much set that can be used and the whole process feels[...]
Archive for February, 2014
Review: Ilo Ilo
— by BEV QUESTAD — Dennis the Menace meets Mary Poppins in Singapore. Well, Dennis is spot-on but the sweet Filipino young lady who comes to be a servant in this household has her hands full. Set in Singapore circa 1997 during an economic crisis, Teresa is the new household maid (played [...]
Review: Winter’s Tale
— by ADAM DALE — From Warner Bros. Pictures and Akiva Goldsman, a well-known producer and writer making his directorial debut, “Winter’s Tale” is a movie loosely based on the 1983 novel by Mark Helprin. It is a tale of love, loss, destiny, the fight waged between good a[...]
Guardians of the Galaxy: Trailer
— by ADAM POYNTER — Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” takes us into the cosmos where hot-headed half human/half alien adventurer Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) finds himself with a bounty on his head. He is the subject of an unrelenting manhunt by Ronan (Lee Pace), a powerful v[...]
Review: Ernest and Celestine
— by BEV QUESTAD — A cute little mouse, Celestine, wants to be an artist, not a dentist like expected. Mice, you know, are partial to their crucial incisors and value the health of their teeth. Therefore their society is built around the dental arts, including procuring spare incisors fr[...]
Review: Village at the End of the World
— by BEV QUESTAD — Though the sun shines, biting wind brushes through the air, icebergs loom like monoliths from the bay, and temperatures don’t get too far beyond freezing. This is Sequinnerpoq, the summer season when the sun shines. The little Inuit fishing village, Niaqornat, nestle[...]
Review: Just a Sigh
— by BEV QUESTAD — Working out an interpretation of Blaise Pascal’s theme on happiness, filmmaker Jérome Bonnell gives us 24 hours, beginning and ending with a ride on a train. Gabriel Byrne is perfectly cast as the interesting older man. Coming in from England to Paris for the funera[...]
Review: Endless Love
— by JESSIKA OWENS — Valentine’s Day for movie-goers means only one thing, brace yourself for love stories shoved down your throat. The issue becomes, what love story could possibly be released at this point that is fresh and something that hasn’t been done a thousand times o[...]
Review: A World Not Ours
— by BEV QUESTAD — Screened at this year’s Portland International Film Festival, “A World Not Ours” was Lebanon’s entry into the 2014 Oscar competition for best film in a Foreign Language. It’s all about the 64-year-old Ain El Helweh refugee camp for Palestinians in southern Le[...]
Review: Mary, Queen of Scots
— by BEV QUESTAD — Many will flock to see “Mary Queen of Scots” with its dark and musty castles, mist-shrouded gentle landscapes and richly-colored costumes. Swiss filmmaker Thomas Imbach, with multiple writers, has idealized Mary as a romantic figure from Elizabethan times, truly mo[...]
Review: I Am Yours (aka Jeg er din)
— by BEV QUESTAD — Norway’s entry for consideration for a 2014 Oscar didn’t make the final cut, and when you see it, you’ll know why. A pretty single mother, Mina is starved for love and affection but has no idea how to get it. Soon enough, a man begins a flirtation on the street [[...]
Review: The Galapagos Affair
— by BEV QUESTAD — Ever get so disgusted with the government that you would like to branch out, so to speak, to your own uninhabited island? This is the way it was in 1929 for two Germans, Friedrich Ritter and Dore Strauch. They were totally disillusioned with society, calling it “a hu[...]
24: Live Another Day: Super Bowl Teaser
— by JOSUE SANCHEZ — In what might be described as brilliant advertising, this past Sunday’s Super Bowl teaser for “24: Live Another Day” really delivered. For the fans of the show, it gave them a taste of their hero —and heroine— back in action, and newcomers to the sh[...]
Review: The Wind Rises
— by BEV QUESTAD — The 86th Oscar nominations have bravely, and rightly, fingered “The Wind Rises” as one of five works for Best Animated Film. At home in Japan, the film opened with overwhelming success and abrupt, surprising controversy. The same will happen here if it wins for bes[...]