— by RON WILKINSON — Perhaps Bradley Cooper thought he could get off easy by making his directorial debut an expanded MTV video. After all, having cornered the considerable singing talents of Lady Gaga promised to go a long way. As it turns out, Gaga, playing the lead part of super-star [...]
Archive for October, 2018
Review: Fists in the Pocket
— by RON WILKINSON — The golden age of Italian cinema is making a comeback, at least the Cineteca di Bologna and the L’Immagine Ritrovata Laboratory hope so. This freshly restored 4k B&W beauty has all the stripped down power of the spaghetti westerns and the music of Ennio Mo[...]
Review: The Guilty
— by RON WILKINSON — This masterpiece of stripped down tension is even more beautiful for what it is not. Presenting the exact opposite of an ensemble cast, the story is told in the mind and ears of a single person, Asger Holm, who may well be going insane. The viewer must decide what is[...]
Review: Bloodline
— by RON WILKINSON — Seann William Scott (“Goon” and “American Pie”) tries something different, of the raging slasher persuasion, in this fun-loving flick from Blumhouse. Director Henry Jacobson teams up with perennial producer/disruptor Jason Blum and co-producer Derek Bishe’ [...]
Review: Nigerian Prince
— by RON WILKINSON — A movie named after the famous internet scam has a lot to live up to. The “Nigerian prince” scam promised a huge cash reward for helping a foreign national out of a paperwork problem. The victim is then robbed of money, identity, or both. The scam has been used s[...]
Review: A Bread Factory, Part Two
— by BEV QUESTAD — Hold on, ye professed intellectuals! Patrick Wang takes the time with left-over funding from “A Bread Factory, Part One” to do a second response to the real-life story of a New England community arts center in trouble. In case “Part One” wasn’t experimental e[...]
Review: A Bread Factory, Part One
— by BEV QUESTAD — The Bread Factory is a small-town experimental community art center in trouble. But it is only a microcosm of a greater danger that has invaded a town being hoodwinked by corruption on the city board and infiltrated by forces indifferent to the community good. The galv[...]
Review: On Her Shoulders
— by BEV QUESTAD — Since 2014, Nadia has had only two wishes. The first is to return to her small town. The second is to get justice. If her first wish is granted, she would be returning to a town with no men. The second has put a price on her head. “On Her […][...]
Review: The Old Man and the Gun
— by RON WILKINSON — An actor with a career of the monumental success of Robert Redford has a lot of good work on which to expand. The old fashioned flimflammery of “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” and its companion piece “The Sting” fit tightly with the genre of his latest m[...]
Review: Between Worlds
— by RON WILKINSON — The great thing about Nicolas Cage’s bad movies is that he seems to be having such a good time making them it becomess infectious. Screened at Fantastic Fest 2018 in Austin, the genre non-busting B movie “Between Worlds” is no exception. Even better, this flick[...]
Review: A Star is Born
— by JESSIKA OWENS — At the 10th Annual Academy Awards in 1937, “A Star is Born” – with seven nominations, one win and a special award – started something that would stick around in Hollywood for quite some time. Eight decades later, we are taking one more look at this st[...]