— by RON WILKINSON — In this profound exploration of the emotional toll of capital punishment, Alfre Woodard seems to take responsibility for the entire movie, just as her character takes responsibility for ending the lives of those deemed by society as being unfit to live. As she does t[...]
Author Archive
Review: Midnight Family
— by RON WILKINSON — Never have so few done so much for so little. In Mexico City, the Ochoa family operates a private ambulance service that survives, barely, by virtually begging critically injured patients to pay. Sometimes they do pay, and then local police bust the family for operat[...]
Review: Invisible Life
— by RON WILKINSON — Born in Rio de Janeiro, Guida and Euridice grow up sharing their most intimate secrets. Through the brilliant direction of Karim Ainouz, we are part of that intimacy. There is no film in recent history that takes the viewer into the hearts of the characters as well. [...]
Review: 1917
— by RON WILKINSON — Edited to simulate a continuous take, a plot that might otherwise be mundane and trite becomes a tense, power-packed race for life. The lethal terror of World War I is turned on its head by the realistic scenes of boredom, fear and rats in the trenches, making filth [...]
Review: The Aeronauts
— by RON WILKINSON — A bit beyond the usual road trip, two balloon adventurers find themselves trapped in a spinning coffin thousands of feet up. Starting off like Natalie Wood and Tony Curtis in “The Great Race,” their gas balloon an idyllic boat on a heavenly pond, they end up in t[...]
Review: A Hidden Life
— by RON WILKINSON — Stunning cinematography and a powerful message anchor this melancholy tale of super-human courage in the face of overwhelming opposition. There are countless stories of courage during war, but all too few about the courage of those who do not fight. It is one thing t[...]
Review: Little Joe
— by RON WILKINSON — There is something about the way that Alice (Emily Beecham) is so heavily made-up that suggests the ethereal. This will be a dreamlike movie, so drop the niggling techie criticisms and get your unconscious in gear. The modern corporation has created a team of super-b[...]
Review: Scandalous
— by RON WILKINSON — When The National Enquirer founder Generoso Pope Jr. hit upon the journalistic idea of the century he thought he had a good thing. The trick was a two-pronged attack to give readers what they wanted, Olympian size schadenfreude, and put the paper where they could see[...]
Review: Radioflash
— by RON WILKINSON — A flash and the lights go off. There is no power. After a while there is still no power. The power is off everywhere. At least everywhere in the film studio. Luckily, we have this old HAM amateur radio. Let’s connect the car battery to the power plug and see [&hell[...]
Review: Narrowsburg
— by RON WILKINSON — A forgotten town in upstate New York gets a chance at the big time that would be the envy of city fathers across America. Long in the shadow of New York City, with the glitz and glamour of Broadway beaming almost to Poughkeepsie, the Narrowsburg Film Festival of 1999[...]
Review: On the Inside of a Military Dictatorship
— by RON WILKINSON — By the very nature of dictatorships and military regimes, documentaries about them are rare. This riveting film about the leadership, and humanitarian crisis, of Myanmar is a good example of the genre. Director Karen Stokkendal Poulsen works within strictly defined b[...]
Review: In Bright Axiom
— by RON WILKINSON — You have been invited to an experience that requires only your rapt attention, and complete discretion. That means concentrate and do not tell anyone. The payoff is a combination of a Sherlock Holmes club and the Shriners, with free drinks. The venue is Latitude Hous[...]
Review: The Serengeti Rules
— by RON WILKINSON — An urchin chomping away merrily at a kelp lunch is a sight to behold. Who knew that urchins had teeth, just like humans? Well, not exactly like humans, but close. Even better is killer whales hunting seals by splashing next to them, creating a huge wave that washes t[...]