— by BEV QUESTAD — Nominated by the Golden Globe for best picture, best screenplay (Barry Jenkins), and best supporting actress (Regina King), “If Beale Street Could Talk” is a masterpiece. Set in Harlem around 1972, it tells of the romance between Tish (KiKi Layne) and Fonny (Stepha[...]
Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category
Review: Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
— by BEV QUESTAD — “Won’t you be my neighbor? It’s an invitation for somebody to be close to you. You know, I think everybody longs to be loved and longs to know that he or she is lovable. And consequently, the greatest thing that we can do is to help somebody know that they’re [[...]
Review: Widows
— by RON WILKINSON — After “12 Years a Slave,” what was director Steve McQueen to do? That was a hard act to follow. He could have played it safe, but instead he doubled down with fellow Oscar-winner Viola Davis to produce this powerhouse ensemble drama about three terminally disenfr[...]
Review: All the Devil’s Men
— by RON WILKINSON — Where do all the ex-special elite military go? If we believe writer/director Matthew Hope they engage in careers as mercenary bounty hunters, double cross each other and all quickly eliminated. That is, until there is only one left standing. Presumably he goes on to [...]
Review: Colette
— by BEV QUESTAD — Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette was once a charming, happy farm girl in the farmlands of France in the late 1800s. She is seduced by Willy, an older, dapper Parisian author and publisher. They set up married life in Paris where she learns that her new husband is a philandere[...]
Review: Of Fathers and Sons
— by RON WILKINSON — This is one of those documentaries that defies explanation. It is impossible to understand how a filmmaker could have gained the trust and access required to interview a man raising a family to fight for a Syrian caliphate. Director Talal Derki knew he was taking a l[...]
Review: Leave No Trace
— by BEV QUESTAD — Hidden deep in Portland’s Forest Park, one of the largest city parks (5,100 acres) in the world, a man and his daughter live in a tent abutting a hill, cook under a tarp, and hide camouflaged in the damp, richly green forest. It is inescapably idyllic. They play ches[...]
Review: Detour
— by RON WILKINSON — The next time you see this movie may not be your first time, but it may be the best time. Leaping from the screen in a spanking new 4K restoration of a classic noir, “Detour” defines the genre. Down on his luck piano player Al Roberts (Tom Neal) is beaten [&helli[...]
Review: Dark Money
— by BEV QUESTAD — Political mail with lies? Campaign ad grossly misrepresenting the truth? Can just anyone with the bucks say anything in a campaign? Besides the questionable rhetoric of the two major parties, when an outside source funds a spurious campaign ad, the funding source is ca[...]
Review: Speed Kills
— by RON WILKINSON — John Travolta knows a thing or two about speed. As a professional level jet pilot holding a dozen licenses, he has traveled much faster than Ben Aronoff ever did. Even so, Aronoff’s love of speed exceeded anything most of us will ever know. The inventor of modern o[...]
Review: Flipping the Script
— by BEV QUESTAD — If it is true that cancer is related to an immune system that has run amuck, then why are we adding toxic chemicals into patients, especially children, when it is the immune system that we need to strengthen? In his documentary, “Flipping the Script: When Parents Fig[...]
Review: Distant Constellation
— by RON WILKINSON — New director Shevaun Mizrahi does a lot with a little is this old school probe of lives we live and lives we think we live. The film shifts between two stories, a Turkish retirement home and the construction site just outside the window. The construction site embodie[...]
Review: The Grief of Others
— by BEV QUESTAD — Sometimes a film’s weakness turns out to be a strength. At first confusing and sometimes hard to figure out what is going on and who is who, “The Grief of Others” explores the loss of a baby, who really never had life, on all family members. Was it a death [&hell[...]
Review: A Star is Born
— 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 [...]