— by ADAM DALE — Over the years, there has been a never-ending slew of movies dedicated to wars and battles fought throughout history. While some choose to focus on specific people and others looked at the grander scheme, most have been about adversity and overcoming insurmountable odds.[...]
Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category
Under Review: ‘Underworld: Awakening’
— by ADAM DALE — After a six-year absence from the franchise, Kate Beckinsale returns as one of her best characters, Selene the vampire warrior, in “Underworld: Awakening.” With new directors Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein at the helm — along with[...]
Under Review: ‘Contraband’
— by LYNN TACKITT — Being a fan of action, adventure, drama, plots with a twist and Mark Wahlberg, I was looking forward to the actor’s latest movie. In “Contraband,” Wahlberg plays Chris Farraday, who has left behind his criminal past to raise a family. His brother-in-[...]
Review: Joyful Noise
— by ADAM DALE — In his third musical driven drama, director Todd Graff (“Camp,” “Bandslam”) returns to theaters with “Joyful Noise.” Full of some big names and upbeat gospel tunes “Joyful Noise” is the story of a small town church choir that is looking fo[...]
Under Review: ‘Lula, Son of Brazil’
— by BEV QUESTAD — Would distributing checks to families who kept their children in school provide a greater boon to an economy than investing in stock portfolios? Would deploying soldiers to protect the environment at home rather than pillage one across a foreign sea bring greater natio[...]
Under Review: ‘Le Havre’
— by BEV QUESTAD — In a time of increasing economic fears, the words of the hero in “Le Havre” are a sad commentary about his position as a shoeshine man: “There are better professions, but besides shepherds, it’s closest to the people and the last to respect The Sermon on th[...]
Under Review: ‘The Darkest Hour’
— by ADAM DALE — The holiday season is customarily full of a plethora of new movies of the family-friendly variety. This year is no exception, but there is an unusual surge of adult-oriented films hitting theaters this week. One of those is “The Darkest Hour,” an alien invasion/end o[...]
Under Review: ‘War Horse’
— by ADAM DALE — Not only is Steven Spielberg one of the most brilliant and influential minds of the 20th and 21 centuries in the entertainment industry, there is a certain feeling you get when watching one of his movies. The memory of your first Spielberg movie — whether it’[...]
Under Review: ‘Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy’
— by ADAM DALE — Based off a 1974 novel by the same name, “Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy” is an espionage film that focuses on the British Intelligence agency known as “The Circus” during the height of the Cold War when the head of the agency, named Control (John Hurt), is forced [...]
Under Review: ‘Mysteries of Lisbon’
— by BEV QUESTAD — Life at times is cruel and unjust. Raul Ruiz delivers this message in his gorgeous film with period extravagance and beauty. Life stories of passion and grief are recounted by the characters, explaining what happened in their surprisingly interconnected lives in Lisbon[...]
Review: Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
— by ADAM DALE — In 2009 director Guy Ritchie surprised us all by bringing the legendary personage, Sherlock Holmes — from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories — to life and at the same time making him intriguing and a unique take on the character with his eccentric tendencies.[...]
Under Review: ‘The Chef of South Polar’ (aka Nankyoku ryôrinin)
— by BEV QUESTAD — Eight Japanese men in the prime of their lives are sent to a desolate outpost deep in Antarctica for 414 days. Their job is to mine ice cores that document climate change through the last 300,000 years. But 414 days is a long time. Sometimes the sun never sets and [&he[...]
Under Review: ‘Force of Nature: The David Suzuki Movie’
— by BEV QUESTAD — “It kind of feels like kind of a rap of what I’ve been doing. It really is a nice completion. I can just go home and die now.” That’s what David Suzuki says about his 2009 lecture at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. However, at 73, Suzuki is [&h[...]
Under Review: ‘Ruhr’
— by BEV QUESTAD — From time to time, I see art and I am blown away — Louise Bourgeois, Frida Kahlo, Mindy Weisel, William Thompson — my mesmerized subconscious overflows. Other times I just don’t get it and I contact my artist friends and demand, “How does this constitut[...]