— by RON WILKINSON — A luscious celebration of 19th century bucolic fertility splashes across the screen at the 23rd Rendez-Vous with French Cinema. Co-presented by Film Society of Lincoln Center and Unifrance, this cautionary tale is directed by Marine Francen and based on the book by V[...]
Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category
Review: The Young Karl Marx
— by RON WILKINSON — They were the best of times and, well, you know the rest. Raoul Peck follows up his vibrant Oscar-nominated “I Am Not Your Negro” with this yeasty diatribe on the eve of socialism. “Das Kapital” is brewing in a pot of larger than life characters who live for [...]
Review: Western
— by RON WILKINSON — Lanky lead Meinhard Neumann plays a different kind of cowboy in “Western,” a low-key pondering of war and peace. Meinhard works on a German construction crew that must build a dam in remote Bulgaria. A self-described former “Legionnaire,” its seems he has bee[...]
Review: Lots of Kids, a Monkey and a Castle
— by BEV QUESTAD — This bizarre feature memoir was filmed by Spanish actor/director Gustavo Salmeron, at the pit of his family’s demise. While his mother, Julita, had gotten her three wishes – lots of kids, a monkey and a beautiful castle – they lose it all in the Spanish economic [...]
Review: Soufra
— by BEV QUESTAD — Mariam Shaar was born imprisoned in the narrow corridors of a labyrinth of narrow passages with dangling lethal electrical wires and men slumped in the shadows on plastic chairs. Like her mother and other refugee women, she was trapped in a No Exit scenario. But unlike[...]
Review: The Post
— by RON WILKINSON — Director Steven Spielberg missed the boat with “The Post,” a mundane re-enactment of the Washington Post’s history-making role in the Pentagon Papers. Part of the problem is the work of first-time feature screenwriter Liz Hannah and emerging co-writer Josh Sing[...]
Review: Phantom Thread
— by RON WILKINSON — Announced by Daniel Day-Lewis as his last film, the three-time Oscar-winner has opted to go out with dignity and grace. Nominated for a Golden Globe, and backed up by a Globe-nominated score by Jonny Greenwood, watching “Phantom Thread” is like walking through an[...]
Review: Molly’s Game
— by RON WILKINSON — Jessica Chastain has never looked better than playing high stakes poker mastermind Molly Bloom. Raised by a psychotically demanding father (Kevin Costner), Molly fails as a world class downhill skier but succeeds in organizing one of the highest-stakes poker rings in[...]
Review: The UnAmerican Struggle
— by BEV QUESTAD — The Doug Jones election win, though narrow, may indicate that things are not as rock-solid depressing as director/writer Ric Osuna has been thinking. His passionate documentary, compiled in the wake of the November 2016 election, is a collection of reactionary intervie[...]
Review: Darkest Hour
— by RON WILKINSON — Gary Oldman comes out swinging as Winston Churchill in this period piece set during four weeks at the outset of World War II. A hard-drinking, cigar-smoking curmudgeon who bullies everyone in sight, he appears to have been put in a position nobody else wanted, that o[...]
Review: Pitch Perfect 3
— by JESSIKA OWENS — It’s been five years since “Pitch Perfect” oozed its way into pop culture with quips, mash-ups and cups. It’s been 2 years since its sequel snuck in with some one-liners and cameos. And that brings us to “Pitch Perfect 3” – the s[...]
Review: Star Wars: The Last Jedi
— by RON WILKINSON — The Force lives on with new blood. The same special effects and light saber hokum stalls for time in what appears to be a rebuilding year for the franchise. Notice is given at the outset when a 100-decibel opening dose of John Williams knocks you back in your seat li[...]
Review: I, Tonya
— by RON WILKINSON — Unbridled ambition to rival Nicole Kidman’s “To Die For,” Tonya Harding’s story may be the dark comedy of the season. The first woman to land a triple axel in competition and one of only eight in the history of the sport, Harding was banned for life from skat[...]