— by RON WILKINSON — Director Stephen Frears has done better things. His visceral 1990 Oscar-winner “The Grifters” was as serious as a heart attack compared to his Oscar-winning “The Queen” in 2006. But both were heavies compared to this flighty flick. Meryl Streep plays the titular Jenkins and Hugh Grant plays her husband, St. […][...]
Review: My Love, Don’t Cross that River
— by BEV QUESTAD — I love this film. Couched in poetic scenery through the seasons, this love story/documentary reveals a 76-year partnership that teaches and inspires. The couple lives on a traditional South Korean outpost across from an embankment to a bubbling stream. They have two dogs and they have each other. After raking […][...]
Review: Disorder
— by RON WILKINSON — Matthias Schoenaerts and Diane Kruger are fun to watch in this simmering pot-boiler wannabe, but, as in meditation, one waits and waits and then … nothing. Schoenaerts plays Foreign Legion Afghanistan veteran Vincent Loreau, apparently an elite soldier who has returned home with afflicted with PTSD. He is in treatment […][...]
Review: Neither Heaven Nor Earth
— by RON WILKINSON — First-time feature director Clément Cogitore cuts one loose with “Neither Heaven Nor Earth,” and atmospheric allegory about the war in Afghanistan. Written in collaboration with Thomas Bidegain, one feels this movie as much as seeing and watching it. The date is 2014 and the time is fast approaching for the […][...]
Giffoni Film Festival: Griphon Award Winners
With the 46th edition of the Giffoni Film Festival coming to an end, the complete list of this year’s winners were proclaimed during the closing press conference by Director Claudio Gubitosi, together with artistic managers Manlio Castagna, Luca Apolito, Gianvincenzo Nastasi, Tony Guarino and Antonia Grimaldi, who viewed and selected the films. Friendship beyond any […][...]
Review: Eat That Question
— by RON WILKINSON — As honest as the day is long, this is a film about Frank Zappa, by Frank Zappa, starring Frank Zappa and, yes, it is in his own words. Directed by Thorsten Schütte, the screenplay is a treasure trove of archival interviews with the Boss hisself. A few performance clips are […][...]
Review: The Childhood of a Leader
— by RON WILKINSON — In “The Childhood of a Leader,” writer/director Brady Corbet (co-written with Mona Fastvold) has created a unique and powerful film that is stripped to bare bones but ripples with undercurrents. The superficial story is that of a troubled child, his parents and those close to them. Some have used the […][...]
Review: Captain Fantastic
— by RON WILKINSON — Writer/director Matt Ross comes out swinging in “Captain Fantastic,” starring the never-looked-better Viggo Mortensen. Mortensen plays Ben, the father of a family of six kids aged 6 to 18 who have long since left society to live far off the grid. During the first half of the movie father Ben […][...]
Review: Open Your Eyes
— by BEV QUESTAD — “Tell me, Mother, would you like to see again?” After 15 years in the dark, the crinkly, barefoot grandmother is stunned by the question. Despite the corrupt, bizarre, dark, despairing days we live in, there are beacons of angelic light blinking out there in the real world. This is a […][...]
Review: The Infiltrator
— by RON WILKINSON — Emerging director Brad Furman grabbed the gold ring with this bit of fantastic casting starring Bryan Cranston from the smash “Breaking Bad” series. The BB Cranston was a bad guy playing a good guy. In this flick, he is a good guy playing a bad guy. As it turns out, […][...]