— by RON WILKINSON — This year’s Woody Allen film is a murder mystery. Actually, it is not much of a mystery since we know all about the murder. The only mystery left is to see if the killer gets away with it or not. Sort of a “Columbo” episode without Peter Falk. The first […][...]
Review: Ricki and the Flash
— by RON WILKINSON — Now for something completely different. Oscar-winning director Jonathan Demme (“The Silence of the Lambs”) teams up with Oscar-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody (“Juno”) in a film featuring Oscar-winning superstar Meryl Streep as the aging rock band front woman for Ricki and the Jets. As it turns out, the rest of the […][...]
Review: Dark Places
— by RON WILKINSON — Charlize Theron plays Libby Day, a woman approaching middle age with a terrible secret. Twenty five years earlier, her family was murdered in the night. As one of only two survivors of the killings, Libby was able to support the conviction of her devil-worshipping brother, Ben (Corey Stoll). He went […][...]
Review: Best of Enemies
— by RON WILKINSON — On the surface, Robert Gordon’s and Morgan Neville’s documentary “Best of Enemies” is about a series of nationally televised debates in 1968 between the liberal Gore Vidal and the conservative William F. Buckley Jr. As it turns out, there is a lot more to this film than just the supremely […][...]
Who is your ultimate Fantastic Four?
The countdown is finally over, The Fantastic Four reboot is finally upon us! The new Josh Trank film is set to be released in cinemas this week, with the Sci-Fi world hoping for an improvement on the previous attempts by the franchise. None of the films have lived up to the standards set by the […][...]
Review: Cartel Land
— by RON WILKINSON — With “Cartel Land,” film-maker Matthew Heineman obtains unmatched access to the Mexican drug business and executes a heart rending story of the fight locals are waging against the megalithic force of drug cartels. The film starts out with a riveting look at a meth cook. Unlike the middle-class surroundings of […][...]
Review: The Outrageous Sophie Tucker
— by RON WILKINSON — Perhaps 1 percent of today’s film viewing audience has ever heard of Sophie Tucker. That is too bad, because she came from a time when stars were born not out of technical special effects, computerized sound producing and outrageous tabloid headlines, but out of a work ethic and lifetime devotion […][...]
Review: Mr. Holmes
— by RON WILKINSON — An aging Sherlock Holmes (Ian McKellen) is still solving cases despite galloping senility gaining on his senses by leaps and bounds. Apparently, even fictional heroes are subject to time and tides, as the magnificent background of the white cliffs of Dover would suggest. At Sherlock’s side is his juvenile sidekick, […][...]
Review: Court
— by RON WILKINSON — Writer/director Chaitanya Tamhane’s debut feature film is more allegory than story. The characters in the movie almost hover above the meanings developed from scene to scene. On the surface, “Court” is a film about a performing artist who is arrested for causing the death of a sewer worker. In subsequent […][...]
Review: Southpaw
— by RON WILKINSON — This boxing tale splashes the latest hi-tech boxing sequences in front of the audience in no holds barred graphic violence, but the film is saved by one key performance. Twelve-year old-Oona Lawrence punches through the ordinary passive child role to put out some work that is as riveting, or more, […][...]