Most of us already know the rise and fall story of world-renowned cyclist and celebrity Lance Armstrong. Arguably too soon to dive into a feature film exploring the seven-time Tour de France winner’s doping scandal. Oscar-nominated director Stephan Frears (The Queen, Philomena) uses a straightforward approach to dissecting the athlete from the point of view […]
Daniel Craig’s fourth round as James Bond opens with a wild helicopter sequence in Mexico City during The Day of the Dead. But we might as well be celebrating the death of the Craig collaboration with Oscar winner Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Road to Perdition) because for its expansive budget, Spectre doesn’t have much
Fall is the time when weather temperatures cool down, but it’s also the time for Oscar contenders, when the caliber of movie releases heats up. Admittedly after the superb “Suffragette” trailer dropped back in the summer, it became one of the seasons most anticipated players.
“How are you?” “Fine” “How was your day?” “Fine.” This is how Every Thing Will Be Fine begins. And it moves at a slow pace, omitting critical information (like who the characters are) for most of the film. It is only in the last 20 minutes or so the viewer knows who people are and
As far as cancer films go, Miss You Already does strike me intentionally striving for the moments we haven’t seen on film before. It’s hard to find a more talented actor than Oscar nominated Toni Collette (The Sixth Sense, The Way Way Back).
Based on a short story penned by Franco, Memoria also finds the actor in a small supporting role in a film based on someone he knew growing up. Of course Franco’s attachment to the project and presence at the festival would guarantee attention to an otherwise overlooked narrative.
Most projects that are gender flipped from male to female roles tend to work out pretty well. “Gravity” and “Flightplan” are just a few, but “Our Brand is Crisis” (produced by George Clooney and Sandra Bullock) is the first that strikes me as too focused on the gender swapping issue.
Perhaps screenwriter James Vanderbilt learned what not to do while working on White House Down (to his credit he also worked on the Zodiac screenplay), because his directorial debut Truth is quite a provocative piece of cinema. Truth dramatizes the events that led to the departure of CBS evening news anchor Dan Rather and
Bradley Cooper starred in one of the biggest films last year, could have taken any project he wanted, but the four time Oscar nominated actor/producer lands in a cooking film. For something so specific, there sure are a lot of motion pictures circulating around chefs and food.
With the 22nd Annual Austin Film Festival kicking off Friday, the lackluster year of unique, original and meaningful film is about to get a big Texas boost. Typically AFF debuts a few awards contenders, but this year their slate is bigger and better than ever.