What a thrilling movie for girls! Mulan (Liu) is growing up in a small village in China, where she is showing great skill in martial arts. This goes against tradition, however, and she is instructed to hide her talents and become more traditionally submissive. She tries it, but when her aged father volunteers to go to […]
To better understand Charlie Kaufman, I would refer you to his Oscar-winning film “Adaptation.” Tasked with adapting a novel, Kaufman (“Being John Malkovich”) ended up writing about his own struggles with the process resulting in an extraordinary film that won Meryl Streep a Golden Globe nomination and Chris Cooper an Oscar. “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” is
If you weren’t convinced before that Donald Trump presents a serious threat to our democracy, this documentary pulling in experts in psychology, psychiatry, counter-terrorism, history, current politics, and a Trump co-writer presents reasoned arguments about why we should be apprehensive and do everything we can to exercise our rights in the next election. “Stand up and
There are few movies that can land a genuine smile on your face. I’m talking pure unfiltered joy coming from the creativity beaming on screen, something we need now even more than when I first reviewed this film back in Toronto last fall. “The Personal History of David Copperfield” manages to do that more than
This is an unusual treatment of a story about a teenager with schizophrenia. Based on a novel by Julia Walton, Nick Naveda adapted it to a screenplay that focuses on the inner experience of someone with a major disorder. It has many strong points, and a few aspects that I have questions about. Adam (Plummer) and his
“I Still Believe”, the religious romance film, was one of the last times local film critics sat for a movie screening in person. That was early March, and while most of us have reviewed countless film titles, by way of screener links from our homes over the last five months; it’s become very clear the
When Nikola Tesla (played here by Ethan Hawke) pulls out his cell phone at a bar in 1888 or Anne Morgan, daughter of JP Morgan, fires up her Apple Computer to explain the number of Google searches for Telsa compared to Thomas Edison, you understand quickly this isn’t a normal biopic. Michael Almereyda’s version of
Seventeen year-old boys being politicians and running for office—that’s something to see. And you can see it too in Boys State, a documentary by Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss chronicling the 2018 proceedings in Austin, Texas. Established years ago by the American Legion (one for girls, and one for boys in their junior year of high school), it’s
First time feature film director Egor Abramenko’s Russian sci-fi thriller “Sputnik” makes the most out of a “less is more” approach. First off, the 1980’s retro theme from wardrobe, vehicles, even composer Oleg Karpachev’s score, fit the bill and isolate the viewer in this bleak Cold War scenario. Second, “Sputnik” writers take a very “X-Files”
Any movie with Italy in the title attracts me instantly because of the wonderful trips I’ve had there with incredulous landscapes, welcoming natives, and cultural milieu. And this film does not disappoint in that sense. The setting is mostly in Tuscany, among the rolling hills, luscious vegetation, and camaraderie of the Italians. Provocatively, the story begins in a