A romantic tryst in a mansion on a sunny day between lovers who have been seeing each other for seven years seems like it will be a lovely story, except that it’s bittersweet; this will be their last time together because Paul (O’Connor) is getting married the next day to someone else. Jane (Young) seems to […]
There have been so many remakes of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s “The Secret Garden,” that Colin Firth has now starred in two. The Oscar-winning actor originally played the adult version of Colin Craven (Hayhurst) in the 1986 rendition. Here, Firth is the Grandmaster of lunacy, Lord Archibald Craven, with little screen time, but his name in big
Academy Award-winning director Sam Mendes (“American Beauty”) has a somewhat erratic filmography. How can the same guy who directed “Skyfall” also be the same person behind “Away We Go?” This same man directed the brilliant cinematic crime film “Road to Perdition” before jumping to intimate family drama “Revolutionary Road.” Mendes’s range doesn’t necessarily speak to his talent and
Don’t go to see Danish filmmaker Thomas Vinterberg’s submarine thriller “Kursk” expecting something another “U-571” or “Crimson Tide.” You’ll want to lower your expectations, very low, for this flick starring Matthias Schoenaerts (“Red Sparrow”). Interestingly, the story behind Russian submarine Kursk has been told many times in various mediums to be such a recent tragedy. Robert Rodat’s
There seems to be an endless stream of actors directing their first projects lately. British actor Rupert Everett wrote, directed and produced The Happy Prince. He spent over a decade seeing the project through from its inception, with help from friends like Colin Firth and Emily Watson. Everett, whose career appears to have peaked in the
Why is the sequel getting better reviews than the 2008 original? It’s certainly not because of Meryl Streep, who only shows up in the last ten minutes. The original was a cinematic summer vacation of sorts. Fun music, three-time Oscar winner Streep jumping around on mattress in the stunning location of Skopelos, Greece. The sequel
The Americans are here to ruin a promising franchise. Two years ago, director Matthew Vaughn made a star out of newcomer Taron Egerton (Eddie the Eagle) with a witty, sarcastic and intelligent script. Kingsman didn’t play as well in America, so for the sequel, everything from the pace, humor and Taron’s charisma is altered. The
It’s been six years since Oscar winning actress Renee Zellweger’s last film. It’s been 12 years since Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. Zellweger’s attempt at a comeback begins with breathing life back into a character that doesn’t seem to have a place in this new decade. Despite rumors of a change in appearance, Zellweger
The moment you hear Jude Law’s Western North Carolina accent, thoughts of Cold Mountain (2003) begin to flood back. Then Nicole Kidman appears as his wife, and you realize in some twisted universe, Genius is more like a “what if” Inman had survived and he and Ada Monroe had left North Carolina, moved to New
At first, when Kingsman moved from fall 2014 to winter 2015, I worried it was because there was something wrong with the film, as is usually the case for a date change. However, Matthew Vaughn’s first film since X-Men: First Class (only his 5th to date) is anything but a problem; it’s the solution for