If Vera Farmiga hadn’t already made a handful of films just like “Boundaries,” I might have liked it better. Shana Feste isn’t the most subtle or accomplished film maker either. Her previous films “Country Strong” or “Endless Lover” certainly put females at the center of their own stories, which I like, but her writing and […]
It was the TIFF film that held the most interest for me, because the subject matter was unlike anything else I read about. Even director Susana White (Our Kind of Traitor) admitted that the timing of this project, written by Steven Knight (Locke, Eastern Promises) 14 years earlier, was immensely surprising given the recent pipeline
There are lots of survival films, many of them taking place in open water. “Adrift” is both similar to those before it, and strikingly different. Based on an incredible true story of a sailboat wrecked in the Pacific, Shailene Woodley (“The Descendants”) re-dons her bathing suit to give what’s easily her most ambitious and demanding
The film opens with Oscar winner Binoche (Clouds of Sils Maria) lying naked on the bed, then we realize she is “engaged”. Let the Sun Shine In isn’t so much about sex as it is a middle-aged woman desperately trying to find the love of her life. Sounds like Bridget Jones, right? Similar films were
I never thought I would be able to tell if a movie was headed for VOD, but after seeing so many acquisition titles at TIFF (and knowing how this works), Disobedience is one of handful that won’t get a major theatrical release. They are promoting it as a lesbian film, which is both arguable and
Director Andrew Dosunmu’s decision to shoot Where is Kyra entirely in natural light greatly hinders what could have been a comeback performance for Michelle Pfeiffer. His script puts Pfeiffer in a financial crisis that will have the audience asking what they might do if it were them. The story has an interesting premise and peaks
Making its debut at the Austin Film Festival, Brad Silberling’s latest An Ordinary Man is yet another film spotlighted because of its male lead. While 73-year-old Sir Ben Kingsley isn’t the draw he once was, this feels like a resurgence for the Oscar winner. Silberling (Moonlight Mile, City of Angels) isn’t well regarded as a
Director Paolo Virzì doesn’t know quite how to turn his latest comedy/drama into something substantial. It’s not the only cathartic road trip movie of the season, nor is it the only recent film dealing with Alzheimer’s. The draw here are iconic actors Helen Mirren (Collateral Beauty) and Donald Sutherland (The Hunger Games), reuniting for the
Samuel Maoz’s film Foxtrot is a perplexing drama that pushes and pulls the audience into so many varying emotional states, you never know what to expect. Inspired from Maoz’s own devastation, he has created a very distinct three act feature that explores irony in its cruelest forms. Foxtrot is Israel’s submission to the 90th Academy
It’s a play, Sally Potter’s latest film. Or at least it’s written and shot like one. The writer/director behind such diverse films as Ginger & Rose or The Man Who Cried, delivers a wildly eccentric and capable ensemble cast. This black and white staged cinema takes place in one single location, in real time during