“Caligula: The Ultimate Cut” is a film that arrives with the weight of both controversy and anticipation. Initially directed by Tinto Brass, who had his name removed after producer Bob Guccione of Penthouse fame took the original cut and inserted graphic scenes of unsimulated sex and gratuitous violence. Despite this, the 1979 version was one […]
Positioning itself as the next chapter in “The Iron Lady” series, “Golda” feels more like watching a movie inside a smoke-filled paper bag than a cinematic experience. Dame Helen Mirren is hardly recognizable in three and a half hours of heavy makeup and prosthetics. The Oscar-winning actress is calmly fierce in the role of the
Barbie takes center stage in Greta Gerwig‘s vivaciously pink and subversively delightful film, aptly titled “Barbie.” Forget what you thought you knew about this iconic doll because Gerwig’s fresh take on Barbie World will leave you both pleasantly amused and, in some cases, empowered. From the start, the film transports you to a mesmerizing pink-washed
This is a strangely seductive movie, showing a British family with a rather daft though good-hearted Kempton Bunton (Broadbent), his wife Dorothy Bunton (Mirren), and younger son Jackie (Whitehead) not communicating very well with one another. Dorothy is extremely critical of Kempton (for some good reasons), which makes him more secretive at times, and Jackie torn
When Universal doesn’t screen its latest franchise flick to critics in IMAX, you should already start anticipating the worst. For a decade (counting “Hobbs & Shaw”), audiences have either been entertained by these brainless action sequels or repelled by their lack of restraint for the absurd. Muscle head star of the franchise Vin Diesel, who
Oscar-winner Bill Condon (“Chicago,” “Beauty and the Beast“) has an eclectic filmography, dabbling in both big-budget CGI films like “The Twilight Saga Breaking Dawn,” and smaller films aimed at multi-generational audiences like “Mr. Holmes.” “The Good Liar” marks the first film Oscar-nominee Ian McKellen (“The Lord of the Rings”) and Oscar-winner Helen Mirren (“The Queen”)
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
This work of horror and intrigue, co-written with Tom Vaughan by Directors Michael and Peter Spierig (identical twins born in Germany and working in Australia), does what such a picture is supposed to do—keep us on the edge of our seats, play into common fears about old mansions, and pull us into the world of
The ‘Fate’ of the series is secure. There will always be an audience for these films regardless of what implausibility they launch on screen or how poorly the actors deliver their lines. Universal’s mammoth franchise has even started to pull in Oscar winners like Charlize Theron (“Mad Max”) and Helen Mirren (“The Woman in Gold”)
Think of a Lifetime movie, but with Oscar winners and nominees. That’s what director David Frankel’s Collateral Beauty amounts to. If you have never seen a Lifetime film, it’s a network that produces movies that are often contrite, more focused on getting an emotion out of its audience, regardless of the means or accountability in