Sequels usually arrive for one of two reasons: money or vanity. The Devil Wears Prada 2 has both on the rack, but it also has something rarer. It understands that the fantasy of magazine glamour has changed. In 2006, the first film sold ambition in glossy sheets. In 2026, ambition comes with layoffs, fractured attention […]
Adam McKay has become an auteur in the worst way. His films, boasting large casts and “important issues”, talk down to the viewer, patronizing his audience under the veil of entertainment. His latest “Don’t Look Up” for Netflix is the least articulate of his recent best picture nominated films (“Vice”, “The Big Short”). Early scenes
“Short and spicy”, “married or dead”, those were the parameters Louisa May Alcott was given on how to write women and end her stories in the 1850’s. Academy Award nominated director Greta Gerwig brings Alcott’s “Little Women” back to life 25 years after it’s last theatrical treatment that starred Winona Ryder and Susan Sarandon. Short
Steven Soderbergh makes any subject or genre interesting. More so than most he can find unusual hooks into stories that most filmmakers wouldn’t be able to transform into compelling cinema. His latest is derived from a novel based on the Panama Papers scandal. Taking cues from “The Big Short,” Soderberg uses actors from his previous
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
Steven Spielberg, compelled by the parallels between 1971’s Pentagon Papers leak to The New York Times/Washington Post, and our current administration, he rushed new film The Post ahead of his expensive new sci-fi fantasy Ready Player One (2018). The Saving Private Ryan director brings film icons Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks together on the screen
Meryl Streep looks to nab her 30th Golden Globe nomination playing a singer who was considered the worst vocalist of her time. Florence Foster Jenkins is directed by Stephen Frears (Philomena, The Queen) who has become synonymous with assembling award worthy leading female projects. His latest film won’t be a huge hit, or a heavy
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.
Fall Movie Season is here! Finally after all those endlessly lackluster summer movies, so loud and filled with mind-wasting special effects, it’s once again, time for the good stuff.
Director Jonathan Demme is as unpredictable as when his film “Silence of the Lambs” took best picture at the Oscars by surprise in 1992. Sparse has been the films he has made since then, hits like “Rachel Getting Married”, and misses like “The Manchurian Candidate” remake (also with Streep).