This is one thought-provoking movie. It is based, perhaps loosely, on the exploits of Melita Norwood, a British civil servant who successfully passed secrets about Britain’s atomic bomb program to the Russians during the 1940s and ’50s, but only exposed […]
Continue reading »Month: July 2019
Wild Nights with Emily (2018) ☆ ☆
I know next to nothing about poetess Emily Dickinson; truth be told, I don’t care for poetry (my own very modest efforts aside). This offbeat biography notes that Dickinson has always been considered a recluse who never meant to publish […]
Continue reading »Dumbo (2019) ☆ ☆ ☆
I had only seen Disney’s original animated film Dumbo (1941) in January for the first time, knowing that this version was approaching. I like the original, but don’t love it — especially the fact that the young elephant gets drunk, […]
Continue reading »The Chaperone (2018) ☆ ☆ ☆
I know little to nothing about Louise Brooks, the silent-era actress best known for the German films Pandora’s Box (1928) and Diary of a Lost Girl (1929). I thought she was German; turns out she was born in Kansas and […]
Continue reading »True Grit (1969) ☆ ☆ ☆
Turner Classic Movies hosted a fiftieth anniversary showing of the semi-classic western True Grit in May (yes, that’s how far behind I am in writing my reviews; I’m striving to catch up this month), and I was happy to view […]
Continue reading »Long Shot (2019) ☆ ☆
Opposites attracting has been a romantic staple forever. This movie posits that female presidential candidate Charlotte Field (Charlize Theron) gradually falls for journalist / speechwriter Fred Flarsky (Seth Rogen) whom she knew when they were young. It’s a nicely developed, […]
Continue reading »The Best of Enemies (2019) ☆ ☆ ☆
Based on actual events, this drama recreates the scene in 1971 North Carolina, when a school integration plan was opposed by local bigots, led quite openly by the Ku Klux Klan. It recreates, in remarkable detail, how an unlikely mediation, […]
Continue reading »Captain Marvel (2019) ☆ ☆ ☆
Besides Wonder Woman and Black Widow, Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) has emerged to be the newest female cinematic superhero. Her story is a convoluted one, and it seems to me that her appearance at this time was primarily intended to […]
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