If Alfred Hitchcock were still alive and making movies, he might have made this slick, visually stunning, disturbing suspense drama. As I was watching it, I saw specific shots and camera angles that I feel he would have enjoyed and […]
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Man Down (2015) ☆ ☆ ☆
Just now getting a release is a strange but compelling movie called Man Down, starring an actor for whom I have little feeling, Shia LaBeouf. However, he’s pretty good in this modern war / family drama / apocalypse story. Yes, that’s […]
Continue reading »Bad Santa 2 (2016) ☆
Raunchy comedies are not my cup of tea, so it should not be a surprise that I despise films like this. But allow me to give credit where credit is due — old pros Billy Bob Thornton and Kathy Bates […]
Continue reading »Allied (2016) ☆ ☆ ☆
War once again rears its ugly head in Allied, a World War II thriller that wanders from North Africa to England and occupied France. Intelligence agent Max Vatan (Brad Pitt) is assigned a suicide mission with French woman Marianne (Marion Cotillard) […]
Continue reading »Hacksaw Ridge (2016) ☆ ☆ ☆ 1/2
War rears its ugly head again in this old-fashioned but very effective World War II drama, Hacksaw Ridge. This was a story of which I was completely unaware, and I am glad to see it brought to the big screen. Based […]
Continue reading »Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk (2016) ☆ ☆ ☆
This Ang Lee drama looked really interesting to me, and it turned out to be a complex, multifaceted film that addresses America’s involvement in the Iraq War on a very personal level — but I also found it to be […]
Continue reading »The Edge of Seventeen (2016) ☆ ☆
Another film that was somewhat difficult to watch is the teen angst drama The Edge of Seventeen. This comic drama centers on awkward teenager Nadine (Hailee Steinfeld), whose life becomes ever more complicated when her only friend Krista (Haley Lu Richardson) […]
Continue reading »Moonlight (2016) ☆ ☆ ☆
This film festival favorite was a difficult drama for me to watch, though it did get better and better. It is a very realistic glimpse of life in a crime-ridden area of Miami, focusing on a handful of black and […]
Continue reading »Inferno (2016) ☆ ☆ ☆
Sometimes I seem to find myself out of step with other viewers; judging from many poor reviews of Inferno I have seen this is one of those times. Perhaps it is because I wasn’t overly impressed with The Da Vinci Code or Angels […]
Continue reading »Doctor Strange (2016) ☆ ☆ ☆
Having had my fill of superhero movies this year I was prepared to dislike this film, especially with its silly special effects of a city folding under itself. I was also wary of bald Tilda Swinton, the mystical aspects of […]
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