Last night I watched A Star is Born. I know, I know, I’m a little late to the party. But…wow. Like, wow. Like, wow. It’s rare that a movie lives up to the craze and the hype. Usually when that happens, by the time I get around to seeing the movie I’m usually underwhelmed. This couldn’t…
Tag: Films
COMING SOON: An L.A. Minute
Ted Gould (Gabriel Byrne) is a mega-rich, mega-famous, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and blockbuster movie producer. Problem is, overwhelming success has turned him into a mega-hack, and he knows it. His misery and self-loathing makes him treat everyone in his life with disrespect, and when Ted meets performance artist Velocity (Kiersey Clemons), she rocks his 1%…
A Write Teacher(s) Review: COCO
I finally saw COCO. And OH MY GOODNESS IT IS MAGICAL. Here’s the official blurb/synopsis: Aspiring musician Miguel, confronted with his family’s ancestral ban on music, enters the Land of the Dead to find his great-great-grandfather, a legendary singer. Here’s what you need to know: it’s delightful. It’s colorful. It’s funny. It’s a beautiful story about…
Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep take on The White House in “The Post”
The battle between journalistic integrity and the maintenance of one’s position is not unheard of in newspaper dramas. However, it comes with an added price in The Post. Editor in chief Ben Bradlee (Tom Hanks) is still coming down from years of working with Jack Kennedy, “pulling some punches” here and there to remain comfortable….
“All The President’s Men” – The Unsuspecting Buddy Film
Alan Pakula’s 1976 drama All The President’s Men is a starkly realistic look at the investigation of the Watergate scandal by Washington Post journalists Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) and Bob Woodward (Robert Redford). When five men are arrested for breaking into the headquarters of the Democratic National Convention in Washington, D.C. with wiretapping equipment, Woodward…
Terry Gilliam’s 12 Monkeys: A Cult Classic
Director Terry Gilliam’s 12 Monkeys supposes that the insane are not, in fact, babbling nonsense; they very well may be prophets. In the aftermath of a deadly virus outbreak, humanity is living underground. Caged individuals are “volunteered” at random for unknown experiments, supposedly for the greater good – though no one has yet returned. James…
“The Killing of a Sacred Deer” Review – Cannes 2017
Why does a surgeon keep a watch? In the O.R., you need to tell very precise time. It slips away from you every second: clamp another artery, sterilize the gash in the belly, steady hands, steady hands, plasma plasma plasma… There are measures you can take to keep a patient alive, for sure. But what…
“Loveless,” a New Film by Andrey Zvyagintsev – Cannes 2017
The absence of love. The absence of a child. The absence of concern for anyone but oneself. “Selfish” would have been an equally fitting title for Andrey Zvyagintsev’s “Loveless,” which recounts the hapless search two careless parents make for their missing son against the backdrop of a Russia in political mayhem. As the radio and…
Claire Denis’ “Un Beau Soleil Intérieur” – Cannes 2017
Claire Denis’ most recent film, Un Beau Soleil Interieur (A Beautiful Sun Within) is a tale of love lost, won, blurred, and then refined, only to rinse and repeat. The misadventures of Isabelle, a struggling Parisian artist, are depicted in a manner that elegantly captures the spirit of human awkwardness, although at times being a…
A Write Teacher(s) Review: Arrival
The next film on our list is as different as different could be, both within its genre and this category. And it’s a space movie, which all avid Write Readers know I actively avoid. (Please see the Gravity post for further explanation.) Arrival, starring Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, and Forest Whitaker, is a science fiction…