Archive | April 2016
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Tangerine
It’s a fantastic, low-budget, indie surprise, featuring a cast filled with people of color, and two lead performances by transgender actresses. “Tangerine” was written and directed by Sean Baker, who has been making noise on the independent scene for quite a few years now. I finally stopped to listen. The film was reportedly shot, using […]
99 Homes
Back to the business at hand, after a somber week of violet mourning. And I wish I had better things to report about writer/director Ramin Bahrini’s latest, “99 Homes”. It starts strong certainly, but I started to see the warning signs during its soggy middle portion, then it ends very poorly. It rapidly employs easy […]
Sometimes It Snows In April…
Oh, I know some of my friends and associates are wondering when I’m going to stop. Soon, I guess. Hours, days…I don’t know. It’s up to me, after all, isn’t it? A lot of people realized how I would feel. Texts, e-mails, phone calls, tweets, posts…too many to count. Combined it was easily over a […]
Flashback: on 1989’s Batman
Wow. Talked about planned/not planned. For five years now, without fail, I’ve been posting a film tribute to Jack Nicholson, on the occasion of his birthday. Today, April 22nd, is his 79th. A couple weeks ago, I began pondering what to focus on this year. I’d done “Goin’ South” and “Ride in the Whirlwind” in […]
Racing Extinction
Well, “The Cove” was better. Louie Psihoyos directed that one too, and it was awarded the Best Documentary Feature Academy Award in 2010. But Mr. Psihoyos has lost his way a bit with his latest, “Racing Extinction”. It’s gimmicky, meandering, and one-sided to a fault. As usual, these non-fiction focuses on subjects like climate change, […]
Everest
One of the event movies that I missed in the theaters late last year. Oh, I pondered seeing it in IMAX 3D…but ended up choosing “The Walk” for that format, right around the same time. Maybe I skipped it because watching Philippe Petit cross a tight rope between the Twin Towers gave me heart palpitations. […]
Zootopia
It’s been a few days now, and I’m still not really sure what to say and feel about “Zootopia”. Always aiming for complete honesty, I plan on telling the national radio audience the exact same thing, when I review it this coming Sunday, on “America Weekend with Ed Kalegi & Christina Stoffo”. I mean the […]
Spectre
“Skyfall” was the biggest worldwide James Bond hit ever–and the first to gross over a billion dollars. It had the pedigree of an Academy Award-winning director, who possesses a rich theatre background as well. So, the Sam Mendes/007 connection wowed critics and dominated the box office. I admittedly dropped the ball on it in my initial view. […]
Experimenter
It’s been my experience, that Michael Almereyda is a pretty interesting filmmaker, so I’m going to give the wayward passages of his new “Experimenter” the benefit of the doubt. Unfortunately for him, whenever I’ve seen a film of his, I can always cite someone that did things a little bit better. Just bad timing, I […]
The Hateful Eight
Quentin Tarantino has been one of our most consistently daring and compelling America filmmakers for almost a quarter century. His direction is endlessly inventive, and admirably patient. Mr. Tarantino’s screenplays contain wit, intelligence, and a marvelous pop sensibility (two have won him the hat trick of the Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe…those for “Pulp Fiction” […]
Reviewed by Mark Leonard 