Drama

In the Fade

/ / Home Video
  • Title: In the Fade
  • IMDb: link

In the Fade Blu-ray reviewPunctuated by a terrific performance by Diane Kruger, In the Fade is an unflinching and powerful film delving into the themes of love, loss, hatred, bigotry, and revenge. Kruger stars as Katja, a former drug addict who has put her past behind her and has a stable life in Hamburg with her husband and son… at least until a bombing at the shop kills Katja’s family. While the police look for motives tied to Katja or her husband’s murky past, it soon becomes clear that her Kurdish husband was targeted by Neo-Nazis for no other reason than the color of his skin.

…

In the FadeRead More »

In the Fade Read More »

A Wrinkle in Time

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: A Wrinkle in Time
  • IMDb: link

A Wrinkle in Time movie reviewI don’t know if writing the original story required heavy doses of LSD, but I have a hard time believing that there wasn’t some serious drug use putting this film together. Based on Madeleine L’Engle‘s 1962 novel of the same name, A Wrinkle in Time stars Storm Reid as troubled teenager who, along with her younger brother Charles Wallace (Deric McCabe), heads of on a fantastical adventure with three total strangers (Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, and Mindy Kaling) who inform the children that their missing father (Chris Pine) is alive, trapped in a far off world, and needs their help. Oh, and Meg’s classmate (Levi Miller), who isn’t really even a friend, comes along as well. Because why not?

The film’s strengths lie in its overabundance of CGI and young stars. While somewhat emotionally empty, the settings which Meg finds herself in are visually appealing (even if it appears there’s little actual thought put in to how things work). While the various adult actors appear to be having fun making a kid’s film, all the emotional weight is left for Reid to shoulder. And McCabe succeeds in jumping from quirky to downright creepy when required.

…

A Wrinkle in TimeRead More »

A Wrinkle in Time Read More »

Love, Simon

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Love, Simon
  • IMDb: link

Love, Simon movie reviewI’m a sucker for a good coming of age story. In many ways Love, Simon is fairly by the book. We’re given a likable high school student dealing with school, friends, and his first crush. The difference from most of these types of mainstream films, is that Simon (Nick Robinson) is gay. What makes the film work is that while Simon frets about what others will think of him if they learn the truth, his gayness doesn’t solely define him as a character.

Simon’s friends include longtime platonic pal Leah (Katherine Langford), jock Nick (Jorge Lendeborg Jr.), and newcomer Abby (Alexandra Shipp). He’s also got a loving father (Tad Hamilton), mother (Jennifer Garner), and younger sister (Talitha Bateman). Discovering another closeted gay student at his high school, Simon begins trading emails with “Blue.” As the relationship deepens, Simon imagines various people standing in for the mysterious stranger. Complicating matters are a annoying classmate (Logan Miller) who discovers Simon’s secret and uses it to blackmail Simon into helping him score with one of Simon’s friends. While the weakest aspect of the film, it still contains some genuine moments.

…

Love, SimonRead More »

Love, Simon Read More »

Hostiles

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Hostiles
  • IMDb: link

Hostiles movie reviewHostiles is a wagon train movie, without the wagon train. Christian Bale stars as Capt. Joseph J. Blocker, a career solider who has spent the better part of two decades fighting Native Americans in the late 19th Century. A reluctant Blocker is ordered to escort an old enemy (Wes Studi) and his family (Adam Beach, Xavier Horsechief, Q’orianka Kilcher, and Tanaya Beatty) from New Mexico to Montana and deliver them safely home after years of being prisoners of the Union Army. Along the way, the group will pick-up a woman (Rosamund Pike) whose family was brutally killed in the film’s opening scene and a prisoner (Ben Foster) with a connection to Blocker’s past.

After the initial attack on the Quaid farm, Hostiles falls back into a slow burn of a film as former enemies and strangers will have to rely on each other to make the dangerous trek across country. Writer/director Scott Cooper‘s adapted screenplay doesn’t reinvent the wheel and relies mostly on strong performances to carry a rather straightforward plot that never quite succeeds in presenting Blocker and his prisoners as equals due to the vastly superior amount of time the camera spends on the former compared to the later.

…

HostilesRead More »

Hostiles Read More »

I, Tonya

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: I, Tonya
  • IMDb: link

I, Tonya movie reviewI, Tonya is a compelling, if flawed, look at the life and career of Tonya Harding (Margot Robbie) memorable mostly for the terrific performances of Robbie and co-star Allison Janney (as Tonya’s mother). Framed as flashbacks told through a series of current interviews (which were actually shot as reference for the script) we watch a young Tonya struggle with acceptance in ice skating despite her obvious talent, her troubled relationships with her mother and husband (Sebastian Stan), and the events leading up to the attack on rival Nancy Kerrigan (Caitlin Carver).

While a bit too apologetic of Harding in an attempt to allow audiences to see her as the victim of circumstance she believes herself to be, writer Steven Rogers embraces the trashy tabloid nature of the the entire sordid affair going so far as to include Bobby Cannavale as a Hard Copy producer. Director Craig Gillespie‘s film isn’t without its missteps including Robbie taking over the role of Tonya at 13 (seriously, was I the only one thinking of Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story at this point?) and some awkward CGI that doesn’t always properly fit Robbie’s face to her stunt double on the ice.

…

I, TonyaRead More »

I, Tonya Read More »