I’ve written a few times this season about liking or caring about characters in a film and about how that leaves one feeling as the closing credits roll. Can You Ever Forgive Me? is particularly challenging in that aspect. These characters, on their surface, are quite unlikeable. Yet the depth the actors bring to the…
Here’s the second of Best Picture nominations that someone referred to as a comedy that wasn’t. A friend and I caught sight of this trailer one afternoon, and I mentioned wanting to see it. He mentioned the movie was a comedy. I countered that I didn’t have the impression it was a comedy. No doubt…
As my movie companion noted after we saw Bohemian Rhapsody, a jolly time! (Okay, so that was part my fabulous company as we spent a few hours after the movie catching up over lunch and a few beers, but the movie was a great time too!) Really, though, there’s little I had to complain about watching…
Like most movies I see, especially this time of year, if a film is up for a major award, I purposefully avoid any reviews or other information about the film. I usually go in knowing only what I might have seen on a preview. And I’m so pleased when a film delivers something particularly interesting. The…
Confession: I don’t think I ever watched the entire 1976 version of A Star is Born (bits and parts, but not the whole thing in any one sitting). And I’d had no idea that this 2018 version is the fourth (fifth, internationally) version of the tale. Maybe the Streisand-Kristofferson version, as third, was a charm…
Some time ago, someone I know on Facebook (I don’t recall who) mentioned watching BlacKkKlansman and commented not liking this movie “that was supposed to be a comedy.” I was busy, so I didn’t stop to comment, but I should have. I’m not sure who gave her that impression, that this film is a comedy.…
“He’s shell-shocked, George. He’s not himself. He may never be himself again.” Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk is not a movie about dialogue, but that line from the film certainly says a lot about the movie and about those who will survive being trapped at Dunkirk. This movie is bleak. It’s wonderfully filmed. But it is bleak.…
It took us a while to decide on a family movie for Christmas Day. Wonder disappointed no one. I cried, yes, and yes, I cried multiple times. But most of those tears were ones based on a warmed heart. Wonder is a year-in-the-life of Auggie. Auggie is the child who (if you’ve seen any previews…
Going to see this movie merely for the actor’s performance, I did not expect to like the film nearly as much as I did. By the end, though, I was quite charmed. This time of year, buzz for Best and Supporting acting roles begins. James Franco is no stranger to those accolades. This year, though,…
The best thing about seeing movies this time of year is the prevalence of high caliber films. Three Billboards is one such film. It isn’t flawless. But it is a fine film falling easily at the top of the list for the year. If you’ve seen the preview, you aren’t surprised when I say revenge…
In case you haven’t heard, the new film Lady Bird has nothing to do with LBJ. Or Texas. Or female birds. It has everything to do with family and growing up and relationships and love and meanness and gentleness, and, well, I think you’re getting the idea. And I bet you’re not surprised to learn…
Thank you, Kenneth Branagh. Apparently I needed a few naps. I know, I know. Many people thoroughly enjoyed watching the latest film adaptation of Agatha Christie’s oh-so-popular mystery novel of the same name. The film has made money. And I looked forward to it for personal reasons. Alas, the sweeping but painfully slow music, the…
The Florida Project is not a movie for everyone. Case in point: I utterly adored this movie, my movie companion, not so much. My companion wanted a movie with a more traditional story arc with a defined beginning and end. He complained as the movie progressed, he did not see “the point.” But to find…
This movie left me conflicted. On the one hand, of course Sally Field is joyful and lovable, and she is a bright star. On the other hand, even as the bright music of Field plays, the film dances slowly with sad and pitiful, and while spinning around the floor, hurtful and mean-spirited cut in. Okay, so…
Charming. Endearing. Bittersweet. Hopeful. A delight. I might have skimmed a description when first invited to this play, but by the time we sat in the small theater at Players By the Sea, if I had known anything about the play, I had forgotten it all. But that’s okay, for what a delightful surprise Almost, Maine…