Author Archive
Film Review – Zoom
Somewhere between a satirical black comedy and an all out sex romp lies director Pedro Morelli’s Zoom (2015). Sadly, it doesn’t do either one especially well. This is a sleazy, pretentious film that tries to say something about sex, art, beauty, the Hollywood movie machine,…
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Film Review – Sully
On January 15th, 2009, U.S. Airways Flight 1549 took off from LaGuardia Airport in New York toward Charlotte, North Carolina. Soon after take off, the plane ran into a flock of birds, a number of which struck and disabled both engines. The captain of the…
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Film Review – Disorder
Matthias Schoenaerts enters the realm of legitimate international star in Alice Winocour’s Disorder (2015). Schoenaerts has been a working actor for years now, but it’s with this performance – as a French soldier suffering from a severe case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder – that…
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Film Review – The Sea of Trees
Aokigahara is a heavily dense forest located at the base of Mount Fuji in Japan. Nicknamed “Sea of Trees” or “Suicide Forest,” this area has developed a reputation as a popular site for individuals to attempt suicide. The suicide rate has grown so much that…
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Film Review – Don’t Breathe
Now this is what I’m talking about. Don’t Breathe (2016) pulls no punches with its horror. Director/cowriter Fede Alvarez doesn’t shy away from putting us right into the thick of the terror. When most horror movies rely on unseen ghouls lurking in the shadows ready…
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An Appreciation – Pinocchio
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) may have proven that Walt Disney could make a feature length animated film, but it was Pinocchio (1940) that showed the medium reaching high art. In just the second outing from his studio, Disney shaped a flat out…
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Film Review – Ben-Hur (2016)
The story of Ben-Hur (2016) has been told many times, including two silent films and an animated direct-to-dvd release. But it was the 1959 iteration that stands as a classic in popular culture. That was a massive production: a three and a half hour epic…
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Film Review – Pete’s Dragon
The remake train marches on, this time with Walt Disney Studios’ Pete’s Dragon (2016). I’ll admit to you, dear reader, that the original 1977 picture doesn’t hold any nostalgic value for me. It was primarily used by my elementary teachers to distract us students on…
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