One of the nice things about the Academy Awards is it shines a spotlight on movies some people haven’t seen.
More often than not, documentaries end up in that category, as they usually lack theatrical releases. As usual, five docs were nominated for the gold statue and I managed to see all of them. Here’s my takeaway.
Oscar Sunday is here and after a lot of movie watching and research, I’m ready to make my picks for nearly all of the categories.
I’ve already written prediction pieces for some of the other categories, such as acting and directing. However, there are plenty others I still need to pick.
Revenge movies don’t need to be this complicated.
The “Rhythm Section” is about a woman named Stephanie (Blake Lively), who lost her entire family in a plane crash. Since the tragedy, she fell into a world of drugs and prostitution. However, she learns from an investigative journalist that the plane crash was actually orchestrated.
With that knowledge, Stephanie seeks help from a former MI6 agent named B. After some pleading, B agrees to train her and prepare her for revenge on those who planted the bomb on the plane.
Continue reading “REVIEW: ‘The Rhythm Section’ is far offbeat”
There’s a feeling with this movie that the creative team said ‘we have Harley Quinn, let’s just slap a movie together around that character and it will all work itself out.’
Unfortunately, that doesn’t really happen here.
“Birds of Prey” picks up after the events of the 2016 movie “Suicide Squad” and audiences soon learn that Quinn (Margot Robbie) is no longer together with the criminal mastermind Joker. She’s not exactly able to enjoy her new single life right away, though, as Quinn soon learns that there’s a lot of people, whether it be random individuals or hardened criminals, who want her dead. Now that Joker isn’t with her anymore, those forces have a clear path to Harley.
One of those criminals is Roman Sionis (Ewan McGregor), who also goes by Black Mask. As Black Mask’s feud with Quinn develops, other characters are drawn in, including a detective named Renee (Rosie Perez), a mysterious assassin in Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), and a dangerous singer trained in combat who goes by Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bell). Eventually these figures all become tied in a web that leads back to a young pickpocket named Cassandra (Ella Jay Basco), who stole a jewel that everyone in Gotham is after.
Continue reading “REVIEW: ‘Birds of Prey’ is fun, but doesn’t soar high enough”
Few movies get as smug and full of itself as director Guy Ritchie’s new feature “The Gentlemen.”
The movie stars Matthew McConaughey as Mickey Pearson. Mickey is the kingpin of a crime organization that grows marijuana in the United Kingdom on land owned by wealthy British citizens. After building his empire up, though, Mickey is looking to get out of the “business” and settle down.
To do so, Mickey is holding meetings with Matthew (Jeremy Strong), a wealthy interested party. However, one night, a tabloid journalist named Fletcher (Hugh Grant) introduces information to Mickey’s right hand man Ray (Charlie Hunnam) that could throw a wrench in the situation.
Continue reading “REVIEW: Underneath the glitz and glamour, ‘The Gentlemen’ is empty”
With just one week to go before the Oscars, “Parasite” and “1917” set themselves up nicely for award season’s final night, taking home major prizes from two recent ceremonies.
On Saturday, “Parasite” won the Writers Guild of America award for Best Original Screenplay, and on Sunday, “1917” earned the top prize from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Best film was just one of several awards picked up by “1917” Sunday. Continue reading “Special Movie Report: Writers Guild, BAFTA Award winners”
It’s so disappointing when a movie is close to winning you over and doesn’t.
The most recent example is “Gretel & Hansel.”
The film is inspired by the classic dark fairy tale, although this one takes liberties. As the story goes, the two young protagonists Gretel (Sophia Lillis) and Hansel (Samuel Leakey) are forced to venture out into the woods on their own and fend for themselves.
As one would expect, they stumble upon a welcoming structure with plenty of food and a kind woman (Alice Krige) willing to share. However, there’s of course something more nefarious going on.
Continue reading “REVIEW: ‘Gretel & Hansel’ burned by poor story, character execution”
Oh January, you have such a way with horror movies.
“The Turning” is one of the latest scary pictures to get released in the first month of the year, with the type of quality one would expect. It stars Mackenzie Davis as Kate, a young teacher who’s hired to be a tutor for a little, wealthy girl who lives with her brother and their caretaker at a large estate. Since the death of their parents, the girl Flora (Brooklynn Prince) and brother Miles (Finn Wolfhard) don’t get out much.
Despite their social skills being poor, especially with Miles, Kate decides to stick with the job and tries to have a positive impact. However, her teaching Flora and attempts to extend an olive branch to the rebellious Miles are made difficult from an apparent paranormal entity in the mansion.
Continue reading “REVIEW: ‘The Turning’ never turns into a good movie”
Over the course of the Super Bowl where the vaunted San Francisco 49ers defense took on the high powered Kansas City Chiefs offense, viewers were shown several previews for upcoming flicks
The previews shown were from movies ranging from action to family.
Sam Mendes continued his great award season run Saturday, winning the Directors Guild of America award for Best Theatrical Feature Film.
Saturday’s win followed other directing honors from the Critics Choice, and the Golden Globes. His success so far sets himself up as a front runner for the Academy Award in directing.
Continue reading “Special Movie Report: ‘1917’ picks up big win from Directors Guild”
Matthew Liedke on Film 