Tag: Drama

REVIEW: Great Acting, Strong Second Half Make ‘Mudbound’ Worth Checking Out

“Mudbound,” a film that has been released exclusively via streaming on Netflix, is very much a tale of two halves.

The movie introduces two families at the beginning, the McAllans and the Jacksons. The McAllans are a family including Henry (Jason Clarke), his brother Jamie (Garrett Hedlund) and his wife Laura (Carey Mulligan), along with his two daughters. Henry and his family are owners and operators of an old farm in rural Mississippi. The Jacksons, meanwhile, are a family including Hap (Rob Morgan), Forence (Mary J. Blige) and Ronsel (Jason Mitchell), who work on the McAllan’s farm.

The stress of farm life is apparent for both families, a fact that’s made even more visible when both Jamie and Ronsel join the military to fight in World War II. While they’re away, the families work in the southern heat and try to live as best they can. The dynamics of family life on the farm continue to change and evolve once the two men come back home, carrying painful memories of the war overseas.

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REVIEW: Talented Trio Of Actors, Solid Script Make ‘Last Flag Flying’ An Enjoyable Watch

Three actors with plenty of great performances under their belt come together for a road movie that’s not perfect, but definitely enjoyable in “Last Flag Flying.”

The story is told from the perspective of Larry ‘Doc’ Shepherd (Steve Carell), a former member of the U.S. Navy whose son is killed while serving as a Marine in Iraq. Taking place in 2003, early in the Iraq War, Doc is traveling to meet with military officials to see his son’s casket and make burial arrangements.

On the way there, though, Doc decides to reunite with his friends from the Vietnam War for support. Those two friends include a bar owner named Sal (Bryan Cranston) and the Rev. Richard Mueller (Laurence Fishburne). Together the three eventually meet with officials and make an arrangement to bury Doc’s son in his hometown in New Hampshire, rather than at Arlington Cemetery.

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REVIEW: ‘Lady Bird’ Is A Great Coming Of Age Story And One Of 2017’s Best

Greta Gerwig made her solo directing debut with “Lady Bird,” and what a debut it is.

Christine McPherson (Saoirse Ronan) is the main character in the film. However, she refers to herself as Lady Bird and requests that everyone she knows call her by that name, too. The picture’s story follows Lady Bird through her senior year at a private Catholic high school and largely centers on the relationship between her and her mother Marion (Laurie Metcalf).

As her last year in high school unfolds, Lady Bird and Marion clash numerous times, both over their family’s finances and Lady Bird’s plans for college.

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REVIEW: James Franco’s Acting, Directing Is On Point In ‘the Disaster Artist’

If commentaries and special behind the scenes features show anything, it’s that the process of making a movie can be a story in itself. That’s even true for what’s been dubbed by some as the worst movie ever made, “The Room.”

“The Disaster Artist” tells that very story. The movie opens in the late 90s from the perspective of Greg Sestero (Dave Franco), a young actor trying to find a way to get his big break. During one of his acting classes, Greg meets Tommy Wiseau (James Franco), an odd man who seems to have no fear when it comes to performing. Greg, impressed by how Tommy is fearless in his acting, decides to strike up a friendship. After the two becomes friends, Greg soon learns that Tommy is mysteriously rich.

As a result of Tommy’s wealth, the two are able to move to Hollywood to try and get into the film industry. However, the effort becomes fruitless after a while. As a result, Tommy decides to just make a movie on his own with Greg as one of the top actors. Because Tommy has seemingly no experience or talent in writing, directing and acting, though, the filmmaking process doesn’t exactly go smoothly.

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REVIEW: ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri’ Powered By Strong Script, Acting

“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” is listed as a comedy and the trailers definitely promote that aspect of the picture. However, there’s more going on in this movie than just humor.

As it’s title suggests, the film centers around three billboards near a rural town that call out the municipality’s chief of police for not solving a case. The person who ordered and paid for the signage is Mildred (Francess McDormand), a woman whose daughter was raped and murdered. At the film’s start, it’s been seven months since the murder and there have been no arrests and no leads in the case.

In response, Mildred takes aim at Chief Willoughby (Woody Harrelson), for what she sees as incompetence and a lack of effort on behalf of the Police Department toward her daughter’s case. The response from the community starts to turn the small town of Ebbing upside down and in the process reveals numerous things about its inhabitants.

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REVIEW: Inconsistent Tone Derails ‘Orient Express’

Kenneth Branagh directs and stars in this most recent adaptation of the 1934 Agatha Christie novel.

The film opens with the story’s protagonist, Hercule Poirot (Branagh) investigating a mystery in Jerusalem. After Poirot solves the mystery in quick, convincing fashion, he’s invited to ride on the luxurious Orient Express by his friend Buoc (Tom Bateman) to get a break from all the detective work.

While on board, Poirot meets a number of characters on the fully booked Orient Express, including a sneaky business man named Edward Ratchett (Johnny Depp). After a night where the train is halted because of a blocked railroad, Poirot discovers that Ratchett has been murdered. As a result, Poirot must now solve the murder and uncover clues about Ratchett and the other passengers.

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REVIEW: While Flawed In Areas, ‘Only The Brave’ Is Largely An Endearing Tale Of Heroism

Many dramatizations of heroic actions follow a certain pattern and “Only the Brave” is no different. However, this flick does contain some great features that put it above others.

The film tells the tale of a group of elite firefighters called the Granite Mountain Hotshots. As the movie describes early on, Hotshots are normally federal level firefighting units. However, because the Granite Mountain crew lived in an area prone to wildfires, they were able to become the first municipal unit to get the Hotshot title.

Leading the crew of Hotshots is Eric Marsh (Josh Brolin), who’s the classic tough but fair supervisor. This is very true with the newest recruit Brendan (Miles Teller), a recovering drug addict who’s trying to turn his life around and gets a chance to do so by Marsh. As the movie goes along, it explores the Hotshots earning their title and facing extremely dangerous wildfires in the process.

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REVIEW: Solid Acting Isn’t Enough To Save Melodramtic “Mountain Between Us”

Idris Elba and Kate Winslet are both talented performers and they bring their abilities to the table in “The Mountain Between Us.” However, the movie surrounding them is largely weak.

The film introduces Elba’s and Winslet’s characters at an Idaho airport where most of the planes have been grounded because of poor weather. Because the two need to get out of the area quick, though, with Alex (Winslet) needing to get to her wedding and Ben (Elba) having to get to a surgery, they are rather desperate to get in the air.

That’s when Alex comes up with the idea of taking a smaller charter plane from the airport and invites Ben to come along. At first the flight seems to be going well enough, but that soon flips as a series of events causes the plane to go down. The pilot dies in the accident and the rest of the film follows the two protagonists having to work together to get through a cold, harsh part of the country.

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REVIEW: ‘Blade Runner’s’ Return Is Remarkable

There have been a lot of sequels lately that have revisited properties that were long left dormant, including “Jurassic World,” “Mad Max: Fury Road” and “Creed.” This sequel to the 80s cult classic “Blade Runner,” though, might be the best one yet.

The new “Blade Runner” takes place 30 years after the original, hence the title. Replicants, the bioengineered humans that were featured in the original, are once again present in the movie and this time more integrated into society. The main example of this is the movie’s protagonist, K (Ryan Gosling). K is a replicant who works for the Los Angeles Police Department and is tasked with hunting down older replicant models.

In his latest investigation, K discovers a clue that relates to events in the first film. As a result, K is sent down a rabbit hole where he finds out information that could change the entire world.

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REVIEW: ‘Mother’ Is One Of The Year’s Most Extreme Films, And For The Most Part It Works

Perennial cinematic risk taker Darren Aronofsky, who’s previously helmed films such as “Black Swan” and “Requiem for a Dream,” is at it again with this year’s “Mother!”

The movie opens rather mysteriously before introducing the audience to the two lead characters, named only Mother (Jennifer Lawrence) and Him (Javier Bardem). Their married life is a simple one, Him being a writer and poet who’s trying to find his next breakthrough while Mother works on restoring sections of the house they live in.

Tensions begin to rise as two guests show up on their home’s doorsteps, though, played by Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer. That tension only continues to build as the situation at the house becomes more and more unsettling.

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