Tag: Drama

REVIEW: ‘Elle’ Is A Dark, Disturbing Piece Powered By Isabelle Huppert’s Performance

For the first time since 2012 Paul Verhoeven returns to the director’s chair with arguably his most twisted feature film to date.

“Elle” follows the title character who’s more commonly referred to as Michele. A CEO of a major video game development company, Michele is a wealthy and rather powerful business woman living in France.

Her life, already quite complicated, becomes shattered in the opening scene of the film, though, when she’s attacked and raped at her home. What follows is an exploration of how the character deals with such a disgusting act, how it influences her decisions and how it relates to her past.

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REVIEW: While Predictable, ‘Hidden Figures’ Is A Solid Look At An Important True Story

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the space race of decades past has many inspiring stories of brilliant people, so it’s always a treat when Hollywood visits the subject.

“Hidden Figures” is another such feature. The picture tells the story of Katherine Johnson (Taraji Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae), three women who worked at NASA in the early 1960s in a unit dedicated to all the math for the agency.

Because their work was all about calculations, they were even called computers at the time. As their skills are called upon, though, Katherine is brought into a special task force for NASA’s latest mission, Mary is brought into an engineering unit and Dorothy, meanwhile, works to advance her role as the supervisor of her group. While this is happening, the three women have to face discrimination while also dealing with immense pressure as their work is key to bringing astronauts home safely.

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REVIEW: Despite A Poor Main Character, ‘Patriots Day’ Remains A Compelling Cinematic Look At A Horrific Moment

Director Peter Berg takes audiences behind the scenes of the Boston Marathon bombing from multiple viewpoints in “Patriots Day.”

While the picture does explore many of the people who were at the bombing and its immediate aftermath, such as Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis (John Goodman), the film largely takes place through the eyes of Tommy Saunders (Mark Wahlberg).

Saunders, who’s a fictional character made to represent Boston police officers, is a sergeant with the department and much of his story revolves around tracking down the two terrorists responsible.

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REVIEW: A True Delight, ‘La La Land’ Is 2016’s Most Charming Film

Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, who’ve co-starred before, reunite on screen for “La La Land,” which is arguably the best movie of their careers.

A true love letter to old Hollywood, “La La Land” kicks off by telling the story of Mia (Stone), an aspiring actress in Los Angeles. The key word is aspiring, as Mia is unable to catch attention in her auditions. Gosling, meanwhile, plays Sebastian who’s also a hopeful artist.

Sebastian is a pianist who’s all about jazz music and has a goal of opening a jazz club. Eventually, the two characters meet, a relationship develops and the film explores the effect it has on their dreams.

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REVIEW: Superb Acting From Portman Creates A Haunting Portrait Of American Tragedy In ‘Jackie’

Pablo Larrain directs and Natalie Portman stars as First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy in this in depth look at one of America’s darkest days and the aftermath.

The picture largely takes place in the days after the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, but other time periods are explored, too. While a majority of the picture shows Jackie planning the funeral in the days after the assassination as well her conversations about the events with others, the movie also shows the First Lady’s famous TV tour of the White House and when the Kennedys first arrived in Texas.

As the film unravels, it explores Jackie needing to be a mother, continue being a public figure and take efforts to preserve her husbands legacy.

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REVIEW: Award Caliber Performances From Washington, Davis Make ‘Fences’ Worth A Watch

The award winning play “Fences” has come to the big screen thanks to Denzel Washington, who both starred in and directed this feature.

Washington’s role in this picture is the lead character Troy Maxson, an African-American man working a tough job in the 1950s to provide for his wife and son.

As the film progresses, it explores more of Troy’s relationships, his goals and his failures. Especially detailed here, though, is his strained relationship with his son, Cory (Jovan Adepo).

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REVIEW: Story Twist In ‘Passengers’ Causes Space Romance To Crash

“Passengers” could have been a good movie, but a lot went wrong here.

In “Passengers,” Chris Pratt plays the character Jim Preston, an engineer and mechanic who’s taking a voyage on the space ship Avalon. The craft, filled with 5,259 people, isn’t making just a day trip, though, as its entire journey from Earth to a new colony is 120 years long. Everyone on the ship are in a state of hibernation, but unfortunately, Jim’s sleeping chamber malfunctions and he wakes up 90 years early.

As a result of this, Jim tries to fix his pod to get back to sleep, but it proves unsuccessful and his efforts to contact any of the crew, also in hibernation, prove futile. His crisis is only deepened by the intense loneliness he feels as the months aboard the ship drag on. That is until he comes in contact with another passenger, Aurora (Jennifer Lawrence) through a series of events.

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REVIEW: ‘Manchester By The Sea’ Is An Emotionally Compelling Cinematic Triumph

No other film in 2016 may be as gutting as “Manchester by the Sea.”

The Kenneth Lonergan-directed feature tells the story of Lee Chandler (Casey Affleck), a man who just gets by on a day-to-day basis, working maintenance at a Boston suburb apartment building he also lives in.

He is called back to his home town, though, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Mass., when he finds out that his brother passed away. As a result, Lee has to return to a city filled with painful memories and also be the guardian of his nephew Patrick (Lucas Hedges).

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REVIEW: ‘Loving’ Lives Up To Its Title Thanks To Heartfelt Lead Performances

The strength and conviction of a couple’s love is put on full display in “Loving.”

The picture tells the story of Richard and Mildred Loving, two residents of Virginia who were married in Washington D.C. However, because of Virginia state laws, their marriage was not just declared void because it was interracial, they were also put in jail.

The result was a nearly decade long legal battle that eventually found its way in front of the United States Supreme Court. The majority of the flick, though, is spent with Richard and Mildred, who make the best of their situation in any way they can. Continue reading “REVIEW: ‘Loving’ Lives Up To Its Title Thanks To Heartfelt Lead Performances”

REVIEW: One Of 2016’s Best, ‘Moonlight’ Fires On All Cylinders

“Moonlight” is both one of the year’s best films and also one of the greatest coming of age stories put on screen.

The picture follows the story of a character named Chiron as he navigates his way through life in Miami. The flick is split up into three sections of Chiron’s life, his youth where he’s played by Alex Hibbert, his teenage years, portrayed by Ashton Sanders and his adult period, acted by Trevante Rhodes.

As the film develops, it puts on display Chiron coming to terms with his sexuality, his struggles living in a poverty-stricken area of Miami and his strained relationship with his mother.

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