Tag: Hollywood

REVIEW: ‘Rules Don’t Apply’ Falls Apart Because Of Scattered Story, Lack Of Focus

Director/Writer Warren Beatty took audiences to 1950s Hollywood in this period piece with a focus on billionaire Howard Hughes.

The film tells the story of two young residents of Los Angeles, Frank Forbes (Alden Ehrenreich) who works as a driver for Hughes and Maria Mabrey (Lily Collins), who the billionaire has hired as an actress in Hollywood.

As the film develops, both characters meet Hughes (played by Beatty) and the movie displays how the billionaire influences the directions of their lives and their relationship.

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Trumbo movie review

Director:

  • Jay Roach

Cast:

  • Bryan Cranston
  • Diane Lane
  • Helen Mirren
  • Louis C.K.
  • Roger Bart
  • John Goodman
  • Rated: R

Bryan Cranston plays the title character and legendary Oscar winning screenwriter in “Trumbo” which picks up with the lives of the protagonists just as the Red Scare is starting to pick up.

The fear of communism is on full display in the movie and one of the targets of that fear is Dalton Trumbo as well as other Hollywood writers. The film documents this struggle with the Red Scare, mainly through Trumbo’s perspective, featuring how they had to go to jail and were even blacklisted from working in the film industry.

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Birdman review

Director:
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
Cast:
Michael Keaton
Emma Stone
Zach Galifianakis
Naomi Watts
Edward Norton
Rated: R

“Birdman” was once a famous box-office powerhouse at the movie theaters but lately has fallen out of the public’s eyes in this new film from director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu.

The man who played the superhero Birdman, Riggan (Keaton) has fallen out of the eyes of many, too, as he hasn’t made a hit movie in years. To get himself back on top he decides to direct and star in a play in New York City. Problems arise, though, as he has to deal with his daughter Sam (Stone) who has just gotten out of rehab and an actor (Norton) who does things his way or the highway.

Birdman is a film that has a lot of depth in both its story and characters, and both subjects are thoroughly explored. What makes the film great is that not only are the various characters and their subplots interesting, they also make statements on a number of topics.

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Saving Mr. Banks review

Director:
John Lee Hancock
Cast:
Emma Thompson
Tom Hanks
Colin Farrell
Paul Giamatti
Rated: PG-13
Trailer

Walt Disney Pictures gives you a behind-the-scene look at how Walt Disney Pictures acquired and made “Mary Poppins.”

Despite the film taking place at the Disney studio, the focus is completely on the original author of “Mary Poppins,” Pamela P.L. Travers (Thompson). The movie goes into detail about how she traveled to California to meet with Walt Disney (Hanks) himself to work out a deal to let Disney take the rights for a movie adaption of her beloved novel.

Travers, for much of the movie, is absolutely reluctant to have her book be made into a film adaption, however Disney, his film crew, and even flashbacks from the past help her become more comfortable with the idea as the film moves along.

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