Viggo Mortensen, whose latest work in the new movie “Green Book” is getting noticed this award season, will be honored at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.
Taking place from Jan. 30-Feb. 9, the fest will give its American Riviera award to Mortensen. The festival’s website states that the award is given for outstanding achievement in American Film.
Continue reading “Monday Movie Report: Mortensen, Jackman and Close earn fest honors”
The difficult struggles of addiction, and the impacts it has on family members, are explored heavily in this movie starring Steve Carell and Timothee Chalamet.
Carell plays David Sheff, a father whose son Nic (Chalamet) is addicted to methamphetamine and other drugs. The movie begins with David identifying his son’s issues and looking at the solutions that are on the table.
However, despite continued efforts, the addiction remains a problem for Nic, and the situation puts continuous strain on both main characters, as well as their relationship.
Continue reading “REVIEW: ‘Beautiful Boy’ emotionally captures the struggles of addiction”
The horrific, despicable practice of gay conversion “therapy” is depicted in this film, based on the true story of Garrard Conley, who wrote a memoir with the same name.
The film tells a version of the true story through the character Jared (Lucas Hedges). The son of a Baptist preacher, Jared is a young man who just after starting college is forced to go to a gay conversion establishment.
The movie opens with Jared starting his time at the conversion facility, and from there, showcases a series of flashbacks where it details how Jared was forcibly outed and why his parents Marshall (Russell Crowe) and Nancy (Nicole Kidman) reacted the way they did.
Continue reading “REVIEW: ‘Boy Erased’ is a powerful look at a tragic subject”
A trio of women going through grief are quickly forced into action in this new heist flick.
“Widows” takes place in an area of Chicago and follows a group of women, Veronica (Viola Davis), Linda (Michelle Rodriguez) and Alice (Elizabeth Debicki). At the movie’s onset, the three have never met each other, but their husbands all work closely. However, their work includes pulling off criminal heists.
The film picks up with one of these jobs, helmed by Veronica’s husband Harry (Liam Neeson), going wrong and the whole crew getting killed. Not only does this put the three women in the grieving process, but the job their husbands attempted has left a sort of trail, putting them in danger. As a result, they decide to go through with a plan originally written up by Harry and pull off the heist to begin new lives.
Continue reading “REVIEW: ‘Widows’ is a disappointing time at the theater.”
It’s safe to say that the magic is gone.
For the uninitiated, “Crimes of Grindelwald” is the second installment of the “Fantastic Beasts” series, which is a spinoff of the “Harry Potter” movies. The series is set decades before the “Harry Potter” events and follows a wizard named Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), who’s an expert when it comes to dealing with various creatures.
In this installment, Scamander is tasked by a younger Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) to keep track of a situation in France that’s related to the fearsome antagonist of the series, Grindelwald (Johnny Depp). Like its predecessor from 2016, “Crimes” has Newt team up with his friends from New York, Jacob (Dan Fogler), Tina (Katherine Waterston) and Queenie (Alison Sudol).
Continue reading “REVIEW: ‘Beasts’ sequel isn’t all that fantastic”
Stan Lee, comic book writer, editor and publisher at Marvel Comics, died Monday at the age of 95.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Lee started in the industry in 1939 and helped create characters such as Spider-Man, Thor, Iron Man, the Fantastic Four, the Incredible Hulk, Daredevil and the X-Men. Working alongside other creators, such as Jack Kirby, THR reports that Lee pushed Marvel to the world’s No. 1 comic book publisher.
Continue reading “Monday Movie Report: Stan Lee, comic book industry icon, dies at 95”
The pacing in this movie was so fast. Maybe that would work for, I dunno, a biopic about the band Rush, but not Queen.
“Bohemian Rhapsody” tells the tale of the band Queen, with a significant focus on the life of Freddie Mercury (Rami Malek). The picture follows Mercury during his time in college where he discovers the band, all the way to his performance during the Live Aid concert.
As it goes on, the film covers Mercury’s sexual orientation, his creation of the song that shares the same name of the movie, his struggle with drugs and disagreements he had with other members of Queen.
Continue reading “REVIEW: ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ is a bland band biopic”
The season of gold statues got underway Sunday night with the Hollywood Film Awards ceremony, where numerous 2018 movies were honored for a wide array of aspects.
Hosted by actress and comedian Awkwafina, the HFA took place in Beverly Hills and marks the first major event of award season, with the Gotham Independent Film Awards coming next on Nov. 26. While not the most prestigious ceremony of the award season bunch, the HFA still provide an opportunity to gain some notoriety and get the word out about some contenders.
Continue reading “Monday Movie Report: Hollywood Film Award results”
A novel with subject matter quite relevant to what’s happened in the United States over the past several years was adapted to the big screen in fairly convincing fashion.
The Hate U Give,” originally a book, is a film telling the story of Starr Carter (Amandla Stenberg), who lives in a mostly African American neighborhood, but attends a predominantly white private institution. The film picks up with Starr heading into a weekend, where she eventually attends a house party. There, she meets a childhood friend named Khalil (Algee Smith), who offers to drive her home.
Along the drive back home, Khalil is pulled over by a white police officer and, while leaning in the car to check on Starr, is shot and killed. What follows is a situation where Starr has to deal with speaking about the incident with law enforcement, the press, and her friends and relatives. As a result, the situation creates a lot of stress for the high schooler.
Continue reading “REVIEW: ‘Hate U Give,’ while not perfect, still has impact”
It’s the final day for the month of spook, Halloween has finally arrived.
As previously stated in the past few pieces I’ve written, I’m looking back at some of my favorite horror movies from the past 10 years, as I’ve been reviewing for about a decade. Here are the picks from 2015-2017.
Continue reading “10 Years of Horror: Looking back at 2015-2017”
Matthew Liedke on Film 