Category: Reviews
Decrying/Praising ‘The Book of Life’ and ‘Kubo and the Two Strings’
What do you get when you add unbridled creativity to a project with limited substance? Well, it’s possible something good may come out of it. In the case of The Book of Life (2014) and Kubo and the Two Strings (2016), however, you get cinematic dreck. I know—that’s rather harsh. But these two films may…
Doctor Strange Brings Metaphysics and Mysticism to the Marvel Cinematic Universe
By the time you’re watching stoic kung fu sorcerers chasing bad kung fu sorcerers through a labyrinth of twisting cityscapes and magical portals that lead to who knows where, you know this isn’t a normal Marvel Studios venture. The behemoth studio behind the Marvel Cinematic Universe has developed a sprawling storyline that has had some…
Documentaries in focus: ‘Cameraperson’ and ‘Marathon’
The documentary landscape recently grew a little bit brighter with the release of two first-rate works, very different from each other, but both doing what film has always done best: eliciting powerful emotional responses by showing us things we have not seen before. At least not like this. The first movie is Kirsten Johnson’s Cameraperson.…
In Clint Eastwood’s engrossing “Sully,” earnest heroism hits turbulence
Seven years removed from the “Miracle on the Hudson,” it’s a bit silly to think of Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger as anything else but a hero. The longtime pilot used his expertise, gumption and level head to land a major aircraft with failing engines onto the Hudson River and managed to keep everyone on-board alive…
Reviewing Florence Foster Jenkins: The Challenge of Dream-Chasing
There’s a pivotal moment at the end of Florence Foster Jenkins, the latest from director Stephen Frears, in which a gravely ill Jenkins (Meryl Streep) gently confronts her husband St. Clair Bayfield (Hugh Grant) about a negative review of one of her concerts. The review isn’t necessarily incorrect – it states, rather bluntly, that Foster is…