Here’s hoping Denzel Washington’s ambition to bring August Wilson’s ten-play Pittsburgh Cycle to the big screen hasn’t stalled at number two. A deal with HBO generated one picture (the Washington-directed Fences) before production moved to Netflix for this vastly superior day-in-the-life of blues architect Gertrude “Ma” Rainey. (It was Rainey …
A fascinatingly original takes on the subject of what made Hitler Hitler, and why a nation paid any mind to a radical loser. It doesn’t take filmmakers Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker (Gunnar’s Palace) but 125 seconds to mention Trump by name, and still I found myself asking, “Why so …
George Clooney’s relationship with sci-fi fantasies has been spotty at best. A finely condensed Cliff’s Notes abbreviation: Solaris was Steven Soderbergh’s aesthetically bountiful endeavor to distill Tarkovsky for the masses. Theatre ushers loved the film, as low audience turnout left little to clean up between shows. Gravity was an Awards-season …
This twisted tale of kindness and cruelty begins 70 miles north of the Mexican border: Brooks County, Texas is the end of the line for many migrants looking to enter the United States the hard way. After a coyote deposits them at the crossing, it’s up to the human contraband …
Cast against the blackness of night, a bleached, sandpapery-complexioned New World pirate known as The Admiral (Ron Perlman) pilots his ship across sand dune seas in pursuit of the subterranean creature his trackers have dubbed Diablos. Though budgeted at a mere $60 million, there was no scrimping on the special …
At one time, “live-action Disney” was the most fearsome phrase in the cinematic lexicon. It’s time to update the dread with the slightly longer “live-action Disney remake.” Where does the animated Mulan rank in the Disney canon? Of the post-Little Mermaid and pre-A Bug’s Life animated features, Disney’s tale of …
The only person more excited about summer break than her students is Miss Lapouge (Laure Calamy), who asks the class to avert their eyes while she slips into something sparkly. The song she selects about forbidden love for the grade-school talent show is racy even by French standards, but it …
Agonizing set-’em-up-to-watch-’em-die melodrama starring Nina Hoss in the titular role of Lisa, a brilliant, albeit lapsed playwright who abandoned all artistic endeavors to follow her school teacher husband’s (Jens Albinus) career path from Germany to Switzerland. When her twin brother Sven (Lars Eidinger), a celebrated stage actor, contracts a fast-growing …
If ever an underwater adventure doc cried out for IMAX 3D, it’s this, but for now, let’s be thankful that we had a chance to visit this kingdom of strange and exotic animals. The emphasis here is on the vulnerability of life. Craig Foster is a South African documentary filmmaker …