“Florence Foster Jenkins” Directed by Stephen Frears In the early eighties, there was a plethora of films…light films which tried to be more than that…about the creative mind in New York. The best examples of these being “Author, Author” and … Continue reading “Florence Foster Jenkins”
“13TH” Directed by Ana DuVarnay Before I get in to the guts of this review, let me say how important and essential this documentary is…the discussion is…and its purpose is. It needs to be viewed. Any serious examination of the … Continue reading “13TH”
Written on 12/7/2016″Manchester By the Sea” Directed by Kenneth Lonergan I’ve been staring at my screen for over an hour, trying to pinpoint how I feel, or rather, how I want to communicate how I feel about Kenneth Lonergan’s … Continue reading “Manchester By the Sea”
“Land of Mine” (Denmark) Directed by Martin Zandvliet For a long time I have been extolling the virtues of Antony Beevor’s historical tome detailing the Battle of Stalingrad (“Stalingrad”, Penguin Books). As that particular battle was close to being lost, … Continue reading “Land of Mine” (Denmark)
“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” Directed by David Yates With the disclaimer that I never read the books, I’ve found the Harry Potter film series to be delightful, charming and often wondrous. They each have epic plots and … Continue reading “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”
“A Man Called Ove” (Sweden) Directed by Hannes Holm My parents…now happily married for over 63 years…began pestering me to see this film over two weeks ago. Knowing little about it, other than it is Sweden’s offering for the Foreign … Continue reading “A Man Called Ove” (Sweden)
“Arrival” Directed by Denis Villeneuve “Arrival”. Hmm… so… okay… imagine if Terence Malick (in his “Tree of Life” phase) had made “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” but WITH Denis Villeneuve’s attention to tension. This should give you a decent … Continue reading “Arrival”
“The Together Project” (France/Iceland) Directed by Solveig Anspach This utterly goofy and highly enjoyable film from the late Solveig Anspach, might be one of the strangest (and most earnest) RomCom’s I’ve seen. At its core, it sounds simple enough…a Frenchman … Continue reading 52nd Chicago International Film Festival Screening #23: “The Together Project” (France/Iceland)
“Dog Days” (China) Directed by Jordan Schiele Sweat. Lots of it. Jordan Schiele’s debut feature is a small, road movie about a woman searching for her child, accompanied by a young male stripper. It will do nothing to please Chinese … Continue reading 52nd Chicago International Film Festival Screening #22: “Dog Days” (China)
“Saint George” (Portugal) Directed by Marco Martins I don’t have a long (or any) history with Portugese cinema, so I can’t adequately tell if the style of “Saint George” (“Sao Jorge”) is typical fare. But I AM fairly conversant in … Continue reading 52nd Chicago International Film Festival Screening #21: “Saint George” (Portugal)
The No Spoiler Critic 