Titus Kaphar wisely kept the power focused on this single family unit, knowing the enveloping intimacy found there was more than enough to speak volumes of trueness and relatability to anyone watching. Exhibiting Forgiveness is as emphatic and resonating of a father-son conflict as any other in recent memory. For many, it will stick with you and hit home like a sledgehammer. More than everything, all of this hurt is worth every reflective second of the artistically melded experience.
Read MoreGoing through this heartbreaking ordeal, you fall in love with these two characters not only in the big moments of rapture, of which there are plenty, but in those little ones where it’s simply the two of them finding their unity and initiative to move forward. After all, true partners are found in honest talk more than pillow talk. Goddamn, the way Andrew Garfield looks at Florence Pugh is simply everything in We Live in Time.
Read MoreDespite so many settings demanding quiet for test-taking, Bad Genius still chooses stumps with plenty of anti-establishment aims to shout about. As Lynn and her classmates come to see it, their attitude is to determine their own futures themselves, especially with the rank socioeconomic and ethnic divisions present between the mix of united people. They don’t want a test to outweigh their own merits and perceived hard work. In their eyes, they deserve the competitive advantages they are bending the rules to seize.
Read MoreThe answer to how to make an appealing biopic about an unsavory character is to have a hell of an actor or actress embody them. After that, The Apprentice strives strongly in its quest to expose and air out a few dirty laundry chapters of Donald Trump’s past. Very few punches are pulled, creating a– needless to say– a purposefully unflattering portrait of the recent President in his virile younger days. It’s easier said than done to divorce the external politics and take this in as only a movie.
Read MoreThe thing is embellishment couldn’t be more appropriate to venture into the storied origins of a high-concept sketch comedy show. The bawdy and rowdy new film Saturday Night is a fish story version of festooned truths. The stuff of nostalgic backstage lore made with embellishment then is retold in a loosey-goosey “based on a true story” fashion with its own embellishment now. When executed with flair, a good fish story that gets stranger and more exaggerated as it unfolds–and, hot damn, does this one ever do that–can engage and entertain.
Read MoreMatching the shared praise shown within the journalism realm from that heart, there’s an automatic level of respect demanded and earned by Kate Winslet. Her clout as an actress equals her commitment to the difficulty of this role in Lee. Knocking on the door of 50 years old, Winslet nevers wastes a scene of this plum opportunity. The very same can be said of the moral foil and intrepid shadow portrayed by Andy Samberg as Scherman. The frequent funnyman capably uncorks his first dramatic film role with absolute reverence for the true and vigilant representation his character involves and embodies.
Read MoreAlas, all of that jaw-dropping and triumphant artistry stands firmly behind The Wild Robot’s stirring power to massage hearts and minds with virtuous messages and an ideal balance of jovial humor. Much like how the rustic wear-and-tear discolors, dents, and dulls our shiny mechanical proxy parent over time, the sheer fortitude and kindhearted selflessness permeating The Wild Robot grows on you like the speckled moss on Roz.
Read MoreSuper/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story reinforces that the coda of Christopher Reeve and Dana Reeve’s stories deserves to be their tireless charitable efforts. The millions of dollars raised for research and pieces of government legislation written in their names create a legacy that will last as long as any blockbuster one. This impactful work is proudly carried on by Matthew, Alexandra, and Will to this day. For them to bring this poignant and heart-rending story to us is one more measure of their own new heroism for a future made better by their past.
Read MoreThe centerpiece scene is a climactic living room sitdown where old wounds are aired out and cried over with bracing lucidity. By the end of that scene (and later after the entire movie), an engrossed and impressed viewer could fill a clipboard or two tally-marking the scoring balance between earnest apologies against attempted and failed compromises. These exposed fractures in His Three Daughters are fascinating in their complication and frankness beyond the typical grief management narratives. No one ever said catharsis was easy to acquire, and that is the case here.
Read MoreReunited for the first time since 2008’s Coen Brothers romp Burn After Reading, George and Brad are the perfect men to play these bristled rogues and turn them into winning studs to root for and follow. Between the two of them, it starts with their matinee idol mugs radiating body language. Both Supporting Actor Academy Award winners can act with their eyes better than most of their peers and contemporaries can with their entire bodies and voices.
Read MoreWhen it comes to legacy sequels, as we’ve come to call them, interested audiences often pose the question of whether or not enough was enough the first time around? They ponder if a sequel blowing the dust off of old stories and characters is going to beat a dead horse with embarrassment or uncork a finely aged wine. Matching the same hefty 36 years the Top Gun films savored between installments, time has only added to the legend for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Generations have now stacked together to enjoy the “Ghost with the Most” to the point where unexpected family feels sweeten and soften the pockmarks of the movie’s gnarly surface.
Read MoreFans of sports movies know Hollywood loves inflating unknown underdog stories. For example, most folks never heard of the likes of Rudy Ruettiger or Lane Frost before movies like Rudy or 8 Seconds came along to draw cheers and tears. Their success proves it’s not always the size of the legend that always counts. Even so, the grand style of lionizing hero worship is the farthest thing from director Lee Cipolla’s mind.
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