“Love, Lies” plays upon the decaying dichotomy orbiting the two women as they vie for love and validation against dignity and betrayal. It’s impossible not to feel the emotions imbued into the punctuating moments of expression through song that fully embody the conflict and romantic encumbrances weighing on the characters. The music is the vital and resonating fiber that unites the period atmosphere with the stirring portrayals of talent.
Read MoreThe trappings of “My Egg Boy” are firmly entrenched in melodrama, yet kissed with delightful fancy. The strength is in the dynamic writing to weave practical magic with fertile imagination. The romantic and symbolistic peaks and valleys built by Tien-Yu Fu are endlessly relatable even when characterized. What begins as whimsy evolves quite affectingly to something rapturously heartfelt.
Read More100% of you right now are reading this review via the internet on either a computer or a mobile device. Like it or not, you and I leave digital footprints everywhere we go. The new pseudo-dystopian thriller “The Circle” incites the over-obvious social media and data-mining fears of our present surveillance society of sharing and shines them up into a shiny and engrossing yarn of mainstream entertainment. Fiction or not, it’s the kind of film that may or may not irk you enough to take that Facebook sabbatical you keep saying you’ll do.
Read MoreWars transform the soldiers that participate in them. Men and women in combat can be broken down, built up, or both in positive and negative ways. Because the young tend to serve, their stories, and the films that tell them, can mirror a late-term version of the “coming-of-age” archetype. The fingerprints of forced maturity appear all over the likes of “The Deer Hunter,” “Platoon,” “Jarhead,” and dozens of other films. In all honesty, the trope is overused and over-familiar and that’s the first mistake of “Sand Castle.”
Read More“The Sex Addict” is tailor-made to serve comedy fans that soak up humor akin to “The Office” and “Parks and Recreation.” The humor is naturally vulgar and dark, which isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. The crowd that will be repulsed can be replaced by those rolling on the floor laughing. “The Sex Addict” is a ways away from the supreme mockumentary exemplars of Christopher Guest, but that’s the perfect plane for Amir Mo and company to aspire to.
Read MoreNo matter what faith (or absence of faith) you carry into this film’s experience, you will respect the positive efforts of the real-life ministries featured in “Faith in the Big House.” Lives are changed before your eyes and it’s not all Bible-thumping. To that end, it is wholly refreshing to observe a Christian point-of-view that holds its peers of different denominations and, more importantly, itself strictly accountable for this kind of communal service.
Read MoreAaron White and Patrick Hicks, the podcasters of Feelin' Film, have invited me to join a box office throwdown. As the eventual winner, they don't know what hit them. Joined by fellow Feelin' Film contributor, Steve Clifton of Popcorn Confessional, the four of us are aiming to predict which summer movies will rake at the box office in the second annual Feelin' Film Summer Movie Challenge.
Read MoreThe most crucial dramatic trait for films about exploration is a drawing a strong reaction to the unknown from the audience. Whether it’s a historical story or a fantastical one of fiction, the film has to evoke awe, be that stirring swells of inspiration or jarring feelings of danger. It has to move you, not bore you. If a film can’t achieve that quickened pulse or heavy heart, it’s little better than a travelogue on cable television or a curriculum video they show soon-to-be-bored high school students in Social Studies class.
Read MoreI don't know about you, but I get a kick out of bad gunshot wound acting in all ages of films. It’s either hilariously drawn out with overacting or it’s unrealistically rapid in fatality. The brutal facts of getting shot enough to cause death rarely check out in the movies. That never stops filmmakers from trying new and creative ways to shoot people with varying degrees of entertainment success. “Free Fire” is one such film daring to blast anything and everything with ammunition encased with twisted zeal.
Read MoreBetween us two busy Chicago film critics and working fathers, Emmanuel and I are orchestrating a trade of "guest reviews" for each other's sites. I was swamped last week and I was unable to see "The Fate of the Furious." He missed Chris Evans' vehicle "Gifted." My review of that will go on his site and his review of vehicular mayhem arrives right here:
Read More"Colossal" is every bit a monster movie, but it’s not the monster movie you expect. Yours truly joins Feelin' Film host Aaron White to discuss the various genres that this film creatively blends together and to talk through some of its deeper themes.
Read MoreIsolated survival films have an immense draw. Our self-preservation instincts kick in and we, as the audience, cannot help but hypothetically put ourselves in the same conundrum as the main character. Often these films delve into the preciousness of the life and dabble in the “what does it all mean” direction to pull even more thought and emotion. A few metaphors dipped in symbolism make for nice touches. Regrettably, the peril grinder of “Mine” pounds its not-so-thinly-veiled metaphors repeatedly and insufferably into the ground.
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