Asking someone if they subscribe to the science of climate change might as well be as tenuous as asking a person if they believe in God. Climate change has become a divisive firebrand topic like few others in the decade since the Oscar-winning and punctually motivating documentary An Inconvenient Truth. In several ways, the topic has come a long way in some places only to slip backward in other measures. An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power is a persuasive update on the matter.
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Add all of The Dark Tower up, the ineffective length, the nonsensical plot, threadbare mythology, leashed acting, and limited thrills, and you get the lowest sum of calculations. You get the sheer absurdity we started with. I'm sure it's all meant to be substantial and worthy of audience investment, but how is any of it supposed to give us gravity to grasp if it's all presented in such a cursory degree?
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Weinstein writes and directs what constitutes as a love letter to a culture, a community, and to the essence of fatherhood. The lead’s personal plight is a compelling one done with grace and admiration for attaching the right layer of empathy. It’s not overly heavy in any particular way, but Menashe carries enough honesty, enough will, and enough power to break any father’s heart. There’s strength to be found in that.
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I cannot beat the drum for the word "timely" enough when it comes to Kathryn Bigelow's Detroit. Her follow-up to Zero Dark Thirty is a jarring yet important film that speaks volumes and draws numerous parallels from 1967 to 2017. As hard as it is to watch, it is equally essentially viewing that poses the challenges for progress, increased empathy, and improved dialogue on a multitude of racial, ethical, and societal issues that have not gone away in a half-century and beyond.
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There are not enough loud writing colors on the ShowMe app to give the splashy neon of Atomic Blonde the rub it deserves, but, hopefully, my words do the trick. Come and bow at the altar of Charlize Theron, as I did for this review. The film may not be anything special in the spy department, but the Monster Oscar winner deserves the fist-pumps for the toughness and guile she put on display.
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For a film like Detroit with difficult content thrust upon audiences to endure, this is not a place to seek entertainment or joy. Instead, Detroit is a challenge of cementing respect and achieving an empathy deeper than basic sympathy. Step into a beyond-cautionary tale of history that school books skipped or have forgotten. Let Detroit stir and inspire conversations. Let the emotions, good and bad, come and talk about them.
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As a big Christopher Nolan fan and supporter, this review was difficult. Critic after critic is calling Dunkirk Nolan's masterpiece and best film to date. I simply can't do that and no filmmaker should ever get a pass. In fact, it might be the worst of his films I have seen, but that's like slipping from a king-size Sleep Number mattress to a king-size pillowtop mattress. The fall isn't far. Allow me to explain. Here's my "Movie Classroom" interactive whiteboard presentation of the audio form of my written review as it appears posted on Every Movie Has a Lesson's YouTube channel.
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Through my collaboration with the folks at the Feelin' Film Podcast, I have had the pleasure of crossing virtual paths with Chad Hopkins, the host of The Cinescope Podcast. He cordially invited me on as a guest for a podcast talk on John Avildsen's The Karate Kid as an off-shoot sample of American values just in time for Independence Day.
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Welcome to the polarizing gamut of engagement, acceptance, and disquiet of A Ghost Story. This is a wholly original film that takes preparation, patience, absorption, and reflection that some, or even many, may not be ready for. Presented in the rounded and claustrophobic corners of a centered 1.33:1 aspect ratio, it is safe to say, you will see nothing like this all year and maybe several more.
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It's time to call the prequel trilogy of Planet of the Apes one of the best movie trilogies of all-time. It's time to give serious Oscar consideration to Andy Serkis as Caeser. It's time to see what is, so far, the best film of 2017. Hear those thoughts and more in my "Movie Classroom" interactive whiteboard video review for War for the Planet of the Apes as it appears published on the Every Movie Has a Lesson YouTube channel. See this film immediately.
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By definition, a punchline is “the words at the end of a joke or story that make it funny or surprising.” Superb comedians dream of finding good ones they can wrap a story around and always refining their material for the right comedic effect for their audiences. The Big Sick can confidently boast a self-evident punchline that lasts for over two hours and never runs out of the funny or the surprising.
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Spider-Man: Homecoming, starring Tom Holland as a true and proper teenage Spider-Man/Peter Parker, is a welcome and refreshing clean slate for the character. It's too bad it took three franchise attempts to get here. Filled to the brim with both easter eggs, supporting characters, swell touches of character, and zesty heart, this is the Spider-Man film you've always hoped for. Enjoy my full spoken review layered with an interactive whiteboard lesson for the latest "Movie Classroom" video review on this website's YouTube channel:
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