Ron Wilkinson Writer/director Arnaud Desplechin (co-written with Julie Peyr) has developed quite a picture of the tempestuous youth of Paul Dedaulus (Mathieu Amalric). Screened as part of the Directors’ Fortnight section of the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the SACD Prize, the film is a skillful execution of flashback story telling. The fact that it
Asghar Farhadi’s “Fireworks Wednesday” features several kinds of fireworks converging on the naïve young bride Rouhi. Taraneh Alidoosti reunites with Farhadi after her successful work in “About Elly” to play the very young and very much in love Rouhi. The film is set on Fireworks Wednesday, the day of celebration for the Persian New
Writer/director Ciro Guerra’s seething portrait of the abasement of a people and an environment is not to be missed. Based on the written diaries of explorers Theodor Koch-Grunberg and Richard Evans Schultes, the film combines amazing first hand descriptions by the explorers with a surreal story of unbounded greed. The story (co-written by Jacques Toulemonde
If this take on Eddie the Eagle (Michael “Eddie” Edwards) is exaggerated to the point of absurdity, the superb performance of Taron Egerton makes it work. This may become the breakout performance for Egerton, showing he can do the touchy-feely role as well as the easier tough guy roles. Egerton combines just enough of Forest
Denmark’s official submission for Best Foreign Language Film in the 88th Academy Awards of 2016 is a momentous movie. Not only does it show the lethal chaos and brutality of war with unflinching honesty, but it shows the war soldiers fight at home, as well. Lead Pilou Asbæk reunites with writer/director Tobias Lindholm for the
Chris Pine does a fantastic job playing sheepish but inwardly courageous Coast Guard Bosun’s Mate Bernard “Bernie” Webber stationed in Chatham, Massachusetts on Cape Cod. Bernie is a good man, but is haunted by his failure to make it “over the bar” to save the crew of a stranded fishing boat a few years earlier.
George Clooney does the heavy lifting in Hail, Caesar! backed by an elite cast of sparkling supporting actors and perfect production. Shot in 35mm, the film is a remarkable throwback to the “glory years” of 1950’s Hollywood when a star was really a star and the head of the studio was king. The Coens are
Golden Globe winner Oscar Isaac plays self-destructive movie star / film maker Jack in Oscar winner William Monahan’s pot boiling tale of murder and survival. This is a great performance by Isaac, coming on the heels of his city slicker flicks Ex Machina and A Most Violent Year. He plays a drifter roaming through the
Now for the most uncomfortable film of the year award, the winner is “Bleak Street” by Arturo Ripstein. The “master of the Mexican bizarre” sets a high bar in this saga of poverty, crime and depravity and clears it by a mile. Shot in beautiful black-and-white, the cinematography of the ultimate inner city film noir
Benicio Del Toro and Tim Robbins have done better things. Having won two Oscars between them and been nominated for two more, this screenplay is light weight for them. The treatment seems to be perpetually caught between Mash and Hurt Locker with nods to Catch 22 and Shake Hands with the Devil. The result is