Everyone who loves movies remembers the film that pushed them toward their passion. Whether that passion led to watching every movie you could, reviewing or making films, that movie was special. For some, it was “Jaws,” created by Steven Spielberg, the subject of this film.
Visually, this is one of the most stunning films I’ve ever seen. Having seen many of those lately, it’s easy to blow me off when I say that, but “Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths” is different. You could watch this movie without the sound on and still understand it. Unless you’re fluent in Spanish, you are anyway; since the subtitles fly by so quickly it’s hard to catch what they’re saying. But that’s okay. You don’t really need them. The sound design, cinematography and editing are impeccable, creating for you a world you’re still determining is real.
The movie is reasonably cut-and-dry, but for those who didn’t jump deep into the story when it initially hit the airwaves, hearing about what a controlling beast Harvey Weinstein was, makes it worth the watch. The screenplay by Oscar® winner Rebekah Lenkiewicz doesn’t wander from the actual events, helping to set a timeline for how Weinstein’s harassment started and how it was allowed to continue.
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“Please Baby Please” is what you might call an artsy movie, with a capital ART. That means it is full of moody color schemes and background jazz pounding as the minimal story plays out. The drama is thick and oozing with weight, which many people might call over-bearing. The subject matter veers into a group of people exploring idea about gender fluidity and the curious nature of human sexuality. Read more
Directed by: Darren Aronofsky
Writer: Samuel D. Hunter
Starring: Brendan Fraser, Sadie Sink, Hong Chau, Ty Simpkins, and Samantha Morton
Runtime: 1h 57m
Rating: R (Language|Some Drug Use|Sexual Content)
Genre: Drama
Distributor: A24
DIRECTOR: Charles Shyer
Truly magnificent. With this coming-of-age story, writer/director James Gray (We Own the Night, Ad Astra) has granted his audience a very intimate and realistic look into the portrayal of a family. Once I watched it, I wasn’t too surprised to learn that this is, in fact, based on Gray’s personal upbringing. His family was sometimes in sync with one another but, more often than not, at great odds.
“Aftersun” is remembrance of a past time, a special vacation trip for a father and a daughter. The parents are divorced and the daughter lives with mom. But this summer, it is dad’s turn to take her out on an exotic adventure. But now her older self is wondering — was there something that I missed back then? Read more
Directed by: Benjamin Caron
Written by: Brian Gatewood, Alessandro Tanaka
Rated: R
Genre: Drama
Jennifer Lawrence is the absolute best thing about this movie. She gives it balance and ties you to a storyline that often goes off the rails when you need it to be straight with you. That said, her performances in “Silver Linings Playbook,” “The Hunger Games” and “American Hustle” proves she knows how to give what it takes to hold an audience. She’ll do that here, too, as Lynsey. Lynsey was involved in an incident in Afghanistan that gave her a severe brain injury. The damage also left her with post-traumatic stress disorder. PTSD is a condition triggered by a horrifying event. The brain of the person who suffers from this disorder causes flashbacks, severe anxiety, physical difficulties and depression.
At the film’s beginning, we see Lynsey in recovery so she can get back to who she once was. She hopes her doctor will allow her to redeploy when she’s completely healed.
