By Liz Lopez Rating: B+ Sean Penn (The Crossing Guard, (1995); The Pledge (2001); Into the Wild (2007) returns to the director’s seat for the film Flag Day. The deeply flawed individuals in the screenplay, written by Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth, are characters in the 2005 memoir “Flim-Flam Man: The True Story of My… Continue reading FLAG DAY
Author: Mark Saldana
Bentonville Film Festival 2021: Jury Awards Winners
By Liz Lopez The Bentonville Film Festival announced the jury prize winners for their seventh annual Festival. The week-long Festival, led by Academy Award-winning actor and Festival Chair Geena Davis, is known for its dedication to championing female, non-binary, LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, and people with disabilities’ voices in entertainment with films directed by 71% Women, 75%… Continue reading Bentonville Film Festival 2021: Jury Awards Winners
Critica de Cine: RESPECT
Por Liz Lopez Rating: B La difunta Aretha Franklin es una de nuestras más grandes artistas con una carrera que se extendió por décadas. La nueva película, Respect, comienza con sus primeros años como niña, como suelen hacer muchas películas biográficas. El director Liesl Tommy y la guionista Tracey Scott Wilson, hacen su primer largometraje… Continue reading Critica de Cine: RESPECT
CODA
By Mark Saldana Rating: 3.5 (Out of 4 Stars) The acronym CODA stands for Child Of Deaf Adults. And the main character of this winning movie is exactiy that. In fact, the protagonist Ruby Rossi (Emilia Jones) is the only one in her family with the ability to hear. Ruby is a high school senior… Continue reading CODA
RESPECT
By Mark Saldana Rating: 2.5 (Out of 4 Stars) A child shows signs of musical talent at a young age. Her parents encourage her to develop that talent. She eventually become a massive star and must face the demons of her past. Now, I know that this plot sounds all too familiar. And such is… Continue reading RESPECT
Critica de cine: Free Guy
Por Liz Lopez Rating: B+ En la película “Free Guy”, el personaje de Ryan Reynolds es un cajero de banco llamado Guy que vive en un mundo que no cambia día a día y eso se debe a que su mundo no es real. Guy es un personaje de videojuego, pero uno no jugable (conocido… Continue reading Critica de cine: Free Guy
Free Guy
By Liz Lopez Rating: B+ In “Free Guy”, Ryan Reynolds’ character is a bank teller named Guy who lives in a world that doesn’t change day to day and that is because his world isn’t real. Guy is a video game character, but a non-playable one (known as an NPC, or “non-playable character”), which means… Continue reading Free Guy
SCENES FROM AN EMPTY CHURCH
By Mark Saldana Rating: 3.5 (Out of 4 Stars) The setting is New York City, 2020. The city has been locked down, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After the pastor has passed away because of the virus, a Catholic church has shut its doors for the time being. Surviving priests Fathers Andrew (Kevin Corrigan) and… Continue reading SCENES FROM AN EMPTY CHURCH
THE SUICIDE SQUAD
By Mark Saldana Rating: 3.5 (Out of 4 Stars) For anyone mostly unfamiliar with the career of James Gunn, the filmmaker began his career with the Troma movie Tromeo and Juliet. That might seem like a wild and weird place to start for the filmmaker who made the highly lovable Guardians of the Galaxy movies,… Continue reading THE SUICIDE SQUAD
ANNETTE
By Mark Saldana Rating: 3.5 (Out of 4 Stars) From French filmmaker Leos Carax and the musical duo Sparks, comes a most unique cinematic experience, and one that makes Carax’s English-language debut. Carax and the Sparks brothers have collaborated to make an artistically surreal movie musical that focuses on the relationship between two very different… Continue reading ANNETTE