Category: MAIN

By Laurie Coker Rating: A Few films can sustain characters like Richard Linklater’s films Before Sunrise (1994), Before Sunset (2004) and now, nine years later, his newest in the series Before Midnight, but because they are richly drawn and immensely engaging, we following along in their lives with interest and curiosity. We can find comfort… Continue reading SXSW 2013 Review: BEFORE MIDNIGHT

By Renee’ Collins Rating: 3.5 (Out of 5 Reels) I did not place my expectations too high going into this film because while I have enjoyed both of the previous installations I don’t have much faith in sequels like this. But, surprisingly, this one does have its moments. Overall, I still think the first one is the… Continue reading Review: IRON MAN 3

By Renee’ Collins Rating: 4.5 (Out of 5 Reels) Adam (Richard E. Grant), a rich industrialist aspires to become an opera singer and decides to throw an opera in his lavish English country retreat.  He hires some of the best opera singers in the business and casts himself in the production. The entire cast of… Continue reading Review: 1st NIGHT

By Laurie Coker Rating: B While certainly not perfect, Iron Man 3  is, plain and simple, FUN!  Most of which can be attributed to Robert Downey Jr.’s playful, wit-ridden delivery and wild antics. Director (and co-writer with first-timer Drew Pierce) Shane Black who is better known behind the pen (Lethal Weapon) than in front, gives… Continue reading Review: IRON MAN 3

By Laurie Coker Rating: B- “The company you keep is a direct reflection on how people perceive you.” These words, from my mother, resonate in my mind, and I have passed them on to my son and my students. Robert Redford’s new movie The Company you Keep demonstrates the very notion of my mother’s (and… Continue reading Review: THE COMPANY YOU KEEP

By Laurie Coker Rating: B+ Some films try too hard to be monumental productions and others not hard enough, so when I first saw the poster for Tom Cruise’s newest film Oblivion (I avoid trailers), my first thought was “oh no, this will be Cruise’s Waterworld,” but I was wrong. Director Joseph Kosinski, who gave… Continue reading Review: OBLIVION

By Laurie Coker Rating: B+ Before the theatre went dark for the screening of Starbuck, someone told me that Vince Vaughn just wrapped up the American version of the French-Canadian film about a man who donated sperm multiple times in his youth and who discovers that of the 560 plus children conceived, nearly 150 are… Continue reading Review: STARBUCK

By Laurie Coker Rating: F- As part of my midnight features review for SXSW, I covered Rob Zombie’s Lords of Salem, so I want to allude to that review, and I’d like to begin this one by saying, even with the passage of time, I still think the film is complete trash. I find it… Continue reading Review: LORDS OF SALEM

By Laurie Coker Rating: B- For cast appeal alone, The Place Beyond the Pines will draw big and rightly so. Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper highlight the cast and for their efforts all is well with The Place Beyond the Pines. It is, however, director Derek Gianfrance and co-writers Ben Coccio and Darius Marder’s script that falters.  It… Continue reading Review: THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES