By Laurie Coker Rating: C- Our memories, good or bad, often drive us and guide our lives. Still, some events are better forgotten, like the over two hours spent watching ‘Reminiscence’ starring Hugh Jackman, Rebecca Ferguson, and Thandie Newton. Writer/director Lisa Joy bites off a lofty challenge of playing with time and memories and ends… Continue reading REMINISCENCE
Category: MAIN
FLAG DAY
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
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
FREE GUY
By Laurie Coker Rating: B+ Director Shawn Levy with a crisp, although not particularly fresh, script by Matt Lieberman and Zak Penn, creates a wild world where gaming and reality intersect in an action-packed, hilarious character-driven romp. ‘Free City’ creators don’t draw from a single video game, or a sitcom, or any other source material,… Continue reading FREE GUY
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
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