SXSW 2019 Review: “Raise Hell: The Life and Times of Molly Ivins”

By Liz Lopez Rating: A Director Janice Engel’s feature documentary was screened during SXSW a few months ago and is easily one of my favorites from this year’s festival. I am not the only one to think so, as this film is an Audience Award Winner in the Festival Favorites category. Engel and Monique Zavistovski… Continue reading SXSW 2019 Review: “Raise Hell: The Life and Times of Molly Ivins”

Review: AFTER THE WEDDING

By Mark Saldana Rating: 3 (Out of 4 Stars) Based on Suzanne Bier’s Danish film Efter brylluppet, After the Wedding has plenty of stong, compelling material, but its execution and presentation gets bogged down with indulgent melodrama and a third act and epilogue that play out rather flatly. I suppose an argument could be made… Continue reading Review: AFTER THE WEDDING

Review: ANGEL HAS FALLEN

By Mark Saldana Rating: 3 (Out of 4 Stars) If anyone had asked me six years ago that I will enjoy the two sequels to Olympus Has Fallen, I would have thought them insane. Even though the films in this franchise franchise often have dumb and silly elements, they do have likable characters, incendiary action… Continue reading Review: ANGEL HAS FALLEN

Review: ONE CHILD NATION

By Mark Saldana Rating: 3.5 (Out of 4 Stars) In 1979, the government of China implemented a birth planning program which included a strict policy of limiting the birth of children to one per family in an attempt at controlling the population growth and improving a troubled economy. Though the nation was in need of… Continue reading Review: ONE CHILD NATION

Review: READY OR NOT

By Mark Saldana Rating: 3.5 (Out of 4 Stars) From directors Matt Bettinelli-Opus and Tyler Gillett comes a wicked dark comedy that takes a childhood staple and turns it into a “most dangerous game.” With a screenplay by Guy Busick and R. Christopher Murphy, the directors offer audience delightfully disturbing and twisted doses of violence,… Continue reading Review: READY OR NOT

Review: WHERE’D YOU GO, BERNADETTE?

By Laurie CokerRating: C+/B- Cate Blanchett stars as Bernadette Fox in Richard Linklater’s latest foray in film, Where’d you go, Bernadette?  Far removed from the high school hallways of Dazed and Confused, Linklater takes on the complex psyche of a woman, whose genius for design and architecture pushes hers close to the edge of crazy… Continue reading Review: WHERE’D YOU GO, BERNADETTE?

Review: BLINDED BY THE LIGHT

By Liz Lopez Rating: B There certainly have been several films about music and musicians within this past year and the latest entry is “Blinded by the Light” based on a memoir by Sarfraz Manzoor. He is a Pakistani immigrant’s child who grows up in Luton, England, a very small town in the 1980s and… Continue reading Review: BLINDED BY THE LIGHT

Review: GOOD BOYS

By Mark Saldana Rating: 3.5 (Out of 4 Stars) Superbad now has a spiritual prequel and that movie is Good Boys. It is certainly fitting that this raunchy tween comedy comes from producers Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill, three comedic talents responsible for Superbad. And yes, this movie deserves its R-rating. So for… Continue reading Review: GOOD BOYS