Category: Film Reviews

By Mark Saldana Review: 3.5 (Out of 4 Stars) From director Neil Jordan (The Crying Game, Interview with the Vampire) comes this dark, tense, and twisted thriller. Starring Isabelle Huppert and Chloe Grace Moretz, Greta offers mind games, chills, laughs and suspense that are sure to keep audiences well-entertained. With a mix of transparency, surprises… Continue reading Review: GRETA

By Liz Lopez Rating: B/C- “The Iron Orchard” is an independently made film that is a long time in the making. Native Austinite Gerry de Leon is a screenwriter who in 2011 started adapting “The Iron Orchard,” along with director Ty Roberts, based on the award-winning novel of the same name by Tom Pendleton that… Continue reading Review: After the Austin Film Festival premiere, “The Iron Orchard” Hits Theaters

By Mark Saldana Rating: 3 (Out of 4 Stars) From Gaspar Noe, the bold director who made Irreversible and Love, comes what is probably his wildest experience yet. More of a curiosity piece, rather than an insightful investigation of human behavior, Climax is a rather entertaining and bizarre experience that plays out like a strange… Continue reading Review: CLIMAX

By Mark Saldana Rating: 3 (Out of 4 Stars) Based on the acclaimed novel by Tom Pendleton, the film version of The Iron Orchard has had a long and arduous journey to reach the big screen. After several decades and multiple failed attempts at production, the morality yarn about Texas oil has finally made it… Continue reading Review: THE IRON ORCHARD

By Liz Lopez Rating B+ Last May, I received official word from Focus Features about the film “Everybody Knows” (“Todos Lo Saben”) coming to the United States by Focus Features. I was beyond excited, especially with the excellent cast and it is helmed by Academy-Award® winner Asghar Farhadi (“The Salesman,” “A Separation”) who wrote and… Continue reading Review: “Everybody Knows” (original title “Todos Lo Saben”)

By Liz Lopez Rating B+ “How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World” from writer-director Dean DeBlois, is the third adaptation of author Cressida Cowell’s books about Vikings and dragons. It is here and it is so worth the wait. It is great to see a more mature Hiccup (voiced by Jay Baruchel) and his… Continue reading Review: “How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World”

By Renee’ C. Rating: 5 (Out of 5 Reels) When Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) discovers Toothless is not the only Night Fury, he must seek “The Hidden World”, a secret Dragon Utopia before a hired tyrant named Grimmel (F. Murray Abraham) finds it first (IMDB).

By Mark Saldana Rating: 3 (Out of 4 Stars) In 1990, Yukito Kushiro introduced his cyberpunk universe through the pages of manga and to this day, the 51 year-old artist continues to tell these stories. Well, it was only a matter of time before Hollywood filmmakers would decide to adapt this rich and inventive universe… Continue reading Review: ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL

By Renee’ C. Rating: 2 (Out of 5 Reels) A young woman named Natalie (Rebel Wilson), disenchanted with love mysteriously finds herself trapped inside a romantic comedy (IMDB). Wilson carries this film admirably and the supporting cast does a good job as well. I believe this is the first film in which Wilson has been… Continue reading Review: ISN’T IT ROMANTIC

By Jan Hamilton Capernaum means chaos in Lebanese, and our movie is a perfect representation of the word, but it is not without humanity, goodness and hope. We first see Zain, a small twelve year old boy, in court.  The judge asks why Zain wants to sue his parents, he says “Because they gave me… Continue reading Review: CAPERNAUM