Review: THE DINNER

By Laurie Coker Rating: D Writer-director Oren Moverman’s The Dinner starring Steve Coogan, Laura Linney, Rebecca Hall and Richard Gere starts nowhere and ends in precisely the same place. Touted as a drama, mystery, suspense film, it is none of the above. Instead, it is a dark, muddled mess of nonsense and dysfunction. Based on… Continue reading Review: THE DINNER

Review: THE CIRCLE

By Laurie Coker Rating: D When a film doesn’t screen for press, red flags fly. The Circle starring Tom Hanks and Emma Watson did not, at least not in Austin. It is not difficult to understand why. Riding on the heels of Beauty and the Beast, Watson even coupled with Hanks is given little with… Continue reading Review: THE CIRCLE

Review: NATASHA

By Mark Saldana Rating: 3.5 (Out of 4 Stars) Opening on April 28, 2017 in New York City is a truly remarkable film about Russian-Jewish immigrants living in Canada.  Written and directed by David Bezmozgis, Natasha is a coming-of-age story about an intelligent, and somewhat assimilated, Russian-Jewish teenager dealing with familial problems while trying to… Continue reading Review: NATASHA

Review: THE LOST CITY OF Z

By Mark Saldana Rating: 3 (Out of 4 Stars) During the first three decades of the twentieth century, British military officer and renowned explorer Percival Harrison Fawcett led multiple expeditions through Brazil to discover the lost cities of legend, but achieved only moderate successes and never uncovered any cities of gold. His courage and tenacity… Continue reading Review: THE LOST CITY OF Z

Review: UNFORGETTABLE

By Mark Saldana Rating: 3 (Out of 4 Stars) Going into this movie, I was expecting something a little different from what I actually watched.  The main trailer for the film comes across more melodramatic and fantastical, like a feature-length soap opera.  The preview actually misleads, as the drama and thrills in Unforgettable are actually… Continue reading Review: UNFORGETTABLE

SXSW 2017 Review: FREE FIRE

By Mark Saldana Rating: 3 (Out of 4 Stars) Acclaimed British director Ben Wheatley (Kill List, Sightseers, High Rise) brought his latest film to this year’s SXSW.  Free Fire, which features an extraordinary cast portraying a motley mix of colorful characters, is a classic “shoot ’em up” flick that delivers plenty of great lines and… Continue reading SXSW 2017 Review: FREE FIRE