Category: Reviews

By Mark Saldana Rating: 3.5 (Out of 4 Stars) This December will be the 50th anniversary of the release of Stanley Kramer’s Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, a movie that examines a love story between a black man and a white woman and the reactions of their parents.  Between then and now, romantic interracial relationships… Continue reading Review: GET OUT

By Mark Saldana Rating: 3 (Out of 4 Stars) Parent-child relationships have provided material for lots of stories, especially in cinema.  Despite this saturation, they still manage to resonate with audiences, especially when handled well.  Rock Dog is another example of such a story that can still touch the hearts of people, regardless of the… Continue reading Review: ROCK DOG

By Mark Saldana Rating: 3.5 (Out of 4 Stars) This week I watched and reviewed two very different stories on race relations and romantic interracial relationships.  One is Get Out, a fictional, horror-thriller film with a biting sense of humor.  The other is this film, A United Kingdom, which is a straightforward, biographical drama about… Continue reading Review: A UNITED KINGDOM

By Mark Saldana Rating: 2.5 (Out of 4 Stars) Three O’Clock High, the movie which loosely inspired this movie, offers a slightly subversive, comedic take on a showdown story.  Director Phil Joanou and writers Richard Christian Matheson and Thomas Szollosi came up with a highly inventive and thoroughly entertaining movie that has a unique style of… Continue reading Review: FIST FIGHT

By Mark Saldana Rating: 2 (Out of 4 Stars) A problem with some slow-burning thrillers is the tendency to fizzle out when they are supposed to erupt with excitement and surprises.  Such is the key issue with Gore Verbinski’s A Cure for Wellness, a creepy and strange movie that spends too much of its run time… Continue reading Review: A CURE FOR WELLNESS

By Mark Saldana Rating: 3 (Out of 4 Stars) Director Zhang Yimou (Hero, House of Flying Daggers) is a filmmaker, well-known for a gorgeous and majestic style.  For his latest movie The Great Wall, his first film with an American lead actor, Yimou employs some of his elegant sensibilities, but isn’t afraid to get gritty… Continue reading Review: THE GREAT WALL

By Renee’ Collins Rating: 4 (Out of 5 Reels) After returning to the criminal underworld to repay a debt, John Wick (Keanu Reeves) discovers that a large bounty has been put on his life (IMDB). Missing the first installment of John Wick will not matter because this installment stands on its own. This film is… Continue reading Review: JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 2