By Mark Saldana Rating: 3.5 (Out of 4 Stars) After a bit of a dry spell of uncompelling work, M. Night Shyamalan made a bit of a comeback with his horror-thriller The Visit in 2015, a film that kept the production simple and the story elemental, intriguing, and ultimately frightening. Shymalan is back with another… Continue reading Review: SPLIT
Category: Reviews
Review: XXX: THE RETURN OF XANDER CAGE
By Mark Saldana Rating: 2 (Out of 4 Stars) As I left the theater following this screening, I had come to the conclusion that this film is ridiculous, dumb, over-the-top, and features some of the worst writing I had seen in a while. At the same time, I also realized that I had an absolute… Continue reading Review: XXX: THE RETURN OF XANDER CAGE
Review: 20TH CENTURY WOMEN
By Mark Saldana Rating: 4 (Out of 4 Stars) As Mike Mills’s life experiences inspired his second film Beginners, such is the case with 20th Century Women, a movie which nearly serves as a spiritual predecessor to the director’s sophomore feature. Mills’s films certainly reflect a fascinating, not-so-traditional life that I’m sure caused him more confusion and… Continue reading Review: 20TH CENTURY WOMEN
Review: SPLIT
By Laurie Coker Rating: C- Night Shyamalan wowed us all with The Sixth Sense, amused us with Signs, and some will say impressed viewers with Unbreakable, but since then, he has failed to offer anything in the way of shock and awe in storytelling. His latest film, Split, starring James McAvoy, does little to improve his… Continue reading Review: SPLIT
Review: 20th CENTURY WOMEN
By Laurie Coker Rating: A Many things delineate a generation – years, decades, the culture and the people. 20th Century Women manages to perfectly depict a period in the past, all the while making its themes feel 21st century relevant. Starring Annette Bening in an award-worthy performance, director Mike Mills’ semiautobiographical story is a showcase… Continue reading Review: 20th CENTURY WOMEN
Review: PATRIOTS DAY
By Laurie Coker Rating: B+ The Boston Marathon bombing is one of those events that embed themselves in the collective memory, like the shuttle explosions (the first in 1986), the Oklahoma City (1994) bombing and the twin towers going down (2001). We remember the good too, but the bad seems to burn far more deeply.… Continue reading Review: PATRIOTS DAY
An Overview: LIVE BY NIGHT
By Liz Lopez Rating: B+ Ben Affleck has had an extensive list of acting credits since the 1980s, and the films he has directed and/or written have found success, including “Good Will Hunting” (an Oscar in 1998), “The Town” (an AFI for best movie in 2011), and then the film “Argo” went on to win… Continue reading An Overview: LIVE BY NIGHT
Review: THE BYE BYE MAN
By Mark Saldana Rating: 1 (Out of 4 Stars) The tagline to this new horror film is, “Don’t Think It. Don’t Say It.” I say, don’t bother whatsoever with this, not at all frightening and sometimes unintentionally hilarious, movie. This latest supernatural, bogey man flick fails miserably with its only entertainment merits coming from the… Continue reading Review: THE BYE BYE MAN
Review: HIDDEN FIGURES
By Mark Saldana Rating: 3.5 (Out of 4 Stars) During the historical 1960s space race between Russia and the United States, intelligent minds at NASA worked long hours to guarantee (to the best of their abilities) that U.S. astronauts could travel to space and back as safely as possible. In this same decade, Black Americans… Continue reading Review: HIDDEN FIGURES
Review: SILENCE
By Mark Saldana Rating: 4 (Out of 4 Stars) Director Martin Scorsese comes from a Catholic, Italian-American, New Yorker upbringing, and this influence on his life definitely resonates in all of his films. From Mean Streets to The Last Temptation of Christ, and especially in his new film Silence, Scorsese has tackled the themes of… Continue reading Review: SILENCE