Amir Bar-Lev’s Happy Valley is about hero worship, first and foremost. When the Jerry Sandusky scandal rocked Penn State University to its core in 2011, it sent a tight-knit community that viewed themselves as a notch above the rest in terms of morals and decorum into a downward spiral. For anyone that… Continue reading
Roger Ebert once wrote that “movies are like a machine that generates empathy.” The Great Invisible is like the embodiment of that. Margaret Brown’s look at the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil rig calamity and its ongoing effects along the Gulf Coast is a sobering, frequently enraging account of corporate greed and the toll… Continue reading
Force Majeure examines how one split-second decision can shake up the trust between a married couple and the family unit as a whole. That decision also results in what may be the worst family vacation ever. An export from Sweden, the film is an exquisitely filmed, awkward, and challenging drama… Continue reading
Happy Christmas is a solidly-acted, meandering effort that doesn’t really amount to much. It contains some thoughtful passages on the challenges of everyday life with a toddler and the yearning to take care of a family member that is struggling to find his/her way in life, but the film isn’t very engrossing… Continue reading
It’s been twenty years since Dumb and Dumber landed in theaters and went on to become a comedy classic. That a sequel wasn’t made in the 1990’s defies logic by today’s standards, when turning even a small profit sends studio execs into daydreams of a franchise. Dumb and Dumber To… Continue reading
Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar is a movie about love. It may travel through black holes, light years, and galaxies, but the basic fact that we, as humans, yearn to take care of and love the ones closest to us is the overarching theme. The film is Nolan’s most ambitious yet and is destined to… Continue reading
20 Years Ago Throughout your life, you’re going to have memorable movie-going experiences. Be it something that happens at the theater itself or in the movie (or both), certain nights out just make an indelible impression on you. As a frequent movie-goer basically since I was old enough to walk, I’ve… Continue reading
Chef is the kind of enjoyable, good-natured comedy that’s frequently accused of being a vanity project by detractors. Written, directed, and co-produced by Jon Favreau, the film is light on conflict but heavy on familiar themes such as appreciating your family and work to live, not live to work. It… Continue reading
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) is a true original; a work of technical wizardry, virtuoso acting, and compelling storytelling unlike anything we’ve seen before. Featuring only a few locations and long, single takes of dialogue-driven material, the film never lets up for an instant and always keeps the viewer on… Continue reading
If ever you’ve thought that an action film didn’t have enough point blank head shots, look no further than John Wick. This is an absurdly violent, stylishly-executed revenge-action picture that delivers precisely what the genre promises. While at times repetitive, the film builds up plenty of goodwill with its lean, no-nonsense… Continue reading