Shadow in the Cloud (Movie Review)
This is what the world of cinema has come down to: long conversations with lots of CGI. Shadow in the Cloud by Roseanne Liang doesn’t quite know what to do with itself. Is it a war movie? Is it a movie that celebrates feminism? Is it a sci-fi thriller? Maybe all or some to all. The film mostly centers around Chloe Grace Moretz’s Maude Garrett character and while she does an excellent job at what is almost a one-woman show, it’s still a chore to make it through the entire movie, which is saying something since it’s only 83 minutes.
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The Loveless (Movie Review)
Every so often, a movie comes along that was well made, well acted, and well produced, but misfires on so many levels. Kathryn Bigelow’s The Loveless unfortunately falls into this category of film. The film is beautifully shot, the acting is well done, and everything feels so gritty, you can smell the seediness of the story coming through the screen. But the story leaves something to be desired and there’s only so much that artful design can keep a movie going without a substantive tale.
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Doubt (Movie Review)
Doubt is a subtle movie about an extremely sensitive subject that does a great job at drawing its audience in and leave them questioning right and wrong. John Patrick Shanley’s simple touches mixed with incredible performances by the starring cast make this movie that feels more like a play at times deeply personal. Even though the stage is set using controversy within the Catholic Church, Shanley pulverizes the typical Hollywood formula of white-hat/black-hat good vs. evil on a secular level. A viewer that isn’t questioning the world after this movie hasn’t truly watched the movie.
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Ordeal by Innocence (Movie Review)
Mystery movies are usually safe affairs: even if it’s bad, it’s not horrendous. That’s quite the opening sentence for Desmond Davis’s Ordeal by Innocence because it’s definitely not horrendous, but it’s definitely forgettable. Even with the star power in front of the screen and Agatha Christie behind the source material, this movie has trouble holding up throughout the ninety-minute runtime. Even though the acting talent has a strong pedigree, this movie falls short.
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Incendies (Movie Review)
Chances are you’ll find yourself feeling very frustrated after watching Incendies. This is not because Denis Villeneuve did a horrible job directing the film; in fact, it’s one of the best films to come from Quebec in the last couple of years. It’s because you can’t help shake your head at the senseless violence that takes place in the movie. We’re not talking about the normal senseless violence that is pumped into high-octane thrillers but the senseless violence that still exists today in the real world.
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The Wrestler (Movie Review)
Without giving much away, it uses an old trick that nine times out of ten would fail and people would be demanding a refund. With The Wrestler, not only does Aronofsky make it work, but thinking back on it there probably could be no better ending.
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The Reader (Movie Review)
The choice Michael makes throughout The Reader create not just conversation for people leaving the movie theatres but deep philosophical debates that will last for a while. Stephen Daldry does very well to make the viewer think deep inside themselves to find their moral barometer. The film could have been a bit stronger in some areas, but it creates a stir of controversy that moviegoers and students of film will be talking and arguing about for years to come.
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Footloose (Movie Review)
Musical/dance movies are usually square pegs trying to fit in round holes. The idea of people randomly breaking into song and dance is such a bizarre concept to fit within a realistic setting, many movies abandon trying to make it fit and just embrace the absurdity of it. Few films pull off the feat of making a serious movie where the core component is dance. Footloose is one of those films that you can take seriously even though everyone is one beat away from just getting loose with their feet. Herbert Ross’s film is far from perfect, and there are those who might shy away from the nonsense, but it does enough right to make it a very enjoyable film even for those who tend to shy away from these types of films.
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À Bout de Souffle (Movie Review)
Very few films can change how films are both watched and made. Jean-Luc Godard’s À bout de souffle (1960) not only changed how movies were made but defined how they should be made. Godard’s use of editing, sound, mise en scene, and the story helped make this film regenerate new thinking on how a film should be crafted and begin the French New Wave of cinema.
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Weekend Pass (Movie Review)
This will be a short review because, quite frankly, Weekend Pass is barely a movie. Sure, it has opening credits, over an hour of moving pictures with sound and music, and then end credits, but if that’s the checklist for a movie, then this movie makes some of the middle-school drama projects I’ve seen look like Oscar winners. Lawrence Bassoff wrote and directed a film that is a direct insult to other movies playing in the same multiplex. Save some time and don’t even bother reading the rest of this review; this movie doesn’t deserve that much thought.
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Madness Brewing 