Nine Days features a unique take on the concept of life as one man has the sole power to decide which souls will be born on Earth. Will (Winston Duke) spends his days watching human life on older television sets thanks to videos recorded by Kyo (Benedict Wong). Think of him as a gatekeeper as he watches people living their daily lives. It’s a thankless job but I suppose somebody has to do it. The…
"AFI FEST 2020: Nine Days"Category: Film Festival
Pink Skies Ahead takes us back to the Los Angeles of the late 1990s when a college students drops out and moves back in with her parents. Aspiring writer Winona (Jessica Barden) drops out of college and gets diagnosed with an anxiety disorder after moving back home with her parents, Robert (Michael McKean) and Pamela (Marcia Gay Harden). She’s in denial about Dr. Cotton’s (Henry Winkler) diagnosis. After all, she’s never had a panic attack…
"AFI FEST 2020: Pink Skies Ahead"
Ammonite seeks to tell the story of paleontologist Mary Anning but there’s more here than meets the eye when it comes to actual truth. When we first meet Mary Anning (Kate Winslet) in the 1840s, the paleontologist already has her best days behind her. The Lyme Regis resident now resorts to hunting fossils and hoping that wealthy tourists will buy them. This is really the only way that she can support both herself and her…
"NewFest 2020: Ammonite"
Riz Ahmed delivers a captivating performance as a heavy metal drummer that is beginning to lose his hearing in Sound of Metal. Within the film’s opening minutes Ruben (Riz Ahmed) is experiencing hearing loss. At the beginning, the loss is intermittent but as any musician knows from experience, it will only get worse. This is exactly what happens as the plot moves forward. However, technology has advanced to where Ruben is set on pursuing a…
"AFI FEST 2020: Sound of Metal"
I’m Your Woman, directed by Julia Hart and starring Rachel Brosnahan, owes its influence to the 1970s classic crime dramas. Here’s the thing about the classic crime dramas: they were told from a man’s point of view. What Julia Hart and Jordan Horowitz do with their script is change up the genre. Surburban housewife Jean (Rachel Brosnahan) is front and center in this throwback thriller. You know it’s a throwback as soon as you see…
"AFI FEST 2020: I’m Your Woman"
Belushi is a heartbreaking must-watch documentary about late Saturday Night Live, Animal House, and Blues Brothers star John Belushi. This summer marked the 40th anniversary of The Blues Brothers hitting the big screen. Sadly, this year also marked the 38th anniversary of the comedian’s tragic death at 33 years old. And yet this film finds a way to capture what was going on in his head with newfound movie stardom. Mind you, this was during…
"Belushi: A Heartbreaking Must-Watch Documentary"
French Exit, starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Lucas Hedges, follows a broke socialite and her son in the new film from Azazel Jacobs. Frances Price (Michelle Pfeiffer) had plans “to die before the money ran out.” Alas, this was not to be. Insolvent and widowed at the start of the film, the Manhattan socialite decides to move to Paris. The mere premise has all the makes of a comedy but instead, it’s a drama. Frances could…
"New York FF 2020: French Exit"
Orson Welles and Dennis Hopper have a wide-ranging conversation on the set of The Other Side of the Wind in Hopper/Welles. Years after his passing, Orson Welles still manages to surprise us. A few years ago, we were treated to what very well could be his final released film. This year, cinephiles are treated to the premiere of a documented conversation between the Citizen Kane filmmaker and the Easy Rider filmmaker in 1970. It’s certainly…
"New York FF 2020: Hopper/Welles"
Chloé Zhao is a rising star behind the camera and the filmmaker continues to amaze us with her third feature film, Nomadland. In a perfect world, we would be privileged to watch two films directed by Zhao this year. The other one being a film from Marvel Studios called Eternals. Perhaps you’ve heard of it? In any event, Zhao delivers a very different film than The Rider. However, this one feels bleaker in nature. No…
"New York FF 2020: Nomadland"
MLK/FBI becomes the first feature-length documentary to really examine the FBI’s surveillance and harassment of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The Freedom of Information Act can be a wonderful tool when used. In this instance, we’re allowed to see declassified files that show how longtime FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover targeted the likes of Dr. King. These files were declassified in 2017-2018 so it’s a quick production on that part. That Hoover targeted King certainly…
"New York FF 2020: MLK/FBI"