The City That Sold America makes for a captivating look at how innovative advertisers in Chicago would forever change the country. The original Amazon got its start in Chicago. Not the online retailer but the original mail order catalog. Without Aaron Montgomery Ward or Richard Warren Sears, history could be looking down a very different light. Their two companies changed the very foundation of the American economy for better or worse. The two school of advertising…
"Chicago Film Fest 2018: The City That Sold America"Category: Film Festival
With a love story set in the country of Kenya, Rafiki (Friend) announces the coming of Wanuri Kahiu as a filmmaker to watch. Kena (Samantha Mugatsia) and Ziki (Sheila Munyiva) have always been friends. This is in spite of their families being the Kenyan equivalent of the Capulet and Montague. While this may add some tension to their friendship, it doesn’t stop their friendship from becoming something more. The society that they live in says that they can’t…
"Chicago Film Festival 2018: Rafiki (Friend)"
The late Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman’s 100th birthday is celebrated with a new documentary, Searching for Ingmar Bergman. In honor of what would be the Oscar nominee’s centennial birthday, director Margarethe von Trotta speaks with family members, Bergman’s actors, and Swedish filmmakers on the rise. In doing so, we get a better idea of who Bergman was as a person and why he made the films he did. What von Trotta seeks to examine are those…
"NYFF 2018: Searching for Ingmar Bergman"
Friendships manage to get complicated in the weeks to go before heading off to college in the coming-of-age comedy, Banana Split. A trio of high school seniors, April (Hannah Marks), Nick (Dylan Sprouse), and Ben (Luke Spencer Roberts), are in their final summer before leaving for college. None of them know it at the time but their lives are about to get messy in these final months. With just months to go before college, April…
"LA Film Festival 2018: Banana Split"
Anywhere with You (formerly We The Coyotes) dives in head first as a pair of young adults move from the comforts of the midwest for life in Los Angeles. The film starts as Amanda (Morgan Saylor) and Jake (McCaul Lombardi) set out to restart their life in Los Angeles. It’s not long before we see why Amanda’s family doesn’t like Jake. He comes off as such as slacker. We follow Amanda and Jake over their…
"LA Film Festival 2018: Anywhere with You (We The Coyotes)"
Blending together sci-fi, comedy, and drama, The Wrong Todd has quite the absurd delivery in seeking to understand what truly matters. Todd (Jesse Rosen) lives in Providence with his girlfriend, Lucy (Anna Rizzo). When she’s offered a job in Seattle, Todd is hesitant to change up his entire life. He’s not entirely pleased at moving 3,000 miles away or even a long-distance relationship. Obviously, Lucy would like Todd to see where she’s coming from but he’s…
"LA Film Fest 2018: The Wrong Todd"
Set during the Ethiopian civil war, Fig Tree tells the coming-of-age story of a Jewish teenager looking to save her non-Jewish boyfriend. Writer-director Aäläm-Wärqe Davidian makes her award-winning feature debut by taking viewers back to 1989. Set in Addis Ababa, Ethopia, the film focuses on Mina. When the Jewish teenager learns of her family’s plan to make aliyah in Israel, she fears the worst for her boyfriend, Eli. This is because Eli is likely to be…
"TIFF 2018: Fig Tree (Etz Teena)"
Grander than it’s sci-fi nature, Clara seeks to ask the question of not so much is there another Earth-like planet but are we alone in the universe. Astronomer Isaac Bruno (Patrick J. Adams) is so obsessed with searching for an Earth-like planet that it costs him his job. With no job and needing a purpose in his life, Bruno puts out a search for research assistant. This is because of the TESS launching into space. …
"TIFF 2018: Clara"
In this era of The Americans and so many other crazy spy stories being told, Red Joan ultimately falls well short of its potential. While I’m not going to make this a compare/contrast with the popular FX series, it’s extremely disappointing to say that this film disappointed. Considering that the film is headlined by Dame Judi Dench, the fact that it disappoints is frustrating. To most people, Joan Stanley (Dame Judi Dench) is just a…
"TIFF 2018: Red Joan falls short"
Led by one of the best performances of Natalie Portman’s career, Vox Lux follows one woman as she sings her way into stardom and beyond. When we first meet her in 1999, Celeste (Raffey Cassidy, as the younger version) is just like any ordinary student in school. This is until one student, Colin, becomes very aggressive and practically shoots the entire class. While Celeste lives, she suffers from an awful spinal injury as a result.…
"TIFF 2018: Vox Lux"