Based on an inspiring true story of a woman who rescued an elephant from the Belfast Zoo, Zoo showcases bravery in Belfast 1941. Tom Hall (Art Parkinson) has to step it up when his zookeeper father, George Hall (O’Hare) decides to enlist in World War 2. Tom is only twelve-years-old so this is asking a lot of him. It’s just Tom and his mother, Emily Hall (Amy Huberman) with George now overseas. Emily works as…
"Colin McIvor’s Zoo: Bravery On Display"Category: Movie Reviews
Won’t You Be My Neighbor? is a documentary about Fred Rogers and viewers should be expected to be wildly emotional by the time the film ends. In 1967, Fred Rogers was quoted on camera as saying one of his jobs was “to help children through the difficult modulations in life.” Oh, did he ever. It’s from here that Morgan Neville’s brilliant documentary goes straight into the theme song of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. This is where…
"Won’t You Be My Neighbor? – A Look at Fred Rogers"
American Animals uses a narrative/documentary hybrid approach in telling the absurd but true story of the Transylvania University library heist. Flashback to the fall of 2003 if you will. Spencer Reinhard (Barry Keoghan) is touring the Special Collections archive at the Transylvania University library. The freshman finds himself intrigued and fascinated by the artwork of John James Audubon. Admiring the artwork, Spencer starts to get these absurd idea to steal the rare collection. He manages to…
"American Animals: A Crazy True-Crime Story"
A film that mixes different genres, Hotel Artemis is a film that depicts a bleak future in Los Angeles. While 2028 doesn’t seem so long into the future, it appears to be very bleak for Los Angeles for a few days in June. Thanks to the Clearwater Corporation shutting off water to the general public, the city is rioting in full force. It’s been a full three days of rioting and the police are just…
"Hotel Artemis: Check Out Any Time You Want"
Ocean’s 8 is just entertaining enough to pull off a heist but the film doesn’t really up the stakes in the franchise. Debbie Ocean (Sandra Bullock) has been planning the Met Gala heist for five years, eight months, and twelve days. Or so she says. Pulling it off won’t be easy. It’s going to require the aid of her partner, Lou Miller (Cate Blanchett). By Debbie’s math, it’s going to take seven people to pull…
"Ocean’s 8 doesn’t change Status Quo"
While the animated classic, Peter Pan, may still hold up some 65 years later, it’s not without its flaws. There have been many editions of Sir J.M. Barrie’s classic play over the years. This particular version is the one that’s quite popular, probably because of the film having been made by Disney The introduction to the Darling family has quite a bit of slapstick moments including George Darling (Hans Conried, in a double role). George…
"Peter Pan (1953): Second Star To The Right…"
In Hearts Beat Loud, director Brett Haley has managed to do it again. This time, Haley, who pens the script with Marc Basch, goes musical and offers up a touching story about a father and daughter starring Nick Offerman and Kiersey Clemons. Hearts Beat Loud may just be Haley’s best film ever–a musical masterpiece. There’s something about a Haley film that takes a side player from a previous film and they end up delivering one of their…
"Hearts Beat Loud: A Musical Masterpiece"
Breath is an okay coming-of-age film but the Australian-set film doesn’t really add anything to the genre despite the talents of director/co-writer Simon Baker. Based on Tim Winton’s best-selling novel of the same name, we’re taken to a remote area of the Western Australia coast. This is where we’re introduced to teenagers Pikelet (Samson Coulter) and Ivan (Ben Spence), known better as Loonie. Growing up along the coast, the two of them want something more…
"Breath: A Coming-of-Age Surfer Drama"
Led by a stellar performance from Shailene Woodley in Adrift, the power of love is what drives the battle for survival. The single worst thing that can happen when one attempts to set sail across any body of water is something happening to their boat. For Tami Oldham (Shailene Woodley) and her boyfriend, Richard Sharp (Sam Claflin), their worst fears came true when Hurricane Raymond hit in 1983. Labeled as a Category 4 tropical depression…
"Adrift: The Power of Love Drives Survival"
Upgrade is a film that, like James Cameron’s The Terminator before it, shows that humankind is perhaps a bit too dependent on technology. There may be elements of violence but Upgrade isn’t the all-out horror type of film that we’ve come to expect from writer/director Leigh Whannell. There may be some bloody elements given Grey Trace’s (Logan Marshall-Green) new abilities that come from having an upgrade on his body. This is a film that’s full of…
"Upgrade: An Homage to 1980s Sci-Fi Thrillers"