Together, the new Stephen Daldry film starring James McAvoy and Sharon Horgan, is the latest pandemic comedy to hit the market. Perhaps the biggest thing about the very minimal cast is that Together feels much like a theatrical two-hander with its staging and monologues. For the record, I felt this way before reading the production notes. According to the film’s production notes: “Kelly originally conceived of Together as a stage play. The rapid-fire dialogue and…
"Together Is More Theatrical, Less Cinematic"Category: Movie Reviews
Love in the Afternoon, starring Gary Cooper and Audrey Hepburn, is Billy Wilder’s best attempt at making a film in the spirit of his late mentor, Ernst Lubitsch. Ariane Chavasse (Audrey Hepburn) is a cello student and overhears a conversation between her private detective father, Claude Chavasse (Maurice Chevalier), and a client, Monsieur X (John McGiver). Claude’s specialty is going after the spouses who are unfaithful. Anyway, Monsieur X insists that he will kill American…
"Love in the Afternoon: Billy Wilder’s Lubitsch Film"
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings makes its long-delayed arrival as the second post-blip feature in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Before you read any further, the film features both a mid-credits scene and an end-credits scene. In theory, this is the second feature film of Phase 4. However, Black Widow was first but it takes place during the Phase 3 era. This film is noticeably post-blip with its references (signs or a line…
"Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings"
The Oscar-nominated and Billy Wilder-directed Witness for the Prosecution is one of the best courtroom dramas in cinematic history. Let’s discuss the ending first. The film concludes with the following voiceover narration: “The management of this theater suggests that, for the greater entertainment of your friends who have not yet seen the picture, you will not divulge to anyone the secret of the ending of Witness for the Prosecution.” For this reason, I certainly will not…
"Witness for the Prosecution: A Billy Wilder Classic"
Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant bring the hysterics when they team up together in the classic 1938 screwball comedy, Bringing Up Baby. Initially a flop, Bringing Up Baby‘s reputation wouldn’t change until it made its way to television. If not for the film’s initial failure, Hepburn wouldn’t take to the stage in The Philadelphia Story. As we all know, the play would become a film starring Hepburn, Grant, and James Stewart and the rest is…
"Bringing Up Baby Is Still Funny Over 80 Years Later"
Jason Momoa and Isabela Merced star in the Pittsburgh-set thriller, Sweet Girl, in which a man seeks justice for his wife’s death. Ray Cooper (Jason Momoa) is dead-set on getting justice after his wife, Amanda (Adria Arjona), dies from cancer. The only fight chance she had went out the window when the life-saving drug got pulled by the pharmaceutical company. Ray’s search for the truth only consistently puts him and his daughter, Rachel (Isabela Merced),…
"Sweet Girl: A Quest for Vengeance"
The Protégé, the new assassin thriller starring Maggie Q, is the latest film in the all-too-familiar genre arriving in theaters this weekend. This film is the newest installment in the assassin genre, which includes the Keanu Reeves-starring John Wick and on the comedic side, The Hitman’s Bodyguard franchise. If you’re into assassin films, maybe this will be a film for you or maybe it won’t. I gave this film a chance but it ultimately left…
"The Protégé: Assassin Thriller Is Just Meh"
Flag Day is a mess of a film and even if it might mean well, it suffers like most biopics by stretching out too many years over time. The film stretches some two decades of time. It starts out at the end before going back to the beginning. There’s a lot of screaming, drugs, and lying. There’s an old saying: you can choose your friends but can’t choose your family. I feel bad for both…
"Flag Day Stretches Two Decades In Under 2 Hours"
Robert Altman’s Oscar-nominated epic musical satire, Nashville, is among the recent films to join the Paramount Presents line. The film is the 24th title to join the Blu-ray line following a new remaster from a 4K scan. Appropriately enough, this film follows some 24 different characters over 5 days in the Tennessee capital prior to a concert. With so many characters, it also means numerous storylines. To put it so simply, there is a lot…
"Nashville: Robert Altman’s Epic Musical Satire"
Reminiscence is a futuristic noir set in a flooded Miami years down the road so let the fact alone serve as a warning because Miami. There may not be any cocaine cowboys in this film but Miami is starting to get the brunt of the damage on screen. Miami’s future is bleak whether it’s an alien attack or a vanishing coastline. It’s a nice break for the likes of Chicago and San Francisco after suffering…
"Reminiscence Seeks Nostalgia Because Miami"