It turns out to be business as usual when polyamorous lovers reunite in France in the Sundance-premiering Ma Belle, My Beauty. Before we meet them in France, Lane (Hannah Pepper), Bertie (Idella Johnson), and Fred (Lucien Guignard) used to be polyamorous lovers in New Orleans. Everyone loved Bertie so things worked out. All good things come to an end. Out of the blue, Lane would soon depart from their lives. But when we meet them…
"Sundance 2021: Ma Belle, My Beauty"Category: Movie Reviews
Right when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, Sally Aitken gives fans a documentary of Valerie Taylor in Playing with Sharks. Listen up, Jaws fans. This film should certainly capture your attention. I know you watch Jaws every summer because I do the same thing, too. After all, the Steven Spielberg film is a cinematic classic. What Playing with Sharks does is take viewers where the Jaws bonus features (sorry,…
"Sundance 2021: Playing with Sharks"
Son of Monarchs holds its international premiere this Sundance as the winner of this year’s Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize. A Mexican biologist, Mendel (Tenoch Huerta Mejía), calls New York home for the moment but he returns home upon his grandmother’s death. Family relationships have changed since leaving for New York. You can sense some bitterness coming from older brother Simon. The two of them were left as orphans following their parents death in…
"Sundance 2021: Son of Monarchs"
Rita Moreno: Just A Girl Who Decided To Go For It is an eye-opening documentary exploring the life of EGOT winner Rita Moreno. Rita Moreno is among the select few to receive the EGOT. She also is a recipient of a Kennedy Center Honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and many more. The list of honors goes on and on. But awards are not all there is to her story. She persevered in the industry…
"Sundance 2021: Rita Moreno"
CODA is a crowd-pleasing film that will bring about tears and laughter by the end in telling a heartwarming story on screen. I regret that I almost didn’t even watch this film on Opening Night. In glancing at the comedy listings, I saw CODA listed and the rest is history. But in all fairness, this isn’t only a comedy but mix of drama and coming-of-age story, too. At the end of the day, it’s still…
"Sundance 2021: CODA"
Summer Of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised) makes for a rocking good time while revisiting the late 1960s. Please stay through the credits for a clip at the end of the film. A lot was taking place in the summer of 1969. Man went to the moon when the Apollo 11 mission made history. A happening took place at Woodstock. But at Mount Morris Park, the Harlem Cultural Festival was taking…
"Sundance 2021: Summer of Soul"
The Dig is one of those pre-World War II films that is going to end up going under the radar but Carey Mulligan is phenomenal. Edith Pretty (Carey Mulligan) is a widow living on a Sutton Hoo, Suffolk farm. This farm just happens to be the home of a few burial mounds. Could the mounds have a treasure buried inside? This is what Edith suspects and she hires amateur archaeologist Basil Brown (Ralph Fiennes) to…
"The Dig: Carey Mulligan Is Phenomenal"
A Stone in the Water is a gripping psychological thriller in Oregon that finds one woman getting into something far bigger than she knows. Following a brief prologue to set the tone, we’re introduced to Alex Parker (Melissa Fumero). We don’t know much about her other than she’s on the run from Frank (David Fumero). Viewers will come to learn she’s pregnant. One thing leads to another and Alex soon heads to live with Martha (Bonnie Bedelia). …
"A Stone in the Water: A Gripping Thriller"
Over two years after the world premiere at Sundance, Apollo 11: Quarantine picks up with the astronauts landing back on Earth. Leave it to Todd Douglas Miller to come through with a last-minute surprise. In a perfect world, Todd Douglas Miller would have won an Oscar for the 2019 feature documentary. However, this isn’t a perfect world as the critically acclaimed documentary didn’t get a nomination. Could this film change things by getting a nomination…
"Apollo 11: Quarantine Picks Up Upon Landing"
Two-time Oscar-nominated actress Naomi Watts delivers an effective performance as usual in the new Netflix drama, Penguin Bloom. Stick around for the credits if you’d like to see a slideshow of photos. Healing can come in the oddest of places. For Samantha Bloom (Naomi Watts), her emotional healing came after the family took in an injured baby magpie. Sam would bond with this injured bird, which her three children–Reuben, Noah, and Oli–named Penguin. Hence, the…
"Penguin Bloom: Naomi Watts Delivers In Drama"