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Unknown Pleasures and Paul Thomas Anderson’s Junun in Berlin
Unknown Pleasures, this year’s eighth installment of the Berlin American Independent Film Festival, screened fifteen films, including a program of shorts, at four locations throughout the city from June 3 through June 18. The UP, as they call themselves, offers un-Hollywood movements of current American cinema (on days with multiple screenings one could live in this world a bit, believing America ...[Read More]
Movie Review: The BFG
The literary works of Roald Dahl hold a special place in my heart. I’ve read them all multiple times throughout the years – some of them becoming favorites and an easy way to escape back to my childhood as an adult. Most people levitate towards books like James & the Giant Peach and Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, but not me. Ever since Mr. Cook’s 4th Grade Class, my Dahl of c...[Read More]
Movie Review: The Purge: Election Year
The Purge franchise has had an interesting three-year history. I remember when the first trailer came out, almost everyone was excited by the concept. The idea of having any crime, including murder, being legal for 12 hours sounded like the perfect idea for a horror movie, but then everyone actually saw the movie. People complained that they took the interesting concept of the Purge and turned it ...[Read More]
The Preview Reel: Can Tarzan Purge the BFG?
Welcome to another “Preview Reel” column, where we look at the week’s upcoming wide release movies. Every year, the Fourth of July holiday always provides movie going audiences with some of the year’s biggest blockbusters, and while this year might seem a little tamer than years past, there are still some interesting options. David Yates looks to put his own spin on the classic Tarzan tale with Th...[Read More]
Box Office Weekend: Finding Dory Tops Again
The latest Disney Pixar release is doing just swimmingly (at least, in the United States), as Finding Dory grows ever closer to a $300 million domestic haul with an estimated $73.2 million at the box office this past weekend. Its second week totals overshadowed the release of Independence Day: Resurgence. The panned sequel to the 1996 megahit opened with an estimated $41.6 million, but at a $165 m...[Read More]
The Preview Reel: Aliens, Sharks, and McConaughey
Welcome to another “Preview Reel” column, where we look at the week’s upcoming wide-release movies. We wrote last week that this summer has seen very little originality, and this week continues that trend as another sequel to a beloved film finally hits theaters. The Will Smith-less Independence Day: Resurgence debuts twenty years after the original became a summer blockbuster phenomenon. There ar...[Read More]
Movie Review: Genius
The film Genius was not genius for me. It contained a wonderful cast and had enormous potential, but fell flat completely. I’m getting drowsy just thinking back on it. However, keep in mind that reviewing film is subjective. I did not enjoy Genius, which by no means infers that someone else might not enjoy it. So, in fairness, let me expound on what you can expect and you can make your own decisio...[Read More]
Box Office Weekend: Audiences Find Dory Delightful
The box office is big again. In the best weekend since the beginning of May (when Captain America: Civil War was released), Finding Dory took the top spot, and it was by a wide margin: at an estimated $136.2 million, it was the biggest opening for a PG-rated film in history. At an estimated $34.5 million second-place finisher Central Intelligence fell much further behind in gross, but the buddy co...[Read More]
Trailer Trashin’: Set Sail in the Teaser Trailer for Disney’s Moana
The summer movie season continues this week with the releases of Finding Dory and Central Intelligence. In the meantime, the latest Trailer Trashin’ column takes a look at the first teaser trailer for Disney’s upcoming animated film Moana. Premise: In ancient Oceania in the South Pacific, the young princess Moana Waialiki (voice of Auli’i Cravalho) is a born navigator who sets sail in search of a ...[Read More]
Movie Review: Dheepan
Yalini (Kalieaswari Srinivasan), a Sri Lankan refugee working as a housekeeper in France, explains to Brahim (Vincent Rottiers), the drug kingpin of their neighborhood, that in her culture a smile indicates understanding, expressing pain and happiness equally. The French, she says, think she is making fun of others or confused. The ability to communicate well with people close to you and the outsi...[Read More]
The Preview Reel: Ellen v The Rock
Welcome to another “Preview Reel” column. where we look at the week’s upcoming wide release movies. Originality is something that this summer has seen very little of, as all ten movies in the top ten box office this past weekend consisted of sequels, reboots, or adaptations. This week does feature an original film in the Kevin Hart/Dwayne Johnson vehicle Central Intelligence, but all eyes are on y...[Read More]
Box Office Weekend: Conjuring Sequel Slams Door on Competition
It may have opened slightly below the earnings of the original, but The Conjuring 2 is proving not every sequel is a miss, scoring an estimated $40.4 million in domestic box office. It kept the fantasy epic Warcraft at bay, which opened to a disappointing domestic estimate of $24.4 million on a $160 million budget…but with big overseas returns ($261.7 million in foreign box office), the film...[Read More]