Year: 2016
FINDING NEVERLAND theater review
FINDING NEVERLAND is season’s best at Fox – By Cate Marquis – “Finding Neverland” tells the story of how playwright J.M. Barrie came up with the idea for one of theater’s most enduring and magical plays, “Peter Pan.” Those who saw the less-than-magical movie of the same name will be very pleasantly surprised to…
BILLY LYNN’S LONG HALFTIME WALK film review
– By Cate Marquis – Ang Lee is a brilliant director but he seems to being aiming more at recapturing the technical innovation magic of his film PI than making a good film, in his latest BILLY LYNN’S LONG HALFTIME WALK, with less successful results. BILLY LYNN’S LONG HALFTIME WALK focuses on a decorated…
LOVING film review
– By Cate Marquis – LOVING is wonderful, warmly romantic drama about the couple, Richard and Mildred Loving, whose Supreme Court case struck down laws that prevented interracial couples from marrying. Although the court case is part of the story, the film is really about the couple, Richard and Mildred Loving, childhood sweethearts whose deeply…
ARRIVAL film review
Intelligent, non-blockbuster drama of first extraterrestrials (overtly) landing on Earth – By Mark Glass – Here’s another case of aliens landing on Earth. But this one’s no f/x laden, epic-scale battle. It’s a thoughtful drama about how the world might handle such a new enigma. Set your adrenaline levels for the likes of…
MOONLIGHT film review
– By Cate Marquis – Haunting, heartbreaking MOONLIGHT is the tale of an African American boy growing to manhood in a Florida housing project. That brief description will likely conjure all the wrong images and expectations for this delicate and brilliant film, which taps into universal elements of growing up while telling a specific…
HACKSAW RIDGE film review
– By Cate Marquis – HACKSAW RIDGE tells the true story of Private Desmond Doss, a medic who won the Congressional Medal of Honor for saving 75 men on Okinawa during World War II. What sets this heroic story apart is that Doss was a pacifist who refused to even carry a gun, much…
THE ACCOUNTANT film review
– By Cate Marquis – Ben Affleck plays autistic math savant as action hero in thriller THE ACCOUNTANT Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars Ben Affleck plays an accountant with some special skills and special challenges in the mystery/action thriller THE ACCOUNTANT. Directed by Gavin O’Connor, what makes THE ACCOUNTANT different from other…
A MAN CALLED OVE film review
– By Cate Marquis – Curmudgeon delights in Swedish comedy A MAN CALLED OVE Rating: 4 out of 5 stars In the Swedish dark comedy A MAN CALLED OVE, director/scriptwriter Hannes Holm takes us on a roller-coaster trip through the life of old curmudgeon. Ove (Rolf Lassgard) is the kind of guy every neighborhood…
DENIAL film review
– By Cate Marquis – ‘Denial’ stars Rachel Weisz as Jewish prof in real-life court battle against Holocaust denier “Denial” is a film adaption of Deborah Lipstadt’s book “History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier.” In the late 1990s, British history writer David Irving sued Jewish-American historian Lipstadt in British…
COME WHAT MAY film review
– By Cate Marquis – COME WHAT MAY shines spotlight on French civilians displaced by WWII Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars In an unusual take on the World War II movie, French director Christian Carion focuses on a group of French villagers attempting to flee on the eve of the German invasion,…