Better Late Than Ever Vol. 7

Adam Driver dominates much of my watchlist as Netflix and Amazon Prime provide several flicks that are becoming the talk of the town and potential award contenders. In addition to several streaming movies is a sequel to a sequel from Sony still in cinemas.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is Beautiful Indeed

Tom Hanks as Mr. Rogers.

Documentaries being turned into movies is nothing new, though it has been popping up more frequently from The Walk, Snowden, Our Brand is Crisis, and Welcome to Marwen. The results have been mixed to say the least as the impact of what was caught on camera in real-life is tricky to recreate for a feature film. Which brings us to the latest in this trend. The story behind on the most beloved TV icon Fred Rogers was beautifully told in Morgan Neville's documentary Won't you Be my Neighbor? and one of my favorite movies of 2018. It will be a tough act to follow but if director Marielle Heller (Can You Ever Forgive Me?) can earn Melissa McCarthy an Oscar nod, then there's hope yet.

Cinema Spotlight IV - James Wan (Part 8): 'The Conjuring 2'

Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga).

Horror sequels are notorious for not being good as the first movie, but because the genre doesn't require that big of a budget, they are quick to make and still make enough money at the box-office. It doesn't help when most of the time, its not the same people who stay on board after the first installment. Perhaps the Saw movies would have benefited if James Wan stuck around as a director. It certainly helped the Insidious movies as he returned for the sequel with good results; even after passing the torch with the later chapters. Returning back to The Conjuring universe, Wan does it again.

Cinema Spotlight IV - James Wan (Part 5): 'The Conjuring'

Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) Warren.

"...what’s funny is, when I made Saw, I got accused of being a fascist, when I made Insidious, I got accused of being godless, and now I made The Conjuring films and I’m accused of being too much God. (laughs) So it’s really interesting to see how people have reacted to my three sets of horror films."

-James Wan

Green Book: A Road Trip With Aragorn and Boggs

The only roles I know from Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali are the ones based on best-selling book trilogies. For Mortensen its his well-known portrayal of Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings; before his Oscar win in Moonlight, I knew Ali as Boggs in Mockingjay: Part One and Two. There was also Witness (Mortensen's debut movie role) and Hidden Figures (the same year Ali was in Moonlight) but other than that, these were the only movies I've seen these actors in. Now the two star together in a buddy road trip with a surprising amount of heart and facts behind this unlikely friendship.

Triple Review Vol. 1

Which of the three do you wish to see? Perhaps a stroll on main street where an evil dummy brings Halloween to life. Check in at the El Royale hotel where nothing can go wrong or travel with first man on the moon. Whichever you choose, I guarantee you won't demand a refund.

The Hunt is on in Operation Finale

In Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List, Ben Kingsley played Holocaust survivor Itzhak Stern. Now he shifts gears in Chris Weitz's Operation Finale as Nazi official Adolf Eichmann; credited as the architect of the Final Solution who evaded capture after World War II. This is the the story of the people who went out to find him.....

BlacKkKlansman Puts the K in A-OK

Blunt, provocative, shocking, funny, and timely. Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman has it all and I loved every minute it.

Cinema Spotlight III - J.A. Bayona (Part 2): 'The Impossible'

On December 26, 2004 the South and Southeast Asian countries including Sumatran, Indonesia and Thailand were struck by a tsunami. Reported to be the worst Tsunami disaster of all time, over 225,000 people from locals to visiting tourists lost their lives as villages and towns were completely destroyed. This is the story of a family who survived.

Better Late Than Never Vol. 1

Since October I've had the chance to see a lot films but have written on only three. (Sad, I know) I plan to write a full review for many of these but in the meantime (and with The Last Jedi upon us) these are my very brief thoughts on what has been playing the multiplex these past couple of months.

Cinema Spotlight I – Scott Derrickson (Part 5): ‘Devil’s Knot’ & ‘Sinister 2’

(Originally Published on November 2, 2016)

Detroit: An Important Story but Shaky in Execution

John Boyega as Delvin Dismukes in Detroit.

If Dunkirk showed the best of humanity in the worst of times, Detroit explores how low the level of inhumanity can get. From Academy Award winning director Kathryn Bigelow (Point Break, The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty), brings us of one of the worst riots in U.S. history in Detroit.  Racial tensions explode both figuratively and literally with buildings burning in blazes, looters running left and right, law enforcement trying to maintain the peace and racists seeing an opportunity to take matters into their own hands.

Dunkirk: A Harrowing but Uplifting Story

After being blown away by the teaser and first trailer I took the Gene Siskel route and avoided everything about this movie; I didn’t look up the plot, cast, or see any further trailers and TV spots. I went into this movie blind, knowing that it was a World War II movie directed by Christopher Nolan, one of the best directors alive today. His movies, even if those that miss their mark, deliver something unique that separate’s him from your average filmmaker. Did he succeed with this movie?

Gibson Returns Strong in the Faith/War film: Hacksaw Ridge

(Originally Published on November 28, 2016)

When making a movie that centers on a Christian character, great care must be taken for it to appeal to both audiences of believers and non-believers. Hollywood has surprisingly shown to be capable of this formula from A Man for All Seasons, Dead Man Walking, The Mission, Chariots of Fire, and A Walk to Remember. Nowadays, when one hears the term “Christian movie,” films like God’s Not Dead and War Room come to mind.