Armando Iannucci, a man possessing a preternatural gift for telling serious stories with a puckish twist, has taken on the classic Dickens tale of David Copperfield, and infused it with sparkling new life while remaining true to the original’s spirit. After all, despite his sometimes cloying sentimentality, Dickens spared his readers nothing when describing the… Read More »
RADIOACTIVE
RADIOACTIVE tells a story of scientific curiosity in a world where personality skews the perception of the work itself, and politics are never far from the equation. It lays bare not just the injustice of that, but also its stupidity
THE CURRENT WAR: THE DIRECTOR’S CUT
THE CURRENT WAR: THE DIRECTOR’S CUT is an elegantly realized intellectual thriller which considers not only the eternal struggle between art and commerce, but also the effect of personalities on inventing the future. In this case, three visionaries, Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, and Nikola Tesla. Each with a particular kind of genius, each with idiosyncrasies… Read More »
HARRIET
HARRIET achieves the proper, and richly deserved, tone of reverence for its subject, Harriet Tubman. That is, alas, its greatest failing. The astonishing life of one of the most courageous Americans who has ever lived is told in a series of set pieces, vignettes with all drama sapped from them as they take on the… Read More »
THE CURRENT WAR: THE DIRECTOR’S CUT — Alfonso Gomez-Rejon Interview
It’s taken a while for Alfonso Gomez-Rejon’s consideration of how electricity lit up the 19th century, THE CURRENT WAR, to finally make it to the big screen. This, ahem, illuminating story of the struggle of science, ego, and commerce was originally slated for a 2017 release, but became stuck in limbo when its distribution company,… Read More »
A QUIET PASSION — Terence Davies Interview
Terence Davies is a man of keen intellect and mordant wit who describes himself as one of life’s observers. His films, THE DEEP BLUE SEA, THE HOUSE OF MIRTH, his semi-autobiographical DISTANT VOICES, STILL LIVES, and OF TIME AND THE CITY, his documentary tribute to his hometown of Liverpool, which used Dickinson’s poetry as part… Read More »
THE LEGEND OF TARZAN
Credit where it’s due. THE LEGEND OF TARZAN doesn’t get everything wrong. For one, It has the virtue of addressing why a perfectly capable, perfectly intelligent black man with a Ph.D., George Washington Harris (Samuel L. Jackson as an actual historical character) needs a white man, that would be Lord Greystoke aka Tarzan (Alexander Skarsgård)… Read More »