DREAM HORSE is the heartwarming and uplifting film that is sets out to be. Unpretentious as the working class folks that this based-on-actual-events story celebrates, it tells the classic underdog story of the race horse that evokes sneers from professionals and aristocrats before he puts them all in their places. If it sounds formulaic, it… Read More »
ENFANT TERRIBLE
At one point, late in in ENFANT TERRIBLE, the titular character of this bio-pic, omnisexual filmmaker and agent provacateur of the German New Wave, Rainer Werner Fassbinder (Oliver Masucci), calls himself an uber-pig. It’s part boast, part confession, and part apology. As seen in Oskar Roehler’s stunningly oneiric film, they are all consistent with the… Read More »
THE COURIER
Based on a true story, THE COURIER takes us back to the Cold War and the palpable threat of nuclear annihilation. Once again, we are reminded that it was as much luck as it was diplomacy or mutually assured destruction that prevented World War III. In this case, the good luck of two people for… Read More »
SILK ROAD
There is a wealth of confirmation to be found about many of our worst nightmares in SILK ROAD, a cautionary tale of stereotypes, specialization, and the consequences of absolute freedom. Based on an article by David Kushner in Rolling Stone, it charts the rise and fall of Ross Ulbricht (Nick Robinson), a 20-something idealist of… Read More »
DARA OF JASENOVAC
DARA OF JASENOVAC is a brutal film about a lesser-known part of the Holocaust. Based on the testimony of survivors, it expounds on Jasenovac, the only Fascist concentration camps in World War II that were not run by the Nazis themselves. Instead, inspired and advised by the Nazis, they were established by the Roman Catholic… Read More »
JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH
The religious overtones of JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH come towards the end of this searing examination of racial politics during the 1960s. And when they arrive, in a sequence that is most assuredly a shout-out to the Last Supper, director/co-writer Shaka King has earned the right, and then some, to invoke the metaphor. The… Read More »
A NIGHTMARE WAKES
The most potent image in A NIGHTMARE WAKES, a film that is rife with them, is the juxtaposition of blood and ink as Mary Shelley (Alix Wilton Regan) struggles to produce her novel, Frankenstein or A New Prometheus, putatively the beginning of the science fiction genre (pace fans of Cyrano de Bergerac’s A Trip to… Read More »
I SAW THE LIGHT
I SAW THE LIGHT was originally set for an autumn 2015 release with an eye towards positioning Tom Hiddleston’s performance as Hank Williams for Oscar™ consideration. I can see why they thought there would be awards buzz. I can also see why they pulled it from its original release date. Hiddleston is brilliant as the… Read More »
BURDEN — Andrew Heckler and Robbie Brenner Interview
Click here to listen to the interview. When Andrew Heckler first heard the story of how an African-American clergyman, Rev. David E. Kennedy, shepherding a flock in a small southern town, put his principles to work in order to save the soul of a Klan member, Michael Burden, who had seen the light, he knew… Read More »
RICHARD JEWELL
RICHARD JEWELL certainly has the makings of a compelling, infuriating cautionary tale about the abuse of power, but Clint Eastwood’s homage to the common man chooses instead to be a screed against ambitious women and government agents at the mercy of their hormones. Everything that ensues after Jewell finds a bomb planted at Centennial Part… Read More »
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