By John H. Foote (****) Remember Beanie Feldstein from Lady Bird (2017)? She played the best friend alienated by Lady Bird herself, though they manage to reconcile before a valued friendship is lost forever. She is also the sister of Oscar nominee Jonah Hill and if her brilliant performance in this film is any indication,…
By John H. Foote (***) What if Superman had been a bad guy? What if used those powers for selfish reasons, to conquer, to kill, to destroy? We saw in Superman II (1981) the awesome power of General Zod, hellbent on destruction, bringing down armies on his way to encounter the Man of Steel. Brightburn…
By John H. Foote (**) Like so many of the recent releases from Disney, this film is critic proof. There is a built-in audience of those curious to see what Guy Ritchie has done with the hugely successful animated film of 1992, made flesh and blood for 2019. Add to the mix the die-hard Disney…
By John H. Foote (***) Horror remains subjective, like comedy the most personal of the film genres. What scares you might not scare me and so on and so on. When I was a boy the supernatural horror films from Universal frightened me, but not really because I knew under the make-up were actors. But…
By Alan Hurst 20th Century Fox was known for many things during Hollywood’s heyday – child star Shirley Temple, skater Sonja Henie, socially relevant dramas like The Grapes of Wrath (1940), some great westerns like My Darling Clementine (1946), and some terrific film noirs including Laura (1944) and Kiss of Death (1947). But whether it…
By Melissa Houghton Growing up, in my home, we were taught not to speak badly about people. So, when the team was challenged to write about a movie that should not have been made, not in these words per se, I admit it took time to decide upon my choice for the project. Well before…
By Nick Maylor Robert Downey Jr. has played the role of Tony Stark/Iron man for over a decade in various leading and supporting roles in the Marvel Cinematic Universe; the highest-grossing film franchise of all time. Downey’s story is that of the ultimate comeback kid. After a slew of personal and legal struggles that culminated…
By John H. Foote (**) Much was made of Sir Richard Attenborough and his twenty-year battle to bring the turbulent life of Gandhi to the screen. The three-hour film finally flickered onto screens in late 1982 and film critics wrote extensively about both the film and the account of bringing the work to the screen.…
By John H. Foote (****) At the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival, David Cronenberg brought to us his new film, A History of Violence, based on a popular graphic novel about secrets in a small town. Darkly brilliant, unsettling and frightening, it is a modern-day real-life horror film, among the finest of the decade. Tom…
By John H. Foote In a move I applaud and have challenged for years the Academy has renamed their Best Foreign Language Film, altered the criteria slightly to include English language films from English speaking countries such as Australia, Canada, England, Ireland, Scotland and wherever English might be spoken. The Foreign Language Oscar has been…