By John H. Foote (**) Adventure films are often dazzling visual treats for the audience. Consider the Indiana Jones tetralogy, beautiful films all, with splendid production design, exotic lavish locations, and constant motion driving the non stop narrative. Even if the film is more cerebral, such as John Houston’s soaring epic The Man Who Would…
By John H. Foote (***) Every once in a while a film slips by me, through the cracks as it will, and I end up catching up with it on Blu Ray to be very surprised. This is such a film. An original, striking, genuinely frightening horror film, the picture is anchored by a sensational…
By Nick Maylor The fourth episode of the Disney+ original The Mandalorian (titled “Sanctuary”) is directed by Bryce Dallas Howard and continues the story of the titular Mandalorian after he has rescued the child AKA (but not actually) “Baby Yoda” and searches for a planet where the two can stay under the radar from the…
By John H. Foote (*) Given my deep dislike for the Disney Studios and their “suits” one might think I am the wrong person to review their films. Believe it or not I am able to distance myself from the powers that be and be fair and impartial to all their films. While I loathe…
By Craig Leask A throwback to the classic whodunit murder mysteries of yesteryear, director Rian Johnson’s Knives Out has successfully resurrected the genre – dead corpse, creepy mansion and a handful of suspects, all with plausible motives. With an approach reminiscent of an Agatha Christie-style murder mystery the basic premise of Knives Out surrounds the…
By Nick Maylor (***) Netflix is going to be a major contender at next year’s Academy Awards with The Irishman, Marriage Story, and Dolemite is My Name being just a few of the studio’s major releases this year. Another film that is gaining significant praise (particularly for the performances of its two leads) is The…
By Nick Maylor (****) Getting one’s hopes up in anticipation of a film release can be dangerous. Building the hype too much can make the experience of finally viewing the film underwhelming. Despite my devoted and pure love of all things geeky, Avengers: Endgame (2019) only made it to the second spot on my list…
By Nick Maylor Everyone is talking about “Baby Yoda” The internet showed me photos of Baby Yoda… Baby Yoda is the reason I started my free trial of Disney+ last night. Not the multitude of Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars content, just Baby Yoda. The Mandalorian is a space western Disney+ series set in…
By John H. Foote On May 31, next year Clint Eastwood, two-time Academy Award winning Director, two-time Academy Award winning producer, two-time DGA winner and twice nominated for Best Actor turns 90. 90! His new film Richard Jewell is another superbly crafted example of cinematic storytelling, which Eastwood mastered four decades ago. And once again…
By John H. Foote (***) Watching Tom Hanks emerge into one of American cinema’s greatest actors has been nothing but a pleasure. From his breakthrough as the man child in Big (1988), to his two consecutive Academy Award-winning performances as the AIDS afflicted lawyer in Philadelphia (1993) and the idiot savant stumbling through American history…