By John H. Foote (****) “Attica was fear …” – former inmate The first time I heard the word “Attica”, it was from Al Pacino as Sonny in the superb Sidney Lumet film Dog Day Afternoon (1975). In the scene, he is grandstanding in front of the bank he and his partner are robbing, as…
By John H. Foote (**) Why did I get the nagging feeling I was watching an after school special? Throughout Dear Evan Hansen, based on the Tony Award winning musical, I had this constant sense I was watching a kids level After School Special with major movie stars sprinkled throughout the film for mainstream appeal.…
By John H. Foote (****) Watching the crisp, pristine images on the Criterion Collection’s breathtaking The New World (2005), I can appreciate (with limitations) all the fuss about Terrence Malick. He understands the language of the cinema as well as any director at work today. He is known for his ability to tell his story…
By Alan Hurst Thirty-two years after her passing, 2021 is seeing a resurgence of interest in Lucille Ball, the pre-eminent comedienne of the 20th century. I Love Lucy, the landmark sitcom created with then-husband Desi Aranz, is still available on streaming services and some local TV stations. It’s also available on DVD, along with The…
By John H. Foote (***) In theatres and streaming on Amazon I love being surprised by a film. After 30 odd years as a film critic and 50 as a film junkie, trust me when I say it is hard to surprise me. When it happens, it takes my breath away. Every few years comes a…
By Craig Leask The Last of Sheila is a brilliantly clever thriller which tries (and succeeds) beautifully in combining the best of a bitchy Hollywood self-satire, mixed with a traditional whodunit. Ultimately the film is tongue in cheek homage to both the murder mystery genre and the cutthroat world of movie making. It’s about playing…
By John H. Foote (***) In theatres Do you remember the first time you experienced Sean Penn onscreen? I do, as if it was yesterday. But it wasn’t until the second time that I realized just how great an actor he was and was going to be. The first time was not a great role,…
By Marie-Renee Goulet I started this series without realizing it with Contagion (2011) a few months ago. Unfortunately for us, the headlines all seem like the prequel to dystopian movies. THE BILLIONAIRES Billionaires are testing ways to get off Earth while our leaders are mismanaging a pandemic and other issues like drunks trying to pin the…
By John H. Foote (**) In theatres Bit of a rant coming here folks. Is anyone else tired of comic book superhero movies? I get that some people like them, but we have been bombarded with them since 2000. I would say that maybe seven of those can be called truly great pieces of cinema.…
By John H. Foote (**) In theatres For too long, film biographies were often fictionalized stories about the perceived life of the subject, ignoring the darker aspects of their lives. It was not until the 90s, with Malcolm X (1992), Schindler’s List (1993), and Nixon (1995), that filmmakers found the courage, and perhaps permission, to…