Greta Gerwig Makes Little Women with Big Characters and Award Ambitions by Brad Balfour Of the controversies associated with this year’s Oscars, the absence of women among many of its categories – especially Best Director – have highlighted the inequity of this award’s process. Of the many women creators considered, Little Women director Greta Gerwig’s … Continue reading
Rebecca Schull and Jeff Lipsky Saving the Best for The Last by Jay S. Jacobs What would you do? That is the main question in the new independent film The Last, a movie that has a shocking and inflammatory subject matter but looks at it from a smart and philosophical viewpoint. What would you do … Continue reading
Gustavo Steinberg Setting Free Tito and the Birds By Jay S. Jacobs Brazilian director Gustavo Steinberg has finally broken through to the American market, and it is with his first animated film. However, even though it has been made for children, Tito and the Birds is a trenchant and surprisingly nuanced film about the modern … Continue reading
Paul Dano It’s A Wild Wildlife By Jay S. Jacobs We know Paul Dano as an actor with over a decade of quirky movie choices behind him. Perhaps you remember him best as the twin preachers in There Will Be Blood. Or perhaps as the young Brian Wilson in Love & Mercy. Or, then again … Continue reading
HAL (2018) Featuring Jane Fonda, Jeff Bridges, Jon Voight, Rosanna Arquette, Beau Bridges, Robert Towne, Dustin Hoffman, Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens), Norman Jewison, Haskell Wexler, Louis Gossett Jr., Judd Apatow, Alexander Payne, David O. Russell, Allison Anders, Pablo Ferro, Chuck Mulvehill, Lee Grant, Nick Dawson, Judd Apatow, Buddy Joe Hooker, Robert C. Jones, Diana Schroeder, … Continue reading
James Patterson and Tim Malloy Investigate the Murder of a Small Town by Jay S. Jacobs They are not the type of towns that most people notice. Belle Glade and Pahokee are on the far west side of Florida’s opulent Palm Beach County. They are an hour drive from the glamorous estates, world-famous shopping and … Continue reading
Jaume Collet-Serra A Director Takes a Dip in The Shallows by Brad Balfour Sharks are never far from the news – whether it’s a rare catch off the coast of New York City, or attacking swimmers en masse off the surfers’ shores of Australia. But in The Shallows, young-though-experienced surfer Nancy Adams (played by a … Continue reading
Ridley Scott Legendary Director Launches The Martian by Brad Balfour When an established, serious, award-winning director like Ridley Scott makes a space movie – something associated with solemn drama – humor isn’t expected from its star. Yet in The Martian, where Matt Damon stars as American astronaut Mark Watney, who has been accidentally left behind on Mars after a mission disaster, the humor humanizes the situation. … Continue reading
Sam de Jong Dutch Film Director Crowns a Prince by Brad Balfour English-language movies documenting society’s underbelly include such classics as the hard-nosed Last Exit To Brooklyn or the comparatively benign West Side Story. There’s a body of work that’s emerged out of England’s rock subcultures from the ’50s on up. But fewer films detail … Continue reading
TWO-BIT WALTZ (2014) Starring Clara Mamet, Rebecca Pidgeon, William H. Macy, Jared Gilman, David Paymer, Matt O’Leary, Ella Dershowitz and John Pirruccello. Screenplay by Clara Mamet. Directed by Clara Mamet. Distributed by Monterey Media. 79 minutes. Not Rated. Sometimes a film can be rather shocking, when you consider the highs of the highs compared to … Continue reading
