All posts by Alex Brannan

All Movie Reviews, Drama, Like It, Long Reviews (>400 Words), Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Arrival (2016) Movie Review

Before getting started with my review of Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival, I would like to take a quick moment to address some website housekeeping. This review marks my 400th article on CineFiles, this tiny blog I began almost two years ago.

Incidentally, today also saw the site surpass 100,000 site views. I understand 100,000 seems minuscule in a worldwide internet environment, but given the large number of outlets for movie reviews and entertainment news online, it is a number I never expected to reach. Continue reading Arrival (2016) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Drama, Leave it, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

American Pastoral (2016) Movie Review

Ewan McGregor’s directorial debut (he also stars) comes from source material penned by Philip Roth. As has become custom with adaptations of more high brow author’s works, American Pastoral has been called unfilmable. While the “filmable” quality of a book is a mere talking point, McGregor’s Pastoral suffers at its core from its story of a quiet rural American family turned upside down by the departure of a daughter (Dakota Fanning).

american-pastoral-2016-movie-review-philip-roth-ewan-mcgregor-dakota-fanning

The film’s narrative flies through nearly two decades in a span of 30 minutes. In nearly a blink of an eye McGregor’s factory owner and former beauty pageant winner turned farmer Dawn (Jennifer Connelly) go from being Continue reading American Pastoral (2016) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Drama, Like It, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

Hacksaw Ridge (2016) Movie Review

War is Hell.

This is the age-old sentiment, a mantra for both the wearied soldier and the rallied activist. The opening montage of Hacksaw Ridge, captured in slow motion between dusty explosions that haze the screen, is the visual incarnation of this well-worn phrase. Flamethrowers and gunfire making charred puppets out of people. It is no storming of Omaha Beach in Saving Private Ryan, perhaps the modern framework of the war battle sequence, but it is still something.

hacksaw-ridge-movie-review-2016-andrew-garfield

Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield), after being raised in a contentious household with an abusive father (Hugo Weaving, in a powerful but short turn), joins the army with the hopes of Continue reading Hacksaw Ridge (2016) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Drama, Like It, Long Reviews (>400 Words), Romance

The Story of 90 Coins (2015) Short Film Review

The premise of The Story of 90 Coins, the romance short film from director Michael Wong, is beautifully simple. A couple at a crossroads (Dongjun Han and Zhuang Zhiqi) give themselves 90 days to make a decision of whether to marry or part ways. Of course, reality sets in, and the poetry of the situation is threatened by real-world pressures.

the-story-of-90-coins-movie-review-2016-romance-short-film-michael-wong

This initial contrast of dual tones is pleasantly surprising. The film begins with a feeling of melodrama, that this will be a short overwrought with heavy lovelorn emotion. In a sense this is what we get, but there is also Continue reading The Story of 90 Coins (2015) Short Film Review →

A Movies, All Movie Reviews, Drama, Long Reviews (>400 Words), Love It

Moonlight (2016) Movie Review

Moonlight begins with a beautiful steadicam shot that literally revolves around a denied drug deal. One of the dealers involved, Juan (Mahershala Ali), gets cut off by a child being chased by bullies. Chiron, or “Little” (Alex Hibbert), finds comfort in Juan as a father figure that he does not have elsewhere in his life.

moonlight-movie-review-2016-drama-barry-jenkins-trevante-rhodes

Little, quiet though he is, shows a conflicted desire to fit into the Continue reading Moonlight (2016) Movie Review →

Action/Thriller, All Movie Reviews, Like It, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

Doctor Strange (2016) Movie Review

Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), a cocksure neurosurgeon with the mind of a savant, becomes victim to a (rather excessive) car wreck. His hands smashed through the windshield and succumbing to massive nerve damage, he may never practice surgery again. Wonderful parallel shots show his fall from grace in a shot structure that seems almost too elegant for a Marvel film.

doctor-strange-2016-movie-review-marvel-benedict-cumberbatch-superhero-film

When a physical recovery becomes impossible for him, Strange seeks Continue reading Doctor Strange (2016) Movie Review →

Action/Thriller, All Movie Reviews, Drama, Love It

Where the Woods End (Am Ende Der Wald) (2016) Short Film Review

There is something to the aesthetic of Where the Woods End, the thriller short subject from director Felix Ahrens. It is sleek and gritty all at once. A glorious crane shot of the titular woods opens the short, panning across the lush, unassuming setting.

where-the-woods-end-movie-review-2016-german-short-film

Where the Woods End is a taut psychological thriller that follows the growing internal torment of police officer Elke (Henrike von Kuick) after she Continue reading Where the Woods End (Am Ende Der Wald) (2016) Short Film Review →

All Movie Reviews, Halloween Horror, Horror, Like It, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

UFO: It is Here (2016) Movie Review

German indie horror flick UFO begins in true Blair Witch fashion, with a young group of students filming a documentary. Coming from a film student who is learning similar production techniques, I can appreciate these opening shots. One person holds up a plastic card to gauge the white balance while another assesses the costuming of the subject of the interview while another asks for a sound level check.

ufo-2016-german-horror-film-daniele-grieco-alien-movie-review

As the group prepares and begins the interview of two workers at a zoo, the animals start going crazy over what appears to be a comet falling out of the sky. The film crew makes the democratic decision to ditch their zoo documentary in order to chase the fallen space object.

Even with the knowledge of the film being a found footage “student” film in the footsteps of The Blair Witch Project (itself receiving the reboot/sequel treatment earlier this year), UFO does not Continue reading UFO: It is Here (2016) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Drama, Like It

Denial (2016) Movie Review

At the beginning of the court room drama Denial, Rachel Weisz’ embodiment of Deborah Lipstadt states to a class the four assertions that Holocaust deniers posit. The killings were not systematic. The number of deaths were exaggerated. Auschwitz was not built with extermination in mind. Therefore, the Holocaust is a myth.

denial-2016-movie-review-rachel-weisz

Enter David Irving (Timothy Spall), an outspoken Holocaust denier. When Irving lays out a defamation suit against Lipstadt, she must Continue reading Denial (2016) Movie Review →

Action/Thriller, All Movie Reviews, Leave it, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

Inferno (2016) Movie Review

Inferno begins with an ethical quandary: “There is a switch. If you pull it, half of humanity will die. If you don’t, the human race will go extinct in 100 years.” The words are uttered by Ben Foster’s eccentric millionaire Bertrand Zobrist just before he plunges himself from a tower, backed into a corner by a pursuer wanting some sort of confidential information.

inferno-2016-movie-review-ron-howard-dan-brown-felilcity-jones-tom-hanks

Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) wakes up in a hospital, delirious and hallucinating deformed people and a black plague-era doctor. He thinks he is in Boston, but he is in Florence. Of course, there is little time for explanation, as Continue reading Inferno (2016) Movie Review →