Category Archives: Drama

Life is but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more

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

Valley of Shadows (2017) Movie Review (TIFF 2017)

Like Andrey Zvyaginstev’s Loveless, which also had a screening at the Toronto International Film Festival, Jonas Matzow Gulbrandsen’s Valley of Shadows is a bleak-looking and picturesque look at a small boy lost in the woods. Both use imagery of isolated forests to setup its ominous, gloomy case. With Loveless, it is barren trees hanging dead over a creek.

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In the case of Valley of Shadows, it is a massive green forest flowing against the wind like waves waiting to crash down on the two kids who look on in curiosity over the Continue reading Valley of Shadows (2017) Movie Review (TIFF 2017) →

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

Stronger (2017) Movie Review (TIFF 2017)

The Boston Marathon bombing occurred a mere four years ago, and we already have two major feature films that depict the attack. This makes sense, as the story has an inherent emotional core to it, a strength and determination of a city that is inspiring. But where Peter Berg’s Patriots Day takes this emotional core and uses it to an end that is more akin to a thriller than a historical drama, Stronger takes a more sensitive approach.

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David Gordon Green, a director who is adept at transitioning between comedic and dramatic projects, takes on in Stronger the story of Continue reading Stronger (2017) Movie Review (TIFF 2017) →

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

Trouble Every Day (2001) Movie Review

This review of Claire Denis’ Trouble Every Day is part of the New French Extremity Retrospective series.

Trouble Every Day, the cannibal love story from Claire Denis, has perhaps the quietest opening to a film about cannibals ever. Core (Beatrice Dalle) is picked up on the side of the road by a truck driver, her grateful face soon fading into a fearful desire as she looks at him. We then cut to a man, Leo (Alex Descas), coming across the body of the driver in a field. He sees Core, crouched in fetal position in the underbrush with blood smeared across her mouth, and approaches her. They embrace silently.

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And this film belongs to the same movement as Irreversible and High Tension. Who knew?

Trouble Every Day is depicted as a story of Continue reading Trouble Every Day (2001) Movie Review →

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

Accattone (1961) Movie Review

“How do you want your funeral?”

“With my friends laughing, and if anybody cries, he pays for the drinks.”

“And on your stone?”

“‘Try it yourself'”

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Accattone, the directorial debut of Pier Paolo Pasolini, has been called the last film of Continue reading Accattone (1961) Movie Review →

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

Patti Cakes (2017) Movie Review

Patricia Dombrowski (Danielle Macdonald) is a 23 year old woman who lives with her mother (Bridget Everett) and grandmother (Cathy Moriarty) in suburban New Jersey. She works as a bartender, but that is not enough to make ends meet with her grandmother’s medical bills and her mother out of work. She has dreams of leaving this rundown life behind her and moving to New York to pursue her rap career.

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Her boyfriend Jheri (Siddharth Dhananjay) pushes her to this end, goading her into Continue reading Patti Cakes (2017) Movie Review →

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

Good Time (2017) Movie Review

Good Time opens on a brutal scene in which the mentally handicapped Nick (Benny Safdie, who also co-directs) free associates with a psychiatrist. It is a scene told entirely in tight closeups. Nick stares on at the therapist, at first emptily as he struggles to answer the questions in abstract ways. Then, his still blank face breaks into tears. It is a truly engaging scene that effectively draws you into the film.

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In this scene, it is not immediately clear where Nick is or why he is there. All we have is the claustrophobic moment of Continue reading Good Time (2017) Movie Review →

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

Birth of the Dragon (2017) Movie Review

Birth of the Dragon is a biopic of legendary martial arts and action film star Bruce Lee (portrayed here by Philip Ng). It tells the story of his rise to prominence in the Western world, and the confrontation between him and martial arts master Wong Jack Man (Xia Yu).

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Except, Birth of the Dragon really wants to focus on Continue reading Birth of the Dragon (2017) Movie Review →

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

The Glass Castle (2017) Movie Review

Based on the memoir by Jeannette Wells, The Glass Castle tells the story of four children raised in an inconstant, emotionally troubling household. The family, led by an alcohol abusing patriarch (Woody Harrelson), moves from squat house to squat house to avoid paying taxes. The children do not go to school. The family, at one point, resorts to showering at the public pool.

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The films feels most readily akin to last year’s Captain Fantastic. Only, it lacks the Continue reading The Glass Castle (2017) Movie Review →

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

Detroit (2017) Movie Review

Kathryn Bigelow, known most recently as the director of war films The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty, depicts a different sort of war in Detroit.

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Told in three acts, Detroit covers the 1967 rebellion of Detroit citizens against a racist police force. Following the raid of an illegal club, riots against the Detroit police begin, escalating to the point where Continue reading Detroit (2017) Movie Review →

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

Dunkirk (2017) Movie Review

Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk is by no means quiet, but it is noticeably mute. In its introduction, Tommy (Fionn Whitehead), a young English soldier caught in the city of Dunkirk surrounded by the fast-burning German army, meanders the abandoned streets with other emaciated young soldiers. No one speaks. Sullenly they walk about, only to be gunned down by unseen Germans.

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The first line of dialogue we hear is more of a yelp, as Tommy exclaims his allied status to a blockade of troops, scrambling to make it to Continue reading Dunkirk (2017) Movie Review →