Life is but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more
Love, time, and death. The three abstractions that connect every human being on Earth, according to ad exec Howard (Will Smith) in a rousing speech to his colleagues. Three years later, Howard returns to work after the death of his six year old daughter. Cue domino tower cascade.
Howard, in his grief, sends letters to ideas: love, time, and death. He has, for all intents and purposes, an eccentric depression. The type of depression that is Continue reading Collateral Beauty (2016) Movie Review
Jeff Nichols, the writer-director responsible for great films such as Take Shelter and Mud, presents us his next film about an interracial couple whose marriage is prosecuted as illegal by the state of Virginia in the 1950s. Loving stars Ruth Negga and Joel Edgerton as the titular couple, and the film is by and large a platform for their performances.
The film begins with shots of their faces awash in soft shadow, a quiet discussion of an impending pregnancy an intriguing locale to start off the film.
This quietness is the defining characteristic of Continue reading Loving (2016) Movie Review
Vinny Pazienza (Miles Teller) is a boxer on his way out. After losing a title fight his representation, in lieu of dropping him outright, strands him with an alcoholic trainer (Aaron Eckhart) who is also on the way out.
This, this 45 minutes of the film, is not the narrative crux of the film, though. In a way, it is a thematic introduction, but it is a lengthy one. Risking everything, Pazienza “The Pazmanian Devil” bulks up two weight classes and finds himself Continue reading Bleed For This (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
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).
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
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.
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
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.
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
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.
Little, quiet though he is, shows a conflicted desire to fit into the Continue reading Moonlight (2016) Movie 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 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
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.
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
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