The Ballad of Wallis Island has been out for a few weeks, and I finally got to see it. I had heard some good things about it, so I went in with relatively high expectations, and somehow this film surpassed them. Sometimes, films are primarily about what happens. Sometimes films are about how you feel …
Category: Reviews
The Amateur Missed the Mark
The Amateur wanted so badly to be a Jason Bourne movie. Unfortunately, it missed the mark. It was an entertaining movie with nice performances from Rami Malek as Charlie Heller, a CIA decoder whose wife is killed in a terrorist attack, and Laurence Fishburne as the CIA trainer, Henderson, who must get Heller ready for …
Snow White: Please, Disney, Stop This Madness
After seeing Snow White a couple of weeks ago, I’ve wanted to write about it for a while. Unfortunately, as often happens, life gets in the way. I wanted to write a blog begging the good people at Disney to stop this madness. Then today, we found out that Disney is “pausing” the live-action remake …
Captain America: Brave New World – It’s Time for Marvel to Move On
I saw Captain America: Brave New World a couple of weeks ago, and I didn’t feel all that compelled to write about it until now. I won’t waste a lot of time lamenting the lack of story. Especially lately, anyone who goes into a Marvel movie expecting an award-winning-level screenplay gets what they deserve. With …
Mickey 17 – No Wonder It’s a March Release
Release dates might not mean what they used to. For the last several years, March has had its share of surprise hits at the box office. The Batman had an impressive run at the box office that was kicked off on a March 1, 2022, release date, and as recently as last year, Dune Part …
Best Original Screenplay: Anora
Anora is one of my favorite movies of the year. You can find my full review here. Aside from having a fantastic screenplay, screenwriter and director Sean Baker crafted a film that is beautifully heartbreaking on many levels. It’s funny when it needs to be. It’s tense and dramatic at the appropriate times. But it …
Best Original Screenplay – The Substance
The Substance might very well be the best original screenplay of the year. I love A Real Pain, and I will discuss tomorrow how much I love Anora, but there is something about what Director and Screenwriter Coralie Fargeat crafted with this script that sings with a voice the other screenplays this year don’t quite match. There is …
Best Original Screenplay – The Brutalist
I’m going to come right out and admit it. I did not get this movie. To me, The Brutalist and Emilia Perez are the two most overrated movies of the year. I can give The Brutalist more of a pass because I can appreciate it as a work of great art, but for me, it …
Best Original Screenplay – A Real Pain
Sometimes, a screenplay is more about the characters than the story it tells. Sometimes, the story is there to serve as a vehicle or a mechanism for allowing the characters to experience the growth they need to experience. Sometimes, the inner journey a character experiences in a screenplay is more important than the external journey …
Best Original Screenplay – September 5
Sometimes politics creates a great story and sometimes politics gets in the way of a good story. September 5 is an example of both. This film is a compelling take on the horrific kidnapping and murder of the Israeli Olympic team during the 1972 games in Munich. It’s told from the point of view of …