When a movie uses flashbacks or flash-forwards, there’s usually a reason. A non-linear timeline can serve many purposes. It can hide sloppy writing. It can remind the viewer of what has happened previously. It can mask a plot twist. Or, as in the case of 2007’s The Nines, it canContinue Reading
Prospective renters Rosemary Woodhouse (Mia Farrow) and her husband, Guy (John Cassavetes,) are shown an old, elaborately-styled apartment that looks to be much too large for the two of them. They learn that the building’s past occupants have had quite a colorful history. Despite some reservations from close friends, theContinue Reading
From the film’s synopsis, Angel of Mine sounds like it’s a Lifetime movie-of-the-week. But, thanks to a stellar cast, a decent script, and some fine direction, the film is anything but. Lizzie (Noomi Repace,) a recently divorced mother, still grieves for her deceased baby daughter, Rosie. Although seven years haveContinue Reading
In Killing Season, John Travolta plays Emil Kovac, a member of the Scorpions, a Serbian paramilitary group that committed war crimes during the Bosnian War in the early 1990s. As the film opens, we see American soldiers liberating some of the Bosnian people from one of the Scorpions’ detention camps.Continue Reading
Back in 2012, during awards season, it felt like everyone was buzzing about The Artist. At the Academy Awards, the film garnered 10 nominations and walked away with 5 wins (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Costume Design, and Best Musical Score.) Yet, in 2023, no one ever talksContinue Reading
White Bird in a Blizzard tells the story of Katrina Connors (Shailene Woodley) and her family. Kat is a young woman growing up in a suburban neighborhood in the late 80s. Kat comes home from school one day to find that her mother, Eve (Eva Green,) has mysteriously disappeared. HerContinue Reading
Set 20,000 years ago in what would eventually be called Europe, Alpha tells the story of a young man named Keda (Kodi Smit-McPhee.) Keda’s father, Tau (Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson) proudly takes his son on his first buffalo hunt. The hunt is a rite of passage for the young men ofContinue Reading