If I were a part of Warner Brothers’ test audience for Magic Mike’s Last Dance, the third entry in Steven Soderbergh’s trilogy, I'd probably have strongly reacted to it too. Oh, wait. I did have a strong, visceral reaction to it! Channing Tatum returns as the titular character, now a retired stripper in Miami doing [...]
It is with a certain sense of irony that famed NFL quarterback Tom Brady recently announced his retirement from the NFL for a second time. It comes on the eve of the release of 80 for Brady. They were not timed together, to be sure. Paramount's marketing efforts timed Kyle Marvin’s film ahead of the [...]
June Allen defines a modern teenager: as resourceful, adept, technology-centric, cunning, and fearless. The character will need all of her faculties as she tries to find her missing mom in Nick Johnson’s and Will Merrick’s riveting Missing, now in theaters. June, played by Storm Reid, is your typical, rambunctious, and rebellious teenager living in Los [...]
“Ladies and gentlemen, Welcome aboard Trailblazer flight 119. If you’re looking for a flight full of adventure, Plane is your movie. If you’re looking for drama or action, Plane is your movie, though we might encounter some rough air there. Please ensure that your seats are upright and tray tables are stowed. Sit back, relax [...]
“Do nothing. Stay and Fight. Leave.” These three phrases represent the tagline that graces the artwork for Sarah Polley’s riveting Women Talking. Grace. Now, that’s a fascinating way to describe the story Polley’s script lays out in front of us. Based on the novel of the same name by Miriam Toews, Women Talking is simplistic [...]
Tom Hanks has graced our screens for as long as I can remember. Comedy is his forte, and as we've seen him age gracefully, his dramatic flair has surfaced, usually playing the hero of a story. In Marc Forster’s A Man Called Otto, he plays the anti-hero with a heart. Based on Fredrik Backman’s novel [...]
The art of cinema brings us together in powerful, unexpected ways. The flickering light from the projection booth, the concessions, the communal nature of an audience sharing a laugh, a cry, a smile, a shriek. It is a beacon, and if I'm overly waxing poetic about its power, cinema also shapes us as we shape [...]
Horror comes in many shapes and sizes, is personal in nature, and is traumatic, to say the least. Trauma is a mischaracterized aspect of horror, given the individual reaction to an event or a series of events, and is a part of what first-time director Nikyatu Jusu explores in her film, "Nanny," now in select [...]
The proliferation of the dining experience, a celebrity chef driving a prix fixe tasting menu offering a shared experience geared toward the ultra-wealthy, using techniques mere mortals or mass-driven restaurants cannot deliver, has become an interesting phenomenon in the past decade. Las Vegas renaissance in recent years has thrived in its shadow; celebrity chefs such [...]
“Fashion with comfort . . . That’s what I give,” remarked Salvatore Ferragamo, the renowned shoemaker from Italy, in a 1958 Australian interview, clips of which are interspersed within Luca Guadagnino’s “Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams,” opening in a limited release this weekend. Guadagnino, known for his painterly and loving eye for beauty and detail, applies [...]
