Focus on Film & Television Reviews and writings about these subjects. As well as Pop Culture at times. With a bit of an edge and some color
Written &; Directed By: Lulu Wang
Cinematography: Anna Franquesa Solano
Editor: Michael Taylor & Matt Friedman
Cast: Awkwafina, Tzi Ma, Diana Lin, Aoi Mizuhara, Shuzhen Zhou
A headstrong Chinese-American woman returns to China when her beloved grandmother is diagnosed with terminal cancer. Billi struggles with her family’s decision to keep grandma in the dark about her own illness as they all stage an impromptu wedding to see grandma one last time.
Directed By: Nahnatchka Khan
Written By: Ali Wong, Randall Park & Michael Golamco
Cinematography: Tim Suhrstedt
Editor: Lee Haxall
Cast: Ali Wong, Randall Park, Keanu Reeves, Michelle Buteau, Susan Park, Vivian Bang, Charlene Yi, Daniel Dae Kim, Casey Wilson, Karan Soni, James Saito, Lyrics Born
A pair of childhood friends end up falling for each other when they grow up.
Directed By: Aneesh Chaganty
Written By: Aneesh Chaganty & Sev Ohanian
Cinematography: Juan Sebastian Barron
Director Of Virtual Photography & Editor: Nicholas D. Johnson & Will Merrick
Cast: John Cho, Debra Messing, Michelle La, Joseph Lee, Dominic Hoffman, Briana McLean
After David Kim’s 16-year-old daughter goes missing, a local investigation is opened and a detective is assigned to the case. But 37 hours later and without a single lead, David decides to search the one place no one has looked yet, where all secrets are kept today: his daughter’s laptop. In a hyper-modern thriller told via the technology devices we use every day to communicate, David must trace his daughter’s digital footprints before she disappears forever.
Written & Directed By: Christopher Honore
Cinematography: Jean-Louis Vialard
Editor: Chantal Hymans
Cast: Roman Duris, Joanna Priess, Louis Garrel, Guy Merchand, Alice Butand, Marie-France Pisier
Anna has just left Paul who, annihilated by the separation, moves back with his father in Paris. His younger brother Jonathan, a casual student, still lives in his father’s apartment and spends most of his time womanizing and fooling around. But what this apparent lightness conceals is a deep wound. Jonathan, in fact, has never been able to overcome the death of his beloved sister. Meanwhile Paul sinks into depression.
Written & Directed By: Jordan Galland
Cinematography By: Adrian Correia
Editor: Jordan Galland & Daniel Hahn
Music By: Sean Lennon
Cast: Louisa Krause, Lou Taylor Pucci, Whitney Able, John Ventimiglia, Deborah Rush, Zachary Booth, Jemima Kirke, Carol Kane, Alysia Reiner, William Sadler, Dan Fogler, Annabelle Dexter-Jones
Ava Dobkins is recovering from demonic possession. With no memory of the past month, she is forced to attend a Spirit Possession Anonymous support group. As Ava struggles to reconnect with her friends, get her job back, and figure out where the huge bloodstain in her apartment came from, she’s plagued by nightmarish visions – the demon is trying to come back.
Directed By: John Badham
Written By: Peter Barsocchini & John Bishop
Story By: Tony Griffin, Guy Manos & Peter Barsocchini
Cinematography By: Roy H. Wagner
Editor: Frank Morriss
Cast: Wesley Snipes, Yancy Butler, Gary Busey, Michael Jeter, Grace Zabriskie, Corin Nemec, Malcolm Jamal Warner, Kyle Secor, Mickey Jones, Clark Johnson, Melanie Mayron
A team of skydiving crooks led by DEA-agent-turned-bad specialize in landing on police roofs and breaking in so their evil computer nerd can steal undercover agents’ files and sell them to drug lords. Federal Marshal Snipes lost a brother to this crew and learns skydiving with the help of tough-but-lovable instructor Butler so he can track them down. DIE HARD meets PASSENGER 57 meets CLIFFHANGER.
Written & Directed By: Lynn Ramsay
Based on the Novel By: Jonathan Ames
Cinematography By: Tom Townend
Editor: Joe Bini
Music By: Johnny Greenwood
Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Alessandro Nivola, Judith Roberts, John Doman, Alex Mannette
Balancing between feverish dreamlike hallucinations of a tormented past and a grim disoriented reality, the grizzled Joe–a traumatised Gulf War veteran and now an unflinching hired gun who lives with his frail elderly mother–has just finished successfully yet another job. With an infernal reputation of being a brutal man of results, the specialised in recovering missing teens enforcer will embark on a blood-drenched rescue mission, when Nina, the innocent 13-year-old daughter of an ambitious New York senator, never returns home. But amidst half-baked leads and a desperate desire to shake off his shoulders the heavy burden of a personal hell, Joe’s frenzied plummet into the depths of Tartarus is inevitable, and every step Joe takes to flee the pain, brings him closer to the horrors of insanity. In the end, what is real, and what is a dream? Can there be a new chapter in Joe’s life when he keeps running around in circles?
(Before you read this I suggest you see the film. As there are mild spoilers towards the end of this writing)
Written & Directed by: Quentin Tarantino
Cinematography: Robert Richardson
Editor: Fred Raskin
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Al Pacino, Margaret Qualley, Timothy Olyphant, Kurt Russell, Zoe Bell, Luke Perry, Emile Hirsch, Austin Butler, Lena Dunham, Bruce Dern, Dakota Fanning, Damien Lewis, Mike Moh, Kate Berlant, Danielle Harris, Lorena Izzo, Harley Quinn Smith, Maya Hawke, Kansas Bowling, Parker Love Bowling, Sydney Sweeney, Rumor Willis, Martin Kove, Leslie Bega, Dreama Walker, Clifton Collins Jr., Rebecca Gayheart, Samantha Robinson, Scoot Mcnairy, Omar Doom, Brenda Vacarro, Mikey Madison, Nicholas Hammond, Clu Gulager, Lew Temple, Vincent Laresca
Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood visits 1969 Los Angeles, where everything is changing, as TV star Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his longtime stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) make their way around an industry they hardly recognize anymore. The ninth film from the writer-director features a large ensemble cast and multiple storylines in a tribute to the final moments of Hollywood’s golden age
Continue reading “ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD: A REVIEW & TESTAMENT”
Written & Directed By: Ari Aster
Cinematography By: Pawel Pogorzelski
Editor: Lucian Johntson
Cast: Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor, Will Poulter, William Jackson Harper, Vilhelm Blomgren, Ellora Torchia
Dani and Christian are a young American couple with a relationship on the brink of falling apart. But after a family tragedy keeps them together, a grieving Dani invites herself to join Christian and his friends on a trip to a once-in-a-lifetime midsummer festival in a remote Swedish village. What begins as a carefree summer holiday in a land of eternal sunlight takes a sinister turn when the insular villagers invite their guests to partake in festivities that render the pastoral paradise increasingly unnerving and viscerally disturbing.
Written & Directed By: Max Minghella
Cinematography: Autumn Durald
Editor: Cam McLauchlin
Cast: Elle Fanning, Agnieszka Grochowska, Archie Madekwe, Zlatko Buric, Millie Brady, Vivian Oparah, Rebecca Hall
Violet is a shy teenager who dreams of escaping her small town and pursuing her passion to sing. With the help of an unlikely mentor, she enters a local singing competition that will test her integrity, talent and ambition. Driven by a pop-fueled soundtrack, Teen Spirit is a visceral and stylish spin on the Cinderella story.
Cut To The Chase 