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: Brian Helgeland
Based On The Book By: John Pearson
Cinematography By: Dick Pope
Editor: Peter McNulty
Cast: Tom Hardy, Emily Browning, Christopher Eccleston, Chazz Palminteri, Tara Fitzgerald, Taron Egerton, David Thewlis, Duffy
The film tells the story of the identical twin gangsters Reggie and Ronnie Kray, two of the most notorious criminals in British history, and their organised crime empire in the East End of London during the 1960s.
Written & Directed By: Marielle Heller
Based On The Novel By: Phoebe Glockner
Cinematography By: Brandon Trost
Editor: Marie-Helene Dozo & Koen Timmerman
Cast: Bel Powley, Alexander Skarsgard, Kristin Wiig, Christopher Meloni, Anthony Williams, Madeline Waters, Austin Lyon, Abby Wait, Miranda Bailey
A teen artist living in 1970s San Francisco enters into an affair with her mother’s boyfriend
Directed By: Rene Clement
Written By: Jean Aurenche, Pierre Bost & Francois Boyer
Based On The Novel By: Francois Boyer
Cinematography: Robert Juillard
Editor: Roger Dwyre
Cast: Georges Poujouly, Brigitte Fossey, Jaques Marin
A girl of perhaps five or six is orphaned in an air raid while fleeing a French city with her parents early in World War II. She is befriended by a pre-adolescent peasant boy after she wandered away from the other refugees, and is taken in for a few weeks by his family. The children become fast friends, and the film follows their attempt to assimilate the deaths they both face, and the religious rituals surrounding those deaths, through the construction of a cemetery for all sorts of animals. Child-like and adult activity are frequently at cross-purposes.
Written & Directed By: Paolo Sorrentino
Cinematography By: Luca Bigazzi
Editor: Christiano Travaglioli
Production Design: Ludovica Ferrario
Cast: Harvey Keitel, Michael Caine, Paul Dano, Rachel Weisz, Jane Fonda, Madelina Diana Ghenea, Chloe Pirrie
Fred and Mick, two old friends, are on vacation in an elegant hotel at the foot of the Alps. Fred, a composer and conductor, is now retired. Mick, a film director, is still working. They look with curiosity and tenderness on their children’s confused lives, Mick’s enthusiastic young writers, and the other hotel guests. While Mick scrambles to finish the screenplay for what he imagines will be his last important film, Fred has no intention of resuming his musical career. But someone wants at all costs to hear him conduct again.
Directed By: Louis Malle
Written By: John Guare
Cinematography By: Richard Ciupka
Editor: Suzanne Baron
Cast: Burt Lancaster, Susan Sarandon, Kate Reid, Michel Piccoli, Robert Joy, Mary Alice, Robert Goulet, Wallace Shawn, Hollis McLaren
Dreams. Becoming an Atlantic City croupier will help Sally realize her dream of going to Monte Carlo, a symbol of the glamorous life that has been evading her since escaping from Saskatchewan a decade ago. Lou dreams that he was a great mobster in the old days. Grace came to Atlantic City for a Betty Grable look-alike contest and stayed to become the wife of a mobster. A brief visit to Atlantic City by Sally’s estranged husband will change the course of the lives of Sally and Lou.
Written, Edited & Directed By: Kelly Reichardt
Based on Stories By: Malie Meloy
Cinematography By: Christopher Blauvelt
Cast: Laura Dern, Michelle Williams, James LeGros, Lily Gladstone, Kristen Stewart, Jared Harris, John Getz, Rene Auberjonois, Ashlie Atkinson
Certain Women drops us into a handful of intersecting lives across Montana. A lawyer tries to defuse a hostage situation and calm her disgruntled client, who feels slighted by a workers’ compensation settlement. A married couple breaks ground on a new home but exposes marital fissures when they try to persuade an elderly man to sell his stockpile of sandstone. A ranch hand forms an attachment to a young lawyer, who inadvertently finds herself teaching a twice-weekly adult education class, four hours from her home.
Directed By: Matt Spicer
Written By: David Branson Smith & Matt Spicer
Cinematography By: Bryce Fortner
Editor: Jack Price
Cast: Aubrey Plaza, Elizabeth Olsen, O’Shea Jackson Jr. Wyatt Russell, Billy Magnussen, Pom Klementieff, Joseph Breen, Angelica Amor
Ingrid Thorburn is an unhinged social media stalker with a history of confusing “likes” for meaningful relationships. Taylor Sloane is an Instagram-famous “influencer” whose perfectly curated, boho-chic lifestyle becomes Ingrid’s latest obsession. When Ingrid moves to LA and manages to insinuate herself into the social media star’s life, their relationship quickly goes from #BFF to #WTF.
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.
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: 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 