Michael says: “Told in ‘Rashomon’ style, from three different points of view, FAREWELL AMOR is a complex and difficult story of a family trying ti come to America from Angola after the Civil War. Walter has been in New York
Michael says: “Apparently German director Petzold, has built up quite a following with his last three films (TRANSIT, PHOENIX, BARBARA) and his latest, UNDINE, is a bit of a change of style for him. An undine is a mythical water
Thom says: “My brother has a dear friend in Seattle who’s a great film scholar and aficionado and he recently recommended Mexican auteur Arturo Ripstein with some 60 films credited to him. In fact, he’s still working. His films have
Thom says: “This highly-praised WWII film by the talented Mendes (AMERICAN BEAUTY) is especially impressive with its technical gifts following two British soldiers as they navigate a rough battle path trying to avoid bombs, bullets, & accidents hoping to deliver
Chris says: “Matt DeHart, a ‘hacktivist’ charged with a crime he claims he didn’t commit is a fascinating subject for a doc/expose, but this format, heavy on reenactments and shocking reveals, does him no favors. In the tradition of CITIZENFOUR,
Chris says: “Ostensibly a romance between Issa (Salim Dau), a lifelong bachelor who announces, ‘I’ve decided to get married’ and Siham (Hiam Abbass), a seamstress with an adult daughter, this plays out with a slight surreal twinge, almost like a
Chris says: “Billy Tipton, a jazz musician born as a woman who presented himself to the world as a man, is obviously an intriguing subject for a documentary, but it’s actually only a part of this one. NO ORDINARY MAN
Michael says: “You know you’re watching something perversely special when it features an ejaculating cactus. Paying liberal homage to the strangers films of Guy Maddin, Matthew Rankin’s first feature film is a wildly inventive, biopic (in the loosest sense of
Michael says: “I have taken to watching films without really finding out too much about them first. Usually it’s one or two sentences from the synopsis, and I’ll make up my mind. SOUND OF METAL came as a big surprise,
Michael says: “Workshopped at the Sundance Institute, this whistle-blowing documentary about the social media industry was picked up by Netflix. While not all that surprising for anyone who’s paying attention, it’s still pretty chilling as it paints a picture of
Michael says: “The one-line synopsis on the Internet Movie Database for WE ARE LITTLE ZOMBIES states, ‘Four Japanese orphans form a rock band.’ While that statement is a fact, it barely scratches the surface of this fun, colorful, frankly, insane
Michael says: “There’s a bit of a thread between COMING HOME AGAIN and MONSOON. Both deal with Asian families, and particularly sons dealing with the death of parents, and difficulty of accessing emotions. But where COMING HOME AGAIN was more
Michael says: “This gentle film about losing a parent was based on an autobiographical ‘New Yorker’ essay written by Chang-Rae Lee, who then co-wrote the screenplay with director Wayne Wang, best known for his adaptation of Amy Tan’s THE JOY LUCK
Diane says: “I’ll put UNCLE FRANK a notch above a Hallmark movie. An Amazon original by Alan Ball (screenplay, AMERICAN BEAUTY), this 1970s-set drama uses the perspective of adolescent Beth (well played by Sophia Lillis) who yearns for something more
Michael says: “There’s something about a Peter Weir film that appeals to me… even if I don’t like the film overall. Case in point: I’m not a fan of DEAD POET’S SOCIETY in the least, but I can’t deny the
Michael says: “I was reading a negative review of TRIGGER, Bruce McDonald’s spiritual sequel to HARD CORE LOGO, starring Molly Parker and Tracy Wright, when a line caught my eye. Paraphrased, it something to the effect of while TRIGGER was
Diane says: “In a part of Mexico wracked with violent gangs, Ulises is the leader of a group of young dancers, Los Terkos. Day after day they get together to hone their moves to cumbia, slowed-down Colombian songs. Ulises is