Category Archives: Newer films

Passengers

Passengers   Passengers arrived months ago with a great deal of marketing but ended up with a rather soft landing. If not for a positive review when I was looking to see a video, I would likely have let it … Continue reading

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Jackie and Hidden Figures

I spent a good portion of my weekend in the early 1960s. First, Jackie, the impressionistic, rather cool story of Jacqueline Kennedy during and shortly after John Kennedy’s assassination in 1963. Most attention has been paid to Natalie Portman’s masterful … Continue reading

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La La Land

I haven’t seen Moonlight yet (I live in Rochester, New York, not a major city, and it takes awhile for films to get here at times), but La La Land may well be the best film of the year. It’s … Continue reading

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Rogue One: My Experience

Note: I usually write serious analyses of the films I see. Not so much here. I’m pretty sure I saw Rogue One. My two sons who don’t live around here, their spouses, and their combined seven children have all been … Continue reading

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Manchester by the Sea

Manchester by the Sea is a deeply moving, occasionally wrenching, and extraordinary film. It’s a unique mixture of realism and formalism, in combinations one doesn’t usually find. It also features some of the best acting of the year, including a … Continue reading

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Hacksaw Ridge

Hacksaw Ridge, Mel Gibson’s film about the bravery of World War II medic Desmond Doss during the Battle of Okinawa, is an extraordinary film and a massive Rorschach test. This is Gibson’s return to directing after his monumental success with … Continue reading

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Allied

Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump, The Polar Express, Cast Away) has created an unusual semi-old-fashioned war and romance film in Allied. Unfortunately, most of its early press had to do with its stars—Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard—and their non-existent romance that then … Continue reading

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Arrival

When I experienced Arrival, I couldn’t help but think of the last line of “The Hollow Men” by T.S. Eliot: “Not with a bang but a whimper.” While the plot—worldwide alien visitation and the struggle to communicate—sounds like many another … Continue reading

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The Accountant

There’s a good film in here somewhere. As it stands now, it’s a good-looking, generally well-acted, occasionally very confusing jumble. Directed by Gavin O’Connor, probably best known for Miracle, The Accountant is the story of an autistic accountant with ninja … Continue reading

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Sully

After J. Edgar and Jersey Boys, I had thought that Clint Eastwood was, to be blunt, getting too old and was losing his touch. Then came American Sniper, which had the force and energy of a 30-year-old behind it. Now … Continue reading

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