Category Archives: Film Reviews

Film reviews and analyses. Most recently published is in front.

The Fall Guy

Posted on June 3, 2024 by Mark DuPré

The Fall Guy is the best middling but well-timed film of the year so far. Released shortly after the Oscars a couple of months ago, it benefited greatly from the all the press that Ryan Gosling received for his Oscar-nominated … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Newer films | 1 Comment

Sandra Hüller: The Zone of Interest and Anatomy of a Fall

Posted on May 19, 2024 by Mark DuPré

The Zone of Interest and Anatomy of a Fall were two of the most celebrated foreign language films of 2023. Among many other international awards, the former won Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film and Best Sound, while the … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Newer films | Tagged Anatomy of a Fall, Anatomy of a Murder, Auschwitz, Cannes, James Stewart, Life is Beautiful, Meet Me in St. Louis, Messi, Milo Machado-Graner, Oppenheimer, Rudolf Huss, Samuel Theis, Sandra Huller, Schindler's List, Swan Arland, The Zone of Interest | Leave a comment

Tiger Bay (1959) and Hayley Mills

Posted on April 17, 2024 by Mark DuPré

My first celebrity crush was blonde ingenue Hayley Mills. If you are older or have seen old Disney movies, you may remember her from 1960’s Pollyanna and/or 1961’s The Parent Trap—the original one. Those were probably the first two films … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Older Films | Tagged A Fistful of Dollars, Anton Yelchin, BAFTA, Brittany Murphy, Chadwick Boseman, Clint Eastwood, David Lean, entertainment, film, Great Expectations, Hayley Mills, Heath Ledger, Hollywood, Horst Buchholz, In Which We Serve, J. Lee Thompson, James Dean, John Mills, kitchen-sink drama, Life is Beautiful, Liza Minnelli, movies, New Wave, news, Noel Coward, Omar Shariff, Pollyanna, River Phoenix, Roy Boulting, Ryan's Daughter, So Well Remembered, The Guns of Navarone, The Magnificent Seven, The Parent Trap, West Side Story, Whistle Down the Wind | Leave a comment

Scattered Thoughts on Killers of the Flower Moon

Posted on April 13, 2024 by Mark DuPré

Gladstone, De Niro and DiCaprio in Killers of the Flower Moon What? Why are you writing about that “old” movie now? Well, yes, Killers of the Flower Moon was released way back in October 2023, and yes, it’s been nominated … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Newer films | Tagged BAFTA, Emma Stone, Giant, Killers of the Flower Mon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone, Martin Scorsese, Poor Things, Red Tails, Robert De Niro, Silence, The Boys in the Boat, The Irishman, There Will be Blood | Leave a comment

Dune: Part Two

Posted on April 9, 2024 by Mark DuPré

Science fiction is not my thing—so hard to connect with for me. Plus, movies that have so many characters doing so many things can get confusing for me. That said, Dune: Part Two is the best mainstream film of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Newer films | Tagged Austin Butler, Charlotte Rampling, Christopher Nolan, Christopher Walken, Dave Bautista, David Lean, Denis Villeneuve, Dune: Part Two, Dunkirk, Florence Pugh, Gladiator, Greig Fraser, Hans Zimmer, Inception, Intersellar, James Brolin, Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men, Patrice Vernette, Peter Jackson, Rain Man, Thanos, The Batman, The Blind Side, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, The Lion King, The Whale, Timothée Chalamet, Timothe, Zendaya, Zero Dark Thirty, Zsuszanna Sipos | Leave a comment

Cabrini

Posted on March 25, 2024 by Mark DuPré

This film analysis/review will be in two parts to give me an opportunity to respond fully. First, the film as a film: Cabrini is the story of the first American Catholic saint, Mother Francesca Xavier Cabrini, the Italian immigrant who … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Newer films | Tagged A Man for All Seasons, Alejandro Monteverde, Angel Studios, Bella, Bergman, Cabrini, Christiana Dell'Anna, David Morse, Dreyer, Francesca Cabrini, Giuseppe Rotunno, J. Eustace Wolfington, Jesus, John Lithgow, Philippians 4:13, Pope Leo XIII, Sound of Freedom, The Agony and the Ecstasy, Vittorio Storato | Leave a comment

Barbie

Posted on March 4, 2024 by Mark DuPré

What!? You’re writing about Barbie now? Why? Well, a couple of reasons. One is that I usually like to wait until the hubbub/brouhaha is over before writing about a film. This more than any film of 2023 was surrounded with … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Newer films | Tagged 2001: A Space Odyssey, Allan, America Ferrara, barbie, Greta Gerwig, Helen Mirren, Ken, La La Land, Love Actually, Luise Rainer, Margot Robbie, Michael Cera, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Ryan Gosling, The Great Ziegfeld, The Matrix, The Shining, The Sixth Sense, The Wizard of Oz, Zack Snyder's Justice League | Leave a comment

The Holdovers

Posted on February 16, 2024 by Mark DuPré

Not a particularly successful film financially, the dramedy The Holdovers nevertheless managed to snag five Oscar nominations. The Best Picture nomination isn’t even close to being deserved, especially in a year like this. But at least two of the other … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Newer films | Tagged Alexander Payne, Carrie Preston, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, David Hemingson, Dead Poets Society, Dominic Sessa, Laurette Taylor, Paul Giamatti, The Glass Menagerie, The Holdovers, The Sterile Cuckoo | Leave a comment

Maestro

Posted on January 6, 2024 by Mark DuPré

Maestro, the film directed by, starring, and co-written by middle-aged wunderkind Bradley Cooper, is one of the most anticipated films of the year. Coming as Cooper’s sophomore effort after his wildly successful A Star is Born with Lady Gaga, it … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Newer films | Tagged A Star is Born, Aaron Copland, Adolph Green, All About Ever, Auntie Mame, Bells are Ringing, Betty Comdon, Black Swan, Bradley Cooper, Candide, Capote, Carey Mulligan, Carol Lawrence, Chita Rivera, Fancy Free, Felicia Montealegre, First Man, Good News, it's always fair weather, José Carreras, Josh Singer, Judy Holiday, Kari Te Kanaway, Killers of the Flower Moon, Lady Gaga, Larry Kert, Lily Gladstone, Maestro, Mahler, Matthew Libatique, Netflix, on the town, On the Waterfront, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Sarah Silverman, singin' in the rain, Spotlight, Tanglewood, The Band Wagon, The Barkleys of Broadway, The Post, West Side Story | Leave a comment

Three Quick Takes: May December, Godzilla Minus One, and The Killer

Posted on December 29, 2023 by Mark DuPré

Note: This entry is dedicated to my “cousin-in-law” Ryan (R.T.). “It’s the most wonderful time of the year…” for film folks, anyway. The films putting their hands up for awards attention reach their greatest number in the last six weeks … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Newer films | Tagged Body Heat, Charlie Melton, Collateral, Eric Messerschmidt, Far From Heaven, Godzilla Minus ONe, Gone Girl, Julianne Moore, Locke, Mank, Mary Kay Latourneau, May December, Michael Fassbender, Natalie Portman, Safe, Se7en, Stanley Chan, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Killer, The Social Network, Todd Haynes, Tom Hardy | Leave a comment