Specific true-life stories demand the big-screen cinematic treatment. In some cases, those true stories can go on to earn Academy awards (Braveheart, Schindlers List). In other cases, some films can dishonor those stories’ legacies. Adapting those stories can be some of the most challenging films to make. The story of the …
If you’ve ever had the chance to make a movie, chances are your mind will be tormented during the development, production, and post-production stages. While watching the rushes or beginning to edit your film, your mind may not enjoy what’s unfolding and will quasi-force you to come up with new …
Michael Winterbottom has one of the most prolific filmographies of any contemporary British filmmaker. From docudrama miniseries like This England to black comedies like Greed to Palme d’Or competing projects like 24 Hour Party People, Winterbottom has shown bold experimentation and a refusal to be bound to one singular approach to media. His latest, the period drama Shoshana, is a …
In November of 2023, Hulu released The Artful Dodger, a thrilling series set in 1850s Australia filled with redemption, love, and social standards. Jack Dawkins (Thomas Brodie-Sangster), a former navy surgeon, is trying to create a life of respectability in the colony. As you witness the drama, betrayal, romance, and redemption that …
In 2021, Claire Keegan’s novel on the Magdalene laundries Small Things Like These was released to acclaim, going on to be shortlisted for the famous Booker Prize. The turnaround between a book’s release and a film adaptation being made can vary, with some taking years to find their adaptive footing. In the case of Small …
When it comes to paintings and art, I’m not a huge connoisseur. I can walk through an art gallery and appreciate most pieces from a technical level, but as far as anything I would purchase and own for my own enjoyment, I’m pretty indifferent to most things. A new animated …
Biopics about popular celebrities can be difficult to create, largely in part because they will try to capture the scope of one’s whole life rather than the key elements that made them who they were. It’s not necessarily an incorrect approach to the genre, but for every fun or creative …
If you were to do a Family Feud-style survey and ask a hundred people who the greatest movie director of all time is, you undoubtedly would get Alfred Hitchcock’s name on the board. Steven Spielberg would be up there, possibly even Stanley Kubrick as well. I cannot say where he would place, but without much doubt, Martin …
Describing Ava DuVernay’s Origin to an average moviegoer may prove complex, especially concerning its opening moments, where Isabel Wilkerson (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor) listens to a recorded phone conversation with the police and the assailant who murdered Trayvon Martin (Myles Frost). DuVernay and cinematographer Matthew J. Lloyd recreate this tragic moment in American history chillingly, with Isabel listening attentively to …
J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) is the focal point of the new film Oppenheimer from writer and director Christopher Nolan. It is the story of the top mind behind the Manhattan Project, known as “the father of the atomic bomb.” Most everyone knows the Manhattan Project was an operation the United States …
Ava DuVernay is one of the filmmakers who never shies away from showing impactful stories on the big screen. The director floored everyone with Selma, which is considered one of the most well-crafted biopics of recent times. Meanwhile, she delivered hard-hitting projects such as 13th and When They See Us to let everyone know the ugly …
Rugby isn’t a sport we get much of here in America, but it’s one of the primary sports people enjoy watching in other countries. In the early 1970s, a group of rugby players from Uruguay boarded a plane from Montevideo, Uruguay, to Santiago, Chile, for a rugby match. In the …
Alexandre Dumas’ The Three Musketeers has gone through many permutations, but Martin Bourboulon’s two-parter, which has allowed France to direct a just – and realist – adaptation of Dumas’ tale, is one of the very best modern book-to-film iterations we’ve seen in ages. And its first installment, D’Artagnan, is also the best part one of …
The Taste of Things (or La Passion de Dodin Bouffant) is a new French-language film by director Trần Anh Hùng and distributed by IFC Films in the US. France has submitted it for the best International Feature at the Academy Awards, and it recently made the Oscars shortlist. For myself, I love a great cooking …
Examining the actions of ordinary individuals in extreme situations is a well-worn trope in film. 2018: Everyone is a Hero, a 2023 Indian Malayalam-language survival drama film by director Jude Anthany Joseph, subverts this trope with compelling storytelling that captures human stories and explores human resilience, community, and sacrifice. I went into …
Boring, pointless, and uninspired, Ridley Scott’s Napoleon attempts to side-step the traditional biopic pratfalls, but forgets to do anything remotely interesting or captivating. Scott and screenwriter David Scarpa decide to forgo any background information on Napoleon, and focus on his rapid ascension from ambitious soldier to Emperor of Rome. Unfortunately, the forgot …