Posts in 2015
"Tale of Tales" opens the legend of another side of the very gloomy tales.

It is said that the story is a bedtime story. So that the little boy and girl who heard it had a good night. But what if the tale is told in a darker way than a bedtime story? Tale of Tales, another movie that related to no deposit bonus that tells three sub-stories at the same time. Let's start with the first story when the Queen wants to have an heir. But no matter how hard she tries, she can't do it. Therefore, the shaman suggested a very bizarre way to enable the Queen to have an heir.

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COLUMN: My Top 100 Movies of the 2010s

To build a master list, I turned to the Pub Meeple Ranking Engine.  I entered a list of just under 200 five-star and high four-star movies and let the hundreds of clickable “versus” matchup permutations slot everything.  It’s really a slick tool, and it nailed my results. The cream of the rose to the top, just as they should. I’ve said this before on other lists, but this is more about “best” than “favorites.” Also, I did not include documentaries.  Quality edges easy entertainment more often than not. Here are the results with a little commentary here and there in between!

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MEDIA APPEARANCE: Participant in "World of Reel" Critics Poll for Best Films of the 2010s

As I grow with press credentials and professional affiliation locally and nationally, I find myself more and more landing and conversing in circles with other film critics of various levels. Much like the David Ehrlich survey I participate in, I answered an open social media call from Jordan Ruimy of World of Reel. He is a fellow Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic who also has contributed to The Young Folks, The Playlist, We Got This Covered, and The Film Stage. His poll was to collect the Top 5 films of the 2010s from critics and other industry folk. I was honored to chime in with my quintet.

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MOVIE REVIEW: Bilal: A New Breed of Hero

Some causes and plights are universal to the heroism within the human condition no matter the era or culture.  Comporting itself with admirable respect for the ennobling experience of its chosen history, Bilal: A New Breed of Hero portrays such heroism for film audiences.  This animated feature film presents common themes and intrepid messages within a folklore not often given a Western stage.  Named the “Best Inspiring Film” on Animation Day at last year’s prestigious Cannes Film Festival, Bilal: A New Breed of Hero earns a great deal of that praise.

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MOVIE CLASSROOM: Updated archive on YouTube channel

In returning to my "Movie Classroom" series of interactive whiteboard video reviews with new vigor, new skills, and new tools, I wanted to bring back and upload my old video attempts to my Every Movie Has a Lesson YouTube channel.  In a massive file drop, I recently uploaded 29 of my past Movie Classroom videos from 2014, including winners like Whiplash and Birdman.  Head over and reminisce on some fine films and commentary by yours truly.

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MOVIE REVIEW: The Blackcoat's Daughter

Being “in the dark” is a savory place to be for a film like this.  Keenly and decisively, “The Blackcoat’s Daughter” carries a nearly strict reliance on suggestion and atmosphere over exploitation.  For that, Perkins and company get it and do not need a “throwback” label to prove it.  They know that our mental guessing is always more frightening than showing every little thing.

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MOVIE REVIEW: Worlds Apart

Directed by Christoforos “Christopher” Papakaliatis, “Worlds Apart” presents three narratives and three different flavors of passion.  Each surrounds a Greek native in a burgeoning romantic relationship with an immigrant from another land.  Thematically, all that transpires in the film riffs on recurring imagery and commonality with the mythical story of Eros, the Greek god of love.  Layering a topical worldview tinged with allegory every step of the way, “Worlds Apart” is a mature and beguiling romantic drama.

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DOCUMENTARY REVIEW: The Lark's View

Ireland is a proud country where a pagan history has been blended with Christianity for two millennia.  Mythology has merged with scripture and history has absorbed legend.  “The Lark’s View” is a documentary reflecting the current and lost traditions on the century anniversary of the significant Easter Rising conflict of 1916.

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MOVIE REVIEW: The Dressmaker

The quirk of the dark comedy genre comes from embracing absurdity and running with it.  Small wrinkles of character traits and situational story elements get twisted for wry laughs and wicked surprises.  One of Australia’s top films of 2015, “The Dressmaker” mixes high style in a setting of rubbish and romance with a cursed sense of revenge.  Not all of the fits and starts of many, many dalliances of the film end up working, but the presence of Oscar winner Kate Winslet demands attention.

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MOVIE REVIEW: Reparation

Building domestic suspense in poignant fashion and shifting between three eras, “Reparation” examines potent human flaws and plants them in small-town America with real-life consequences.  This film doesn’t need a grandiose battlefield saga of hidden heroism to be the catalyst.  This isn’t “American Sniper” and glossy hero worship.  “Reparation” welcomes more intimate and jagged complications with authentic down-home realism and charm.

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MOVIE REVIEW: Equals

Young writer-director Drake Doremus has carved out a reputable niche in the romantic drama department.  Many of the Sundance darling's films feature a prominent theme of longing love.  That motif is on full display and meshed with mindful science fiction in his new film "Equals."  Starring Nicholas Hoult and Kristen Stewart and backed by Ridley Scott, the film is making a limited theatrical run alongside a full release on VOD marketplaces.  Mindful doesn’t exactly equal poignancy on the scale of desired response.

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MOVIE REVIEW: The Wait (L'attesa)

The award-winning Juliette Binoche is one of those actresses who can captivate an audience in complete silence.  Binoche has long been a reflective master of inflection and nuance.  She doesn’t have to say a word to convey the waterfall of thoughts an end emotions going on within her characters.   She is a true artist for performance and the latest proof of that is her staggering dramatic role in “The Wait,” the directorial debut of Italian filmmaker Piero Messina. 

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