Cinemascoping

When Casablanca comes to mind, you think of Rick and Ilsa.  When Wuthering Heights is mentioned, you immediately think of Heathcliff and Cathy. When The Notebook is on, you’re immediately sucked into the trials and tribulations that surround Noah and Allie.  Great screen couples all, the success of these films and the reason they’ve all […]

While I certainly wouldn’t want to watch many movies like Levan Gabriadze’s Unfriended, a film that consists of one long take of a computer screen that constantly reconfigures itself depending on the number of people participating in what becomes the video chat from hell, it does prove to be an intriguing visualization of the dangers […]

In December 2001, Christian Longo murdered his wife and three children.  The two oldest, four year-old Zachary and three year-old Sadie, were thrown into the freezing waters of Lint Slough in Waldport, Oregon, a waterway that leads to the Pacific Ocean.  His wife Mary Jane had been stuffed into a suitcase, her neck broken so […]

A great deal of buzz has sprung up around David Robert Mitchell’s independent horror film It Follows and it’s easy to see why.  The director successfully creates an atmosphere of dread that hangs over his sympathetic protagonists and the premise is one that lends itself perfectly to be exploited and explored within the horror genre.  […]

I suppose it’s a prerequisite that characters in horror films have never seen any horror films themselves.  If they did, then they would know better than to go into the dark house, venture into the creepy woods at night or pick up the hitchhiker at the side of the road.  No, their ignorance is required so that […]

Midway through his new feature Focus.  Will Smith’s given the self-reflective line of dialogue, “I still got it.” That his character, con man extraordinaire Nicky Spurgeon, is face down drunk on the floor is of no consequence.  The world’s most popular movie star is declaring his return to the spotlight after the debacle that was […]

 Animated Shorts – The five nominated films to be shown vary in quality but are overall a solid bunch.  Canada’s charming Me and My Moulton concerns three dissatisfied sisters who come to realize how lucky they are though the middle sibling constantly complains about her lot in life.  An unexpected turn of events puts things in […]

 Alice Howland knows that she’s living on borrowed time.  She’s well aware of what fate awaits her having been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease and seeing those whose minds have been ravaged by it, their vacant eyes disconnected from the past and unable to interpret the present.  She jogs and watches what she eats, the […]

“There are no two words in the English language more harmful than ‘Good job.’ ” So says Terence Fletcher, instructor at the Shaeffer Conservatory of Music, a master manipulator whose sole purpose in life seems to be to weed out the mediocre and to push his students harder than he was pushed himself.  More drill […]

The role of Claire Bennett in Daniel Barnz’s “Cake” is one performers love to see come their way.  The character is sympathetic, is required to deliver biting crowd-pleasing bits of dialogue, has at least three big dramatic scenes that require moments of grandstand acting and ultimately takes the first steps towards recovery and redemption.  In […]

It’s hardly surprising that an air of weariness hangs over Taken as the third entry in any most any franchise starts to look ragged around the edges.  However, what’s most surprising is just how bad this sequel is when compared with the two films that came before this.  There’s nary an original thought in sight […]