If you’re interested in a World War II period mystery, thriller, courtroom drama with a bit of art history, you may want to check out this Quick Take movie review of the Tri-Star pictures flick The Last Vermeer. This based-on… Read More ›
based on a book
Feel-good drama “The Secret: Dare to Dream” is cinematic comfort food.
Best-selling 2006 self-help book The Secret, from author Rhonda Byrne, implores its readers to view the world through a philosophy known as the “Law of Attraction.” The basic idea is that the thoughts of the individual (positive/negative) bring about the… Read More ›
Unexpectedly, “Spontaneous” offers much needed catharsis during a time of pandemic.
It’s in the strangest of places that we often find that which affirms life. It could be a sunrise, a child’s laugh, a taste of pumpkin spice pick-a-thing, a song you’ve heard a million times, or a film you’re experiencing… Read More ›
Stanley Kubrick’s “Full Metal Jacket” shows off what 4K UHD can really bring to the table.
Joining the list of catalogue titles Warner Bros. Home Entertainment is re-releasing on 4K UHD comes the widely beloved Stanley Kubrick Vietnam film Full Metal Jacket. Even if you haven’t seen the film, you’re likely familiar with many of the… Read More ›
Documentary “Stuntwomen: The Untold Hollywood Story” is all substance with a splash of flash.
Billed as “The definitive documentary about the history of Hollywood Stuntwomen,” Shout! Studios’s Stuntwomen: The Untold Hollywood Story takes what was captured in Mollie Gregory’s book of the same name and catapults it onto screens everywhere. The trailer for this… Read More ›
Nancy Springer’s “Enola Holmes Mysteries” is given the YA “Fleabag” treatment in Netflix’s playful “Enola Holmes.”
Since the first Sherlock Holmes story from author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was published in 1891, there have been countless iterations of the consulting detective in print, stage, and screen. Thanks to modern performances from Robert Downey Jr. (Sherlock Holmes),… Read More ›
“The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum” explores the price of turning a blind eye to yellow journalism and government surveillance
How often do you read or see something that excites you, titillates you, and perhaps even angers you? As we grow ever closer to a presidential election, it seems almost daily that such an occurrence happens. Articles, photos, and videos… Read More ›
Explore the depths of the oceans in director Ayumu Watanabe’s manga adaptation “Children of the Sea.”
One of the things I love about GKids Films, a distributor of Asian animated films, is the absolute variety and high quality of each production they release in the U.S. The films they release range from stop-motion (My Life as… Read More ›
Charlie Kaufman’s “i’m thinking of ending things” pulls off the seemingly impossible task of adapting Ian Reid’s book with ease and grace.
When I read a book, I feel accomplished. When I read a book based on a film, I feel elitist. When I read a book based on a film before its release, I feel completely untouchable. I know I shouldn’t,… Read More ›
“Words on Bathroom Walls” offers an astonishingly frank presentation of schizophrenia within a YA package.
Author Julia Walton’s 2017 young adult novel Words on Bathroom Walls centers on Adam Petrazelli, a high school senior whose dreams of culinary school seem destined for tragedy soon after he’s diagnosed with schizophrenia. Adapted for the big screen by… Read More ›
Disney+’s “The One and Only Ivan” is a bittersweet tale that’ll encourage empathic development in younger audiences.
Sometime around 1964, an infant silverback gorilla was rescued from poachers, was brought to the U.S., and lived with a family in their home until he grew too large. At that point, the silverback, called Ivan, became the headlining act… Read More ›
STX Entertainment’s “The Secret Garden” adapts the classic novel into something familiar, yet new.
In the years since its original publishing in 1911, author Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden has been replicated for stage and screen and has often been assigned for summer reading for many students, as was the case for this… Read More ›
Historical fiction drama “Greyhound” tells a WWII story that’s significant today.
Perseverance is the key to survival. We’re not just talking evolution here, but the willingness to push-back against any obstacles made by man or nature. In the case of the film Greyhound by director Aaron Schneider (Get Low), working from… Read More ›
The world must have turned upside down because “Hamilton” is coming home via Disney+.
In case you’re coming to this unclear on what actor/playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton is about, the play follows significant moments of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton’s (Miranda) life from surviving severe illness as a child; coming to American from the Caribbean;… Read More ›
Don’t let the delays fool you, “Artemis Fowl” is an adventure worth taking.
First slated for August 2019, the adaptation of Eoin Colfer’s young adult novel series Artemis Foul seemed bound for trouble when it was delayed into 2020. Then pushed again. Then COVID-19 hit and all bets were off. Making matters worse,… Read More ›
Deceptively cutting and mesmerizingly mad, director Josephine Decker loses no momentum in her second feature “Shirley.”
Director Josephine Decker’s feature debut Madeline’s Madeline (2018), a tale centered on a young woman whose grip with reality slowly weakens as she finds her imagination being made real, continues to entrap my mind. The film itself is an experimental… Read More ›
Chinese YA adaptation “Better Days” is a genre-bending coming of age story.
Trigger Warning for discussion of bullying, suicide, sexual assault, and violence. In a conversation between an older and younger cop early into the 135-minute Better Days, one says to the other something to the effect that either you were the… Read More ›
Slow burn neo-western “Arkansas” is a strong first feature directorial debut for Clark Duke.
When you do something for the first time, you don’t expect a grand slam, even out of a big swing. You might hope, you might dream, but you’re more likely to keep expectations close. For author John Brandon, this meant… Read More ›
Netflix Original “Extraction” is a theater-quality adventure that deserves a big screen.
The names Joe and Anthony Russo have become synonymous with big blockbuster comic book films thanks to their work with Marvel Studios directing Captain America: The Winter Solider, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame. However you… Read More ›
Inspired by true events, law drama “Just Mercy” is now available on home video.
In June of 1987, Walter “Johnny D” McMillian was arrested by Sherriff Tom Tate of Monroeville, Alabama, for the murder of eighteen-year-old Ronda Morrison. The case had been unsolved for a year and Tate was keen to close it. Placed… Read More ›