Spinning the GLOBES! The 2016 Golden Globes awards this past Sunday were rather frustrating. We welcome your own impression of the awards, and will post them over the next few days. If anyone is handicapping the Oscars, a lot of “conventional wisdom” lay like broken crockery on the floor. Heavy favorites Carol, Spotlight and […]
There’s a story inside this well-crafted vehicle, but what you’ll take with you is just one image: that face! Director John Crowley, along with his cinematographer and editor, obviously took great care and expense in making that image the single most important part of the narrative. And I can’t blame them. Saoirse Ronan has a […]
Congratulations to Brie Larson on her Golden Globes Best Actress win and her Oscar nomination! After reading about this fascinating film, remember to SUBSCRIBE to FilmFestSalon: It’s really hard to genre-label this one. Is it a sex pervert horror story? A tender story of a mother’s love for her son? A dysfunctional family drama? […]
This well-received docudrama, directed and co-written, with Josh Singer, by Thomas McCarthy, is a fine example of “journalism” cinema, where dogged reporters overcome seemingly insurmountable barriers to expose corruption. In this case, the story they are pursuing is the Catholic Church’s systemic cover-up of possibly hundreds of cases of child abuse by priests in Boston […]
A well-made western is fun as well as satisfying because the formula is one we’re familiar with, and we want that kind of movie experience. Directed by Ramin Bahrani, from a script he co-wrote with Amir Naderi, 99 Homes is not a western; it takes place in contemporary Florida. Instead of embattled, poor farmers (the […]
“Shelter” Discussion For the past two years, NY Filmcritics Series has been exhibiting films around the country before their theatrical release, and it seems to have hit on a winning formula: have the stars and filmmakers present for live interviews and Q and A with the audience. This week, I went to the screening of […]
Global Touring thru a Camera Lens The 2015 Hamptons International Film Festival saw the usual assortment of Top Tier Talent, including Steven Spielberg, Cate Blanchett, Olivia Wilde, Alec Baldwin, and more.by Evelyn Mocbeichel Once again the 2015 Hampton International Film Festival (HIFF) was a huge success, attended by thousands of enthusiastic movie goers during the […]
The buzz on this docudrama about south Boston crime boss James “Whitey ” Bulger is that Johnny Depp returns to form, and his performance makes it a winner. Sorry, but Depp’s skill and charisma can only go so far. The few characters in this film who are not thoroughly despicable or pathetically stupid – notably […]
The makers of this well-acted and moderately absorbing docudrama know how to hold the interest of the viewer, even if they avoid resolving the questions they raise. But those questions themselves are intriguing, and so rarely dealt with in a movie. Director James Ponsoldt and screenwriter Donald Margulies both saw the inherent appeal: just how […]
I find it interesting to compare this film, by 26-year old French-Canadian wunderkind Xavier Dolan, who co-wrote, directed and starred in it, with The Gift, which I reviewed last week. The Gift is a clever connect-the-dots psychological thriller about a revenge scheme for a past crime. The characters react to events in simple, unambiguous terms. […]
