Films That Matter
Déjà vu Dalliance
Channeling the mesmeric movies churned out by the studio system back in the 1930s and 40s, Allied (2016), directed by Robert Zemeckis, channels the likes of Morocco, Casablanca, Across the Pacific, Gilda, To Have and Have Not, and numerous others – attempting to find a spark from the classic themes of melodrama, romance, suspense and the epic nature of the annals of the cinematic past, with quite successful results. Set the year Casablanca and Across the Pacific were released – 1942, the story in fact starts in Morocco, with recently parachuted in Canadian spy Max Vatan (Brad Pitt) meeting up with another undercover agent, Marianne Beauséjour (Marion Cotillard), who will be pretending to be his wife.
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Bridge Over Troubled Water
Bridge of SpiesFebruary 28, 2016The Cold War was a truly unique, interesting and scary time when the whole world felt upside down – how else can you describe a worldwide conflict where tensions could not be higher yet bullets and bombs were not being fired. Paranoia, fear and propaganda ruled the day as two very different ideologies, brought forth by two powerhouse nations, fought for the hearts and minds of the world’s populace. It is in this intense setting that Steven Spielberg re-teams with Tom Hanks to make the harrowing, fish-out-of-water story Bridge of Spies.
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The Long and Short of It
The Big ShortFebruary 16, 2016Adam McKay, the comedic director best known for films like Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and Step Brothers, takes a much more serious turn in the Academy Award Best Picture nominee The Big Short.
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A Tale of Two Cities
BrooklynFebruary 7, 2016I can only imagine how difficult, lonesome and melancholic a solo journey across the Atlantic Ocean must have been for the numerous immigrants who travelled from Europe to North America – especially those who made the journey before technology and ingenuity made things, for lack of a better word, easy.
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Star Pick with Marcus Ovnell
Get Busy Living. . .The Shawshank RedemptionFebruary 2, 2016Marcus Ovnell, the writer/director of the excellent Swedish film The Break-In, is flying down to Cornwall, Ontario, Canada to premiere the above mentioned movie at the historic Port Theatre on Friday, February 12th, 2016 at 7:15 P.M. As a lead up to the very special event, enjoy this interview with the filmmaker from when we spoke at the St. Lawrence International Film Festival a few months earlier. It was clear from the very beginning that Ovnell has a great passion for cinema (especially American). Being a gargantuan fan of films, it took him a minute to narrow down his pick, with Shawshank Redemption taking the top spot in the end.
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Make Space for this Room
RoomJanuary 31, 2016Though most people would call the highly regarded Academy Award nominated film Room a searing drama, to me, if you boil it down to its base element, it is a horror picture – not the type that we now call horror, with chainsaws, gore and excessive violence, but one that causes the viewer to feel fear and shock in the most realistic and human of ways, thus making it a very powerful and hard-hitting viewing experience. And a highly worthwhile one at that.
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A Masterclass in Screenwriting
12 Angry MenJanuary 10, 2016If there is one thing that films often lack, especially in the twenty-first century, it is a solid script. One classic motion picture that demonstrates a near perfect screenplay is the iconic 1957 movie 12 Angry Men.
