Tag: Historical

Babylon is a Bit Too Ambitious For Its Own Good

Babylon spans the pivotal era of American filmmaking in Hollywood from 1926-1952 as a host of changes were taking place both behind the camera, in the boardrooms of movie studios, and throughout American culture at large. We follow…

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Olivia Colman and Micheal Ward Elevate Empire of Light’s Simple Romance (Middleburg Film Festival)

Director Sam Mendes returns to the big screen bringing along with him actress powerhouse Olivia Colman. In Empire of Light we meet Hillary (Olivia Colman) a middle-aged manager of a movie theater in the United Kingdom in the…

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Emancipation is a Brutal Film About Perseverance and Determination

Yep, it’s another slave movie. In recent years, many consumers, of all races, have expressed fatigue over the flow of films coming from Hollywood that depict American slavery and the brutal treatment that the ancestors of African Americans…

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Danielle Deadwyler Paints an Emotional Portrait of Strength Through Grief in Till (Middleburg Film Festival)

Till tells the true story of the famed, brutal lynching of Emmett Till (Jalyn Hall) in 1955 Mississippi following his encounter with Carolyn Bryant (Haley Bennett) at her family’s grocery store and his mother Mamie Till-Mobley’s (Danielle Deadwyler)…

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Armageddon Time Is an Interesting 1980s Time Capsule, but Not an Interesting Film (Middleburg Film Festival)

The 1980s was a pivotal decade that saw many great changes for the United States. An actor became President, a child star went solo and changed music and television forever, and commerce coined a phrase that would last…

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Elizabeth Banks Shines in the Timely Film Call Jane (Sundance Film Festival)

The recent Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization which found that the United States Constitution does not confer a right to abortion was a landmark case that gave American states the right to institute…

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All Quiet on the Western Front Viscerally Updates the Horrors of War for the Modern Age (Middleburg Film Festival)

All Quiet on the Western Front of course originated as a German novel written by Erich Maria Remarque about World War I published in 1928. The 1930 American film adaptation was a landmark release both for its use of…

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Amsterdam is a Fun and Topical Mystery, Buoyed by Cast Chemistry

Writer/director David O. Russell returns to the big screen with a star studded comedic mystery film that mixes a semi-forgotten historical incident with comedy and an emotional look at finding what it is that powers a good life. Amsterdam…

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Blonde is as Uninteresting as It is Weird and Offensive to the Legacy of Its Subject

Blonde is a fictional telling of the life of screen legend and sex symbol Marilyn Monroe (Ana de Armas) based on the bestselling novel by Joyce Carol Oates. The film follows Monroe, born Norma Jeane, from her traumatic…

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The Woman King: How to Balance Historical Accuracy and Filmmaking

Historically based films in Hollywood have never been lauded for their accuracy. Some of film’s most beloved cinematic masterpieces have been extremely dubious with the truth surrounding their stories, sometimes egregiously so. Despite this, these films are usually…

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