Tag: Music
Joker: Folie à Deux’s Meta Commentary Boring Rather Than Poignant
Joker was a controversial hit in 2019, using the iconic comic book villain as a conduit to explore real world, grounded themes in a gritty, Scorsese like world. Director Todd Phillips defied the odds and created a billion…
Read More »Trap’s Delicious Thrills and Josh Hartnett Help It Overcome a Bumpy Third Act
Director M. Night Shyamalan returns to multiplexes with his newest thriller. Trap introduces us to Cooper (Josh Hartnett), a dad from suburban Philadelphia taking his teen daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) to see her favorite pop star Lady Raven…
Read More »Bob Marley: One Love Does Little to Rise Above Typical Biopic Fare
Following the overwhelming box office success of 2018’s Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, films detailing the lives of musical legends were greenlit across Hollywood studio lots. The newest one, Bob Marley: One Love tells the story of reggae icon Bob Marley (Kingsley Ben-Adir) and his…
Read More »The Color Purple is a Visual and Musical Marvel
Following up an iconic story with a new retelling is always a daunting task and adapting a story as beloved as this one can be even more challenging. The Color Purple follows the same story many are familiar…
Read More »Maestro is a Technical Marvel Paired with an Emotional Story of Marriage’s Complexity (Middleburg Film Festival)
Bradley Cooper returns to directing with a biopic about a famous musician, this time focusing on a famous, real life figure. Maestro chronicles the rise of famous composer Leonard Bernstein (Cooper) as he builds his musical legend alongside…
Read More »Oppenheimer Explores Guilt, Crisis of Conscience in Fusion of Biopic and Tense Procedural Drama
A three-hour biographical drama shot partially in black-and-white does not usually sound like a recipe for a mid-summer theatrical release, but the formula for blockbuster success changes when director Christopher Nolan is involved. His latest film seeks to…
Read More »Chevalier is a By-The-Numbers Biopic Saved By Its Cast
Chevalier sets out to tell the true tale of Joseph Bologne (Kelvin Harrison Jr.), the illegitimate son of an African slave named Nanon (Ronke Adekoluejo) and French plantation owner George Bologne (Jim High). After his father recognizes his…
Read More »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…
Read More »Cate Blanchett is Mesmerizing in Tár, a Tale of the Cost of Ego and Hubris (Middleburg Film Festival)
At points following the exposé of Harvey Weinstein and the rise of the Me Too movement, it seemed like someone powerful and/or famous was being exposed for misdeeds every other day. Some of these misdeeds were years old,…
Read More »
Emilia Pérez is a Pleasant Surprise That Effectively Melds Social Commentary, Drama, and Music Together (Middleburg Film Festival)
Multiplexes have been riddled with the remnants of musicals past in recent years with some having succeeded, like 2023’s Wonka, and others crashing and burning like Joker Folie á Deux earlier this year. Audiences have had mixed reactions…
Share this: