Tag: Social Commentary
Women Talking Struggles to Add Anything New or Unique to the Conversation (Middleburg Film Festival)
Women Talking thrusts us into a group of eight women from an isolated Mennonite colony who have learned that the men of their religious community have been drugging and raping their women, even teen girls, for years. A…
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 »The Whale’s Ensemble Powers Its Emotional Themes Past an Okay Story (Middleburg Film Festival)
The Whale is a simple story packed with no simple emotions and social commentary. Charlie (Brendan Fraser) is a depressed, reclusive, online English professor who is slowly dying from obesity and resigned to his fate. As he prepares…
Read More »The Theatrical Experience Lives! You’ve Never Seen Anything Like Avatar: The Way of Water (Since the First Avatar)
After years of waiting and speculation, writer/director James Cameron and his Avatar franchise have returned to the big screen. After its monumental achievements in 2009 that included becoming the highest grossing film of all-time and a Best Picture Oscar nomination,…
Read More »White Noise is Just That Despite Its Stellar Cast (Middleburg Film Festival)
Based on the 1985 novel of the same name, White Noise follows college professor Jack Gladney (Adam Driver) who lives in a comfortable suburb with his wife Babette (Greta Gerwig) and their three children. The family soon have…
Read More »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…
Read More »Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery Improves Upon Its Predecessor in Every Way (Middleburg Film Festival)
For the purpose of providing necessary context to this review, I must admit that I was not a big fan of the original Knives Out film. Benoit Blanc felt like an updated but inferior version of The Thin Man’s Nick…
Read More »The Menu Feels Fresh and Innovative, Using a Michelin-Star Backdrop to Satirize Socioeconomic Divide
COVID-19 hit the world like a ton of bricks almost three years ago now. Untold lives were changed, nearly one million were lost, and the road to recovery is still slow in many ways with recovery in some…
Read More »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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Holy Spider is a Thought Provoking, Topical, and Multifaceted Critique of Iran’s Theocracy
The fall of 2022 saw civil unrest and protest erupt in Iran following the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody after she was accused of violating the country’s law regarding the proper wearing of hijabs. The nationwide uprising of…
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