Tag: War
The Zone of Interest Powerfully Displays the Banality of Evil (Middleburg Film Festival)
The concept of evil triumphing within society not because of some over-the-top conquest, but because of everyday people becoming numb to the slow march of what they know to be wrong is an oft explored concept within the…
Read More »Napoleon’s Two Quality Halves Don’t Make a Whole
2023 has seen multiple historical epics grace the big screen as if the 1960s have returned. Audiences seem to be warming up to witnessing history unfold in theaters with the hype surrounding multiple pictures and director Ridley Scott’s…
Read More »The Creator Delivers on Spectacle, VFX Even If Its Themes Seem Familiar
Director Gareth Edwards makes his return to multiplexes this week with his sci-fi adventure film The Creator. The year is 2065 and the world is in the midst of war as the West is engaged in conflict with…
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 »Top Gun Maverick Reminds Us What Separates Blockbusters of Yesteryear From Today’s
Top Gun Maverick reunites the audience with Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) working as a test pilot of an experimental hypersonic jet that is under threat of being replaced by a drone program. In an attempt to prevent that from…
Read More »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…
Read More »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…
Read More »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…
Read More »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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Civil War Is The Best Anti-War Film In Ages and a Stark Warning of The Monsters Conflict Creates
Much has been made about the release of writer/director Alex Garland’s latest film Civil War. Its appropriateness in these challenging times, what it may say about one side of the political aisle or the other and, now that…
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