Pedro Almodovar Rips From His Past To Create Modern-Day Gem Pain and Glory

The past tends to echo well into the future in ways we sometimes can't even comprehend as well as in ways that can prove detrimental to the present. Acclaimed writer/director Pedro Almodovar contemplates this matter thoroughly through his newest movie Pain and Glory. The lead character of this production, Salvador Mallo (Antonio Banderas), is clearly a stand-in for Almodovar to a degree (how accurate he is to the actual man is something I cannot state confidently) given that he's, like Almodovar, a middle-aged filmmaker of a notable stature who attended a religious school as a child, was impacted heavily by cinema at a young age and spent his formative adult years in Madrid, Spain. 

North Texas Film Festival 2019: The Laundromat Is Expansive To A Fault

Where has all the money gone? That's what Ellen Martin (Meryl Streep) wants to know. She just lost her husband in a tragic accident on a tour guide boat and in the wake of such a miserable turn of events has been informed that the company behind the boat her significant other perished on has lousy insurance that won't be giving her any kind of pay-out to help soothe her turmoil. Who could be behind such a scam? Well, that would be Jurgen Mossack (Gary Oldman) and Ramon Fonseca (Antonio Banderas), two men running an insurance company that operates numerous shell companies that allow the wealthiest people on the planet to keep their money secure and free of being taxed. It benefits the powerful but for everyday individuals like Ellen Martin, it only produces nightmares.

Women on the Verge of a Breakdown Makes For A Great Introduction To Pedro Almodovar Cinema

And in the newest edition of Iconic Filmmakers Douglas Laman Has Somehow Never Watched Before Now, let's turn to Pedro Almodovar. One of the most iconic Spanish filmmakers of all-time, Almodovar has had a steady string of successes as a director for nearly four decades now across a multitude of genres and early acclaim for his newest movie, Pain and Glory, indicates his successful creative streak is in no danger of ending anytime soon. However, his 1988 motion picture Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown was the movie that brought him to a whole new level of worldwide prominence as a filmmaker and in retrospect, it's neat to see that this feature was able to resonate so deeply with worldwide audiences. Not just because it's a good movie (which it is, for the record) but also because it's such a unique creation, it's not a conventional feature by any stretch of the imagination and to see audiences respond to it with such positivity is wonderful to see.

Philadelphia's Lead Performances Stand Above Its Weakest Tendencies

The arc of representation for LGBTQA+ characters in high-profile American cinema is not one that shows constant increases in representation as the years go on, but rather an interesting spike in the 1990's followed by the 21st century sending the idea of queer characters getting to be regular participants in major American films crashing to the ground. A number of 1990's films like The Birdcage made one think things were turning around for the better but unfortunately, queer representation was limited to the arthouse sector in the 2000s save for Brokeback Mountain and (kind of) Bruno. It's only recently that major American studios have started to make a small sampling of non-arthouse fare with queer protagonists again, films like Love, Simon or the upcoming Kristen Stewart/Mackenzie Davis rom-com Happiest Season. 

The Disastrous Life Itself Is Complex In Structure But Deadly Dull In The Details

Perhaps you've heard of the movie Life Itself. Maybe you saw the advertising for its September 2018 theatrical release or maybe you've only been exposed to it via ads on the Amazon Prime section of the Amazon website or there's a good chance your only exposure to Life Itself has been by hearing a loved one trying to recount its labyrinthine plot. There are many ways to be exposed to Life Itself but merely hearing about it or seeing a poster for it is nothing compared to actually watching the movie. This is a tragic trainwreck of a feature film, one that sees a murderer's row of actors get put to use on a film whose thematic substance is about as thin as roadkill on a Texas highway. 

The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out Of Water Review

That's The Night The Lights Went Out In Bikini Bottom...That's The Night That They Hung An Innocent Sponge

Few pieces of pop culture have left such a lasting impression on my generation than Spongebob Squarepants. The first three seasons are endless in their absurdity and quotes ("What's a gorilla doing underwater?"), and the first movie was similarly successful in employing those elements to notable success. Since the release of that first feature, the show has tanked in terms of quality, thanks to the shows creator leaving and much of the writing staff of the first few seasons similarly jumping ship.

The Trailer For Terrence Malicks New Movie, Knight Of Cups, Has Christian Bale Doing Things

When I saw Tree Of Life in 2011, it was the first Terrance Malick film I'd ever seen. I had no idea what to expect, except for dinosaurs, I knew dinosaurs were in it. Well, I got the dinos, but nothing much else of substance. The film was ambitious, I'll give it that, and the cinematography was beautiful. But it felt like it was trying too hard to be impactful without doing anything actually impactful. It sort of became blur of visuals after a while.

The Expendables 3 Review

What can Sylvester Stallone do now? I'm not asking this as some mean or snarky remark, I'm honestly wondering, what can this guy do now? I'm sure he could so some excellent drama if he so desired, but he seems to content to just riff on his legacy in films like Grudge Match and Escape Plan. Both of those were terrible, and while The Expendables 3 is better than those, it's still a forgettable excursion that needed more of entertaining characters to keep its pitiful screenplay afloat.