Steven Spielberg Created A Phenomenally Impactful Motion Picture With Schindler's List

While watching the documentary Spielberg, which chronicles the filmography of its titular filmmaker, shortly after Schindler's List, I was struck by being reminded of how much of a departure this film was compared to everything else Spielberg had done up to this point. Both in Steven Spielberg's comments on the film and in juxtaposing footage of the feature to footage of past Spielberg movies, Schindler's List feels like a complete 180 from what had come before it. Tight, small-scale conversations had replaced the grand spectacle of his blockbuster efforts, more realistic muted character beats abounded and small touches in the lighting & and writing reinforced that this project, near and dear to the heart of its director, was being executed with a deft & thoughtful touch.

Collide Isn't All That Special But It's Got Moments Of Entertainment In It

Some movies set the right kind of box office records, others...don't. The latter case befell Collide, an action movie that had suffered numerous setbacks in its domestic release due to its original distributor, Relativity Media, going bankrupt. An original planned October 2015 release date faded away though Open Road Films picked up U.S. rights to the film shortly thereafter only for further release date delays (it was originally set for an August 2016 date before its eventual final February 2017 release date) to occur. Once it finally got released, it had the sixth worst opening weekend in history for a movie debuting in over 2,000 theaters and had the biggest second-weekend decline of any movie opening in wide release in North America.

WAR (Machine)...HOO! WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR??

American pop culture is at an interesting...impasse, I guess you could say, in terms of how it treats the Iraq war. For a good long while during the Iraq war conflict, American war movies were firmly situated in the past, namely in World War II where audiences could have a greater sense of removal from what was transpiring on-screen and some clear-cut villains (Nazi's and Hitler) to root against. In 2009, we got two movies that tackled the brutality offered up by the war and its effects on individual men with the excellent The Hurt Locker and the incredible Brothers, but since then, most of our wartime movies have been mostly empty features, whether they're just "rah-rah" action films like Lone Survivor or American Sniper or supposedly philosophical but mostly just empty movies like Billy Lynn's Long Half-Time Walk.

There's Something Strange Afoot On Shutter Island

The 2010's have shown a lovely amount of versatility on the part of master filmmaker Martin Scorsese. He's examined the levels of excess rich white dudes can get away with in America in The Wolf Of Wall Street, confronted experiencing a crisis of faith in Silence and he found time to make Hugo, a 3D family movie that also served as a homage to one of cinema's earliest pioneers, George Melies. Before all of those though, he kicked off the decade with a horror/thriller starring long-time collaborator Leonardo DiCaprio entitled Shutter Island, which became the directors second biggest movie of all-time at the domestic box office.

The Jungle Book Review

I'm a hardcore Disney fan (my first word as a human being, believe it or not, was Disney), but, to be perfectly frank, this new wave of live-action adaptations of classic Disney cartoons hasn't really done much for me. Alice In Wonderland was typical modern day Tim Burton pablum, Maleficent's few interesting ideas (namely weaving in a metaphor for rape into the backstory of its titular character) were severely overshadowed by how tedious and uninspired the rest of the film's story and characters were and Cinderella was only inoffensive at best. But finally, oh finally, one of these live-action adaptations has finally turned out to be a well-made movie in its own right.

Learning To Drive Review

One of the most important lessons that Wendy (Patricia Clarkson) learns from her driving instructor Darwan (Ben Kingsley) is that, in order to do your best driving, one must clear their mind. She cannot be distracted by her recent divorce from long-time husband Ted (Jake Weber) and the numerous fall out effects from that event. That's easier said than done of course, but Darwan has plenty of patience when it comes to being a teacher, so Wendy may just get her license after all when all is said and done.

Exodus: Gods And Kings Review

All About That Exodus, Exodus, No Treble

I went into Exodus: Gods And Kings with some skepticism. You see, I played Moses in a VBS sketch for my Church group this summer and I was dubious to say the least that Christian Bale could match my acting chops. Sure, he had a $140 million budget and director Ridley Scott at his disposal, but did he have a snake puppet to utilize like I did? As it turns out, Bale is missing more than just a snake toy in his performance, as he and the movie itself feel lacking as a whole.

The Boxtrolls Review

Thinking Inside The Box

I admire the fact that LAIKA seems willing to have a wide variety of tones in their cinematic work. While DreamWorks Animation proudly boasts of trying to make each film emulate the comedic stingily of Shrek as closely as possible, LAIKA has a distinctive atmosphere for each of their three features. Still, that kind of efforts doesn't excuse the prominent flaws found in The Boxtrolls, a film with plenty of charm, but a surprising lack of focus.

New Jungle Book Movie Adds Ben Kingsley To Awesome Cast!

Ben Kingsley?Trevor Slattery 

I absolutely love Disney (which, interestingly enough, was my first word spoken as a human being!), but I'm especially fond of their work on the animated side of things. Out of all 53 animated features Walt Disney Animation Studios has made though, my all-time favorite may be The Jungle Book, a superbly crafted masterpiece that just has no shortage of energy, fun and engrossing characters. That classic film is the next Disney animated film in line to be given the live-action/CGI treatment that was bestowed upon Alice In Wonderland and Maleficent. A remake of this movie should make my blood boil, but with the talent already lined up for it (and plenty more to come!) the project so far sounds delightful.