Drama
Citizen Kane
How many times has this film been called the “Greatest movie of all time?” It has topped film critic’s list for generations. If there really is such a thing as one single film that is somehow superior to all other films (which this reviewer believes is tantamount to claiming “my grandma’s cherry pie is better than everyone else’s”) then “Citizen Kane” should most definitely be a contender.
Voyagers
In 1954, William Golding wrote the perennial High School classic “Lord of the Flies” about a group of British boys stranded on an uninhabited island and their disastrous and often lethal attempt to develop their own society. Voyager writer and director, Neil Burger, took that idea and put it in outer space. The time is 2063. The Earth is in bad shape and a suitable planet to colonize has been found but it will take an 86-year long journey to reach it. So, a couple of dozen genetically generated children are created and raised within the confines of a contained environment deprived of a normal human experience to make the journey without feeling the loss of Earth. Along the way, they will reproduce, and raise up a few generations who will reach the planet and begin a new human colony.
FOUND.
The theme of this solid family friendly movie is found in the title. It is not just one person or one story arc of being “Found,” however, there are multiple threads of redemption throughout the narratives of several characters. In that way, it is a beautifully complex, yet encouraging story…
Casablanca
I have never been a big fan of black and white films. I mean there is nothing wrong with them, I just haven’t seen very many and I have slept through most of the ones I have seen. So when my husband said we should watch Casablanca for a date night, I was hesitant. I put him off for over two years but finally one night I caved. What I was expecting was a silly romance story, something trivial with a really weird pace, one of those scroll Instagram and half-watch movies. What I got was an engaging movie about spies, intrigue, and star-crossed lovers all set against a WW2 backdrop in a little border town called Casablanca.
The Hunger Games
It is hard to imagine that we are coming up on the ten-year anniversary of the first installment of the Hunger Games trilogy. Ten years? Really? Look back at the film, how it has aged? Is it still relevant today?
I Still Believe
Andrew and Jon Erwin are back with a new Christian Indie project to follow up their very successful biopic “I Can Only Imagine”. This time the subject is Contemporary Christian artist, Jeremy Camp (Riverdale’s K.J. Apa), and his first wife, Melissa (Britt Robertson), whom he tragically lost to cancer at a very young age. Technically, the film is well executed and the lead actors performances are engaging. Both Apa and Robertson have terrific chemistry as a young couple falling in love which drives this heavy vehicle when the story itself starts to crash under it own weight…