“John Wick: Chapter 4” opens with a series of bloody punches and then uses a direct homage to David Lean’s 1962 classic “Lawrence of Arabia” to take the audience into the wild world of the most resilient assassin ever to grace the screen. Chad Stahelski’s original “John Wick” was wire-tight in its tale of a lone killer seeking revenge. The filmmaker used its violent set pieces like sharp slices ... more >
ARCHIVES
“JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 4”; a riveting cinematic experience!
Bigger, broader and even more stunning
Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne and George Georgiou
Directed by Chad Stahelski
“DEVIL’S PEAK” is trouble. It’s a bad film | REVIEW
One word: tripods
Directed by Ben Young
The sins of the father weigh heavily in Ben Young’s “Devil’s Peak," a new film that wants to be a modern “At Close Range" but doesn’t have the depth to carry its screenplay to the finish line. Hopper Penn (son of Robin Wright and Sean Penn) is Jacob McNeely a young man living in Jackson County, NC who is cursed to bear his family name. His father, Charlie McNeely (Billy Bob Thornton) is the ... more >
Oddly-paced “Creed III” is the weakest of the franchise and Stallone was missed; REVIEW
This is the story of Adonis Creed
Michael B. Jordan, Tessa Thompson and Jonathan Majors
Directed by Michael B. Jordan
Sylvester Stallone had a say in crafting Rocky Balboa’s character arc in the first “Creed” and co-wrote the screenplay for the sequel. Now comes “Creed III” to finish out the trilogy, and Stallone, both on screen and on the page, is missed sorely. Michael B. Jordan understandably chose this picture for his directorial debut. While the film is worthwhile, generally, Jordan’s directorial choices ... more >
‘There was something called showmanship when you attended a theater’; “BACK TO THE DRIVE-IN” review
The drive-in theater, the sound was never great and the picture not the sharpest, airplane noise, roaring trains, right in the middle of a big scene, rain or thick fog. As April Wright’s wonderful documentary “Back to the Drive-In” reminds us, for those who remember their heyday, none of that mattered. Wright’s film is sweet, sad, and informative, getting to the heart of what makes the ... more >
SANTA BARBARA FILM FESTIVAL: 6 great films to check out
This year's 38th edition took place February 8th to the 18th
Festival season is in full swing, with some astonishing films that are sure to either be seen in a theaters or on a streaming platform soon. Here are six films from the Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2023 that you'll want to keep on your radar this spring: "26.2 TO LIFE" Director: Christine Yoo Amid the ongoing conversation about prison reform, documentarian Christine Yoo has ... more >
BRIEFLY NOTED: Judd Hirsch in “iMORDECAI”
Starring Judd Hirsch, Sean Astin and Carol Kane
Directed by Marvin Samel
Small and unexpected things can sometimes change your entire world. Mordecai (Judd Hirsch) likes to fix things, but his phone is from twenty years ago and is held together with duct tape and tin foil. He’s worked his entire life as a plumber and a painter. But this is a story about the things he cannot fix, like getting older, the Alzheimer’s diagnosis of his wife Fela (Carol Kane), and his ... more >
“MARLOWE”; by-the-book noir is eye-catcher! | REVIEW
Film is based on the 2014 novel 'The Black-Eyed Blonde' by John Banville
Starring Diane Kruger, Jessica Lange, Liam Neeson and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
Directed by Neil Jordan
Ceiling fans, a dame of dubious motivations, drugs, sex, the sinister side of Hollywood, top hats and tommy guns, high stops from above ceiling fans, they’re all here in “Marlowe,” the new noir thriller from filmmaker Neil Jordan (“The Crying Game,” “The End of the Affair”), with Liam Neeson as the dependable yet perennially down-on-his-luck private eye Philip Marlowe. “Marlowe” finds Raymond ... more >