Review: “Highest 2 Lowest”

It begins with a sweeping shots of the New York City skyline, just as that magic hour when the sun begins to peak over the horizon hits. The light dazzlingly reflects off the buildings, the water and windows of icons tall and small appearing gloriously warm as the strains of “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’” […]

Review: “The Tragedy of Macbeth”

White so bright you can’t stare at it without blinking. Suddenly, figures emerge, walking straight toward the camera as if out of a dream. In fact, this dream-like state pervades the entirety of Joel Coen’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s tragedy “Macbeth,” his first solo outing as a director without brother Ethan. But he brings every skill […]

Oscar Predictions

We’re officially less than a week away from Hollywood’s biggest night. The 89th Academy Awards will be presented on Sunday, February 26. Damien Chazelle’s gorgeous musical “La La Land” received a record-tying 14 nominations, and is the favorite to win a majority of them, including Best Picture, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t still predictions […]

Review: “Fences”

4 out of 5 stars. Fences can be built to keep things in; they can also be built to keep things out. While there is a literal fence being constructed by Denzel Washington’s character Troy throughout the movie “Fences,” it is also symbolic of his and Viola Davis’ character Rose’s relationship to each other, and […]

Review: “The Magnificent Seven” (2016)

3 out of 5 stars. There is little that’s magnificent about director Antoine Fuqua’s remake of the classic 1960 John Sturges western “The Magnificent Seven” (which was in turn a remake of the 1954 Akira Kurosawa masterpiece “Seven Samuari”). In fact, there’s little about it that fits into the western genre, despite it having all […]