April showers bring may flowers… After a frigid Chicago winter, the weather has begun to finally shift and my life continues to be hectic after getting married last month.
In terms of film watching, winter was an opportunity to continue to catch up with the best-received films from 2018 and start to give a look at the 2019 crop.
In anticipation of the ceremony for the Academy Awards, I thought it would be as good a time as any to share my impressions on the 2018 crop of movie making.
The thoughts I am about to share are an ever-shifting compendium that may look different in a week, a month, or a year from now.
Continue reading Academy Awards preview: best films released in 2018
In the last three months I have maintained my quota of watching 10-12 films per month, but my blogging has suffered terribly. My commitment in the short term is to get back to posting more often. The attempt to do so begins with this massive recap of films I have seen recently. In addition, I already have finished two other postings that I plan to publish in the coming days. One is a full review of Alfred Hitchcock’s Notorious, my 6th review in my marathon of the director (which needs to pick up). The other is a special look at the largely overlooked Netflix original show “Orange is the New Black” which will kick-off Television reviews in this blog.
Without further ado, here is a compendium of short reviews of all the films watched this past summer (in no particular order):
Genre: Drama
Cast: Rachel Weisz (Hester Collyer), Tom Hiddleston (Freddie Page), Simon Russell Beale (Sir William Collyer)
Director/writer: Terence Davies
The sun never comes out in London according to Terence Davies‘ latest drama The Deep Blue Sea.
Now that we’ve arrived to the end of February, I thought it was as good time as any to share some of my thoughts on the films I’ve seen and haven’t had a chance to review since the turn of the year.
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK (2012)
An emotional drama with a touch of comedy punctuated by a very strong cast. Silver Linings offers just enough to think about and some to laugh at. A bit less transcendental than the awards season have made it out to be, but powerful enough to merit some recognition.
Highlight: the performance by Jennifer Lawrence + the return to form of Robert De Niro
Downside: it has its share of cliches and some sequences feel forced.
Continue reading Films watched: January & February mini reviews
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