The kidnapping of John Paul Getty III in 1973 is the subject of "All the Money in the World" from producer-director Ridley Scott ("Alien" 1979). This project ran into big problems when, one month before its scheduled release in November, 2107, Scott fired star Kevin Spacey due [..]
Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House (2017)
Director-screenwriter Peter Landesman ("Parkland" 2013) and producer Ridley Scott ("Alien" 1979) made a poor attempt to depict the drama behind FBI official Mark Felt's leaking of information about the Watergate scandal to reporter Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein in the 1970's. The bland and uninteresting screenplay by [..]
Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story (2017)
The fascinating life of movie star Hedy Lamarr is the subject of the documentary film "Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story." Producer-director-screenwriter Alexandra Dean put together this comprehensive look at Lamarr's life including her birth and childhood in Vienna to Jewish parents; her motion picture career, including clashes [..]
Steve McQueen: American Icon (2017)
"Steve McQueen: American Icon" is an interesting documentary film about the life of popular movie star Steve McQueen. Producer and creator Greg Laurie, pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California, crafted the two hour movie to cover McQueen's entire life story with an emphasis on his [..]
Dunkirk (2017)
"Dunkirk" is without a doubt one of the finest World War II films ever made. Producer-director-screenwriter Christopher Nolan ("The Dark Knight" trilogy of 2005, 2008, 2012) tells the true story of the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of Allied soldiers from Dunkirk Beach in northern France during [..]
The Leisure Seeker (2017)
"The Leisure Seeker" features some quality performances wasted on a mediocre story and a predictable plotline. Italian director Paolo Virzi, in his English language film debut, presided over this tale of an elderly couple on their last road trip. The less-than-satisfying story is from the screenplay [..]
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017)
"Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets" is an exciting science fiction film set in the 28th century, based on a French comic book series called "Valerian and Laureline." Director-screenwriter Luc Besson filmed the picture in English and featured Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne [..]
The Dark Tower (2017)
Garbage comes in many forms and an example in cinematic form is "The Dark Tower." Based on a series of Stephen King novels, the film combines elements of science fiction, horror, and western genre stories. The movie's unfocused plot was the result of bad writing by [..]
Kidnap (2017)
"Kidnap" is a tightly-directed and economically-written film about a woman following a car when her son is abducted by its drivers. The movie is so intense that it was mercifully only 81 minutes long. "Kidnap" is essentially a film that is (spoiler alert!) one big car [..]
Chappaquiddick (2017)
Independent movie director John Curran ("The Painted Veil" 2006) has made an even-handed and unbiased look at the 1969 incident where Sen. Edward Kennedy drove his car into a pond on Chappaquiddick Island in Massachusetts, killing 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne. Australian actor Jason Clarke was more than [..]