Movie Reviews

A grand film to study and enjoy.

Effie Gray lived a fairy-tale marriage with celebrated art critic John Ruskin. But despite the glittering world of high society, wealth and a sumptuous estate, she was miserable and became more and more afraid.

With its line-up of films and celebrity guests, the 2015 edition of the TCM Classic Film Festival was a smashing success.

It stinks.

Film fans and writers we can learn something from other people’s mistakes, for example, the SXSW screenings of 'The Diabolical' and 'Roar.'

In a remote village in Pakistan, tribal customs prevail. Where blood lets blood, the killings must continue unless a sacrificial truce brings the warring clans together. Leader Tor Gul who is in his 60s has decided upon an offering that will keep the peace. He will marry Daulet Kahn's 10-year-old daughter Zainab. When mother Allah Rakhi discovers her daughter's proposed marriage, she considers her own repressive child marriage to Daulet Kahn. She has a choice to make: allow the marriage following tradition or escape with Zainab over the mountains risking her life.

SXSW presents three documentaries: "Best of Times," "They Will Have to Kill Us First," and "Disaster Playground."

Most movies are the merging of technology and short stories, novels or sagas. Manglehorn is technology merged with a poem. It is the story of a locksmith who has lost the love of his life because of something he has done and lives in self-imposed isolation. Manglehorn has constructed a cocoon of memories and fantasies, keeping his son, a former protégé, and the hope of new love at arm’s length.

Two remarkable biographies premiered on the screens of SXSW this year. 'The Last Man on the Moon,' profiling Astronaut Gene Cernan, and 'Love and Mercy,' which brings us into the life of Beach Boys' Brian Wilson.

Why did The Police stop playing together in 1983? Why did they come together again and go on a world tour from 2007-2008? Andy Summers' memoir 'One Train Later' the basis of the documentary film 'Can't Stand Losing You: Surviving The Police' gives an inside look revealing never before seen photographs and footage of the band at its classic moments. And it reveals clues as to why the band dissolved at the apex of their celebrity and power and came back together to go on phenomenal mind-bending tours.