A Québécois and a Parisienne meet in a bar—in French Morocco during World War II, no less. Even without switching the nationalities, viewers of “Allied” will have a hard time not thinking about Ilsa Lund and Rick Blaine’s classic encounter 74 years ago. While director Robert Zemeckis’ latest patently aspires to be...
YouTube sensation Joey Graceffa, known for his vlogs and love of “The Hunger Games,” is continuing his plunge into the realm of books. Graceffa’s autobiography “In Real Life: My Journey to a Pixelated World” was a New York Times best-seller in 2015. He teamed up with author Laura L. Silverman to co-write his latest...
After an 18-year hiatus, A Tribe Called Quest shows up on their latest and final project “We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your service.” The sound and style they constructed in the early ’90s has aged gracefully. Consisting of four members’ Q Tip, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Jarobi White, and the late Phife Dawg, who...
For this “Reel Mood of the Week,” all sorts of fights are brewing in these characters’ lives. It’s up to you to pick which one to witness (and hope for the best possible outcome). “Bleed for This” Vinny Pazienza (Miles Teller) is a fire in the ring and off, as his nickname “The Pazmanian Devil” can prove. His winning...
J.K. Rowling has revealed herself to be a superb Scribomagus. OK, so that wasn’t an actual magical ability in the Wizarding World, but the point is Rowling has indeed performed a flawless transformation from novelist to screenwriter. In other words, the “Harry Potter” author’s feature script debut is more Gillian...
On October 7th Netflix released a documentary, “13th” made by “Selma” director Ava DuVernay. On the surface, the film is about the 13th amendment, which states that “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United...
For this “Reel Mood of the Week,” seek out three different kinds of encounters and see how the varying characters will handle them. “Arrival” As a wise wizard once said, “Words are, in my not-so-humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic. Capable of both inflicting injury, and remedying it.” When...
A first encounter of the most stellar kind. In a case of life imitating art, this is also the director’s first contact with the sci-fi genre. Yet, with the same level of expertise in cinematic storytelling as the main character in analyzing languages, Denis Villenueve has made a film so personal, stimulating...
As the nine or so hours of “The Hobbit” trilogy, every adaptation of Frank Herbert’s “Dune,” WWZ (starring Brad Pitt) and “Cat in the Hat” (starring nightmares) show—turning a book into a film is an unfathomably difficult task that can go horribly wrong, no matter how many dollars are thrown at it. Here’s a list of the...
Last week, I had the privilege of meeting New York Times best-selling author, Jay Asher. His first major novel, “Thirteen Reasons Why,” resonated with me when I first read it in eighth grade. I remember my friends and I devouring this book like candy as Asher told his tale about Hannah Baker struggling to be the new...
Recent Comments