Documentary, Drama, Movies

American Sniper

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Not everyone was happy that Clint Eastwood made a film following a very skilled American navy seal, Kris Kelly, on his four military tours of Iraq. Eastwood was accused of glorifying killing. Kelly is so good at hitting targets at long distances that he becomes the most successful sniper in US history. If you have [Read More]
Drama, Movies

Woman in Gold

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Adele two nieces take a significant place in her life filled with high culture. When the Nazis take over Vienna, the life of the Jewish population is destroyed Many reviewers of this film were disappointed because the film covers familiar stories about the Holocaust. Similarly I felt that film at times became melodramatic and lame. Particularly [Read More]
Drama, Movies

Leviathan

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Anyone reading world news for the past 12 months will be taken aback by Vladimir Putin’s blatant lies regarding Russia’s involvement in the war in Ukraine. Now comes a film that is extraordinarily powerful in capturing contemporary Russian society. This is only the 4th film of the writer and director Andrey Zvyagintsev. Zvyagintsev manages to [Read More]
Documentary, Drama, Movies

The Imitation Game

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This is the 2nd film about a famous British scientists this year. Stephen Hawkin is probably better known to the public than Alan Touring. But Touring probably has changed our lives more than Hawkins. Touring was one of the pioneers of theoretical computing and computing is now ubiquitous. The film is foremost a history lesson [Read More]
Drama, Europe, Movies, Travel

The Great Beauty

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If you want to see a film that is a genuine piece of art, you could not go wrong with The Great Beauty (La Grande Bellezza). Many European attempts to make an “artistic” rather than “commercial” film fail miserably. Breaking the tradition, experimentation for the sake of experimenting often becomes the center of these efforts [Read More]
Drama, Movies

Wilde

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If I ever were to teach at the Iowa Writer's Workshop, I now have an idea for my very first seminar. I would have students compare the script for Wild and for The Theory of Everything. Wild has what The Theory of Everything lacks so profoundly: Insightfulness, depth, and the ability [Read More]
Drama, Movies

The Theory of Everything

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The life story of Steven Hawkings is amazing. In his early twenties he becomes afflicted by a rare disease that causes one to gradually lose control over all muscles. The doctors only give him two years to live. He is still with us today and he has made big contributions to cosmology. He continued [Read More]
Drama, Movies

Birdman

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Alejandro G. Iñárritu always uses the power the comes with the director’s chair to push the envelop of the art of film. Birdman is no exception. The film is an exploration of the dark corners in the psychological life of a Hollywood star. A formerly very successful Hollywood actor (Michael Keaton) who stared in “Birdman” [Read More]
Drama, Movies

Gone Girl

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If you engaged and your wedding date is coming up soon, you should not watch Gone Girl. You may cancel your wedding afterwards. I read that what people like about this film is that it portrays the trials and tribulations of married life so well. How often have we heard, “Marriage I hard. It [Read More]
Drama, Movies

Begin Again

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It is difficult to write about this film. There were moments when I hated it because it descended into cheesiness of a soap opera. But there were moments when I loved the film because at the core it is fueled by a love of music and the beauty music brings to our lives. Can you [Read More]