– By Matthew Sawczyn – Adapted from the play The Pope by writer Anthony McCarten, Netflix’s awards season gem about an imagined meeting between Pope Benedict and the future Pope Francis actually begins with a third pope: the deceased Pope John Paul II. The bells toll mournfully over St. Peter’s Square, as news of the …
The Liberty of Forgiveness in ‘Waves’
– By Sam Hendrian – *Contains spoilers Waves is one of the most powerful movies I have seen in a long time. It is complicatedly simple, heartbreakingly inspiring, and many other perplexing paradoxes. While tough to watch at times, it had me spontaneously praying, “Oh God, this is beautiful!” on multiple occasions, and if that …
Controlling Happiness in ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’
– By Sam Hendrian – “Christmas is coming, but I’m not happy. I don’t feel the way I’m supposed to feel.” These relatable words spoken by Charlie Brown to Linus at the beginning of the 1965 TV special A Charlie Brown Christmas perfectly capture the numbness that the commercialization of Christmas has brought over time. …
Conversational Commitment and Unconditional Love in ‘A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood’
– By Sam Hendrian – “Do you know what the most important thing is to me right now? Talking to Lloyd Vogel.” The renowned children’s television host Fred Rogers (Tom Hanks) speaks these words to the emotionally-wounded journalist Lloyd Vogel (Matthew Rhys) in an early scene of A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, a new, …
Knives Out: Rethinking The Classic Whodunnit
– By Joe Campbell – [Editor’s Note: This review is free of any major spoilers] It’s almost impossible to surprise the audience with a murder mystery these days. What do you do when every conceivable angle has been covered? What if the murderer is the obvious suspect? Maybe it’s the unsuspecting hero? Maybe everybody is …
Harriet: Five Feet and a Gun
– By Maria Andress – Harriet, the Focus Feature film, hit theaters earlier this month with a 97% Rotten Tomatoes Audience Rating and a slightly over-performing weekend at the box office. Harriet Tubman, the titular character of the film, is one of the three most well-known figures in American history with such a legendary story …
‘Modern Love’: An Examination Into Relationships of Today
– By Matthew Sawczyn – If you’ve seen any of the advertising for Amazon’s new anthology series Modern Love, what likely first struck you was the impressive casting. Anne Hathaway, Dev Patel, Tina Fey, Sophia Boutella, John Slattery… the list of powerhouse performers who star in their own individual episode goes on. Ed Sheeran even …
The Immortality of the Soul and a Call to Virtue in ‘Doctor Sleep’
– By Sam Hendrian – “We’re all dying. The world’s just a hospice with fresh air.” This philosophical observation made by Dan Torrance (Ewan McGregor) midway through the cinematic Stephen King adaptation Doctor Sleep is rather bleak, but it is also undeniably true. Like the memento mori that monks sometimes keep on their desks, horror …
The Brilliant Paradox of ‘Parasite’
By James Powers Contains Mild Spoilers The South Korean film Parasite, this year’s winner of the Cannes Palme d’Or, is full of striking imagery. Unexpected but trenchant symbolism keeps cropping up in this film that might, at first glance, seem to be relatively grounded in realism. But one particular shot, about two-thirds of the way …
The Dangers of Idealizing Love in Richard Linklater’s ‘Before Trilogy’
– By Sam Hendrian – “The concept is absurd. The idea that we can only be complete with another person is evil. Right?” This fascinating question proposed by Celine (Julie Delpy) to Jesse (Ethan Hawke) in the second film of Richard Linklater’s Before trilogy succinctly captures the central theme at play in all three films. …