– By Maria Andress – Greta Gerwig’s recent adaption of Little Women raised both expectancy and a few eyebrows with the promise of good screenplay and the questions of why we needed a fifth Little Women film and whether it would be faithful to Louisa May Alcott with its stellar though decidedly third wave feminist cast. Delightfully, it was neither …
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 its safe to say multiple …
‘Tolkien’ Biopic Omits the Author’s Central Influence
– By Maria Andress – The new Tolkien biopic released in the US last weekend turns out to be a pleasant meander from one tapestry moment in author and linguist J.R.R. Tolkien’s life to the next, but it could hardly be what Catholics or avid lovers of Tolkien the man would deem satisfying. Emotionally and cinematically, the film by Finnish …
Why ‘Unplanned’ Surpassed Box Office Expectations
– By Maria Andress – $6.1 million opening weekend on 1,059 screens. A+ Cinema Score. 93% Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score. Still holding 4th place in the Box Office. For a Christian film that was looking at a projection of $2-3 million opening weekend, R-rated by the MPAA, marginalized by Hollywood, and given little to no ad coverage, Unplanned has been …
Serkis Out-Does Disney with New Technology and Fresh Vision in ‘Mowgli’
– By Maria Andress – Potential Spoilers Below You probably saw Disney’s live action re-make of the 1967 animated classic The Jungle Book that came out in 2016, but did you know there was a second Jungle Book movie that was released this past Thanksgiving? Entitled Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle, this more recent (and slightly less-known) release was actually in the works before the Disney remake. …
‘Outlaw King’ Gives the Historical Accuracy of ‘Braveheart’ a Run For Its Money
– By Maria Andress – Not for the faint of heart, Netflix’s “Outlaw King” starring Chris Pine might just be the best Scottish film on the scene as far as historical portrayal goes. This is a mature film—rated R for some nudity (mostly a sex scene that is easily skipped), some language, and the obvious gore of that period’s wars—but …
Five Children’s Books That Need to be Made into Movies
– By Maria Andress – Did we say five? It was almost twenty-five, as many bookworms assure us that there are countless as yet unfilmed chapter book sagas that would make excellent visual entertainment. These five were chosen because their written outline or character development or stages of story are the most readily adaptable to film. Are you ready? Here …
Niederpruem’s ‘Little Women’: Have Critics Misjudged a Hidden Gem?
– By Maria Andress – This recent modern adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women might be a film on very few radars. Directed by Clare Niederpruem and distributed by Pure Flix Entertainment and Pinnacle Peak, it made just over $1 million in the 12 days following its limited release. Reviews on Little Women from mainstream Hollywood such as those …
How Netflix Can Make Their Narnia Adaptations a Success
– By Maria Andress – Yesterday morning it was announced that Netflix closed a multi-year deal with The C.S. Lewis Company for the rights to the entire The Chronicles of Narnia series for multiple feature length film and series projects. Under the agreement, Mark Gordon of eOne Entertainment will produce along with Douglas Gresham (C.S. Lewis’ stepson) and Vincent Sieber …