There were also many very funny moments in the film including one scene where Farrell decks a guy he thinks is an American and right afterwards says: "That's for John Lennon." But then part way through the movie the tone changes abruptly into a much darker and tragic mode. Humor is still sprinkled throughout after this turn, but when you laugh at this point it's almost more like nervous laughter, just to release the tension of what you're watch

So here's the thing: This movie has a ton of what I think is really good stuff as far as script, acting, humor and drama. So why the relatively low rating? As much as I enjoyed the individual moments in the movie, for me it just didn't gel as a whole. I really wish that the film had picked a course and stayed on it. Personally, when a movie starts out funny and then suddenly changes course into tragedy I just feel like I'm being manipulated, and it's jarr

It remains to be seen if this is something that will plague the Oscars for the next handful of years or is merely a blip on the radar. Looking ahead to 2015's award season (I know, bear with me...), there are offerings from filmmakers including Steven Spielberg, Quentin Tarantino, and David O. Russell among others that could prove to be more lucrative endeavors than the crop we just got. The Academy will spend the next 12 months figuring out how to retool their telecast, but the odds of a ratings boost are in their fa

The second act shifts gears and while gory, is extremely funny. It was a wierd feeling being jerked from extreme violence directly to hysterical comedy and back again, but it worked. There was a friend who showed up about halfway through this part of the film who was absolutely hysterical, acting oblivious to what's happened and caring only about the party planned for that evening and the possibility of hooking up. The third act then shifts back to a more serious tone. One of the things I enjoyed about the approach was that I really didn't know what was going to happen next or where the film festival Games missions|https://moviefestivalhub.com/ was go

Right from the opening frame of the movie it seems that the director is intent on keeping the audience off-balance. The camera pans across various landmarks and streets in the beautiful town of Bruges, Belgium with music that sounds like it comes from some French romance movie. But as this is happening, we get quick cuts to the two main characters, Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson) making funny comments profusely laced with the F-b

As the story moves forward it becomes clear that what Nancy wants from Louis is for him to kill her, and release her from her torturous existence. Nancy's therapist (played by Amy Brenneman) tries and tries to get through to her, but to no av

Alejandro González Iñárritu's Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) won Best Director at the 2015 Academy Awards, but Iñárritu was only recognized for his contributions to the film's script, not his direction, at the Golden Globes that year. The Revenant was in many ways an equally ambitious undertaking by the filmmaker, but because the western revenge thriller isn't generating the same buzz as Birdman , Iñárritu's winning for The Revenant would be somewhat unexpected - even after the HFPA didn't recognized his directorial work on Birdman last y

Downloading Nancy premiered here at Sundance 2008 and is the story of Nancy (played by Maria Bello), a severely emotionally damaged woman married to and emotionally cold man (Rufus Sewell as Albert) who turns to the internet for companions

Shortly the image pulls back to reveal that it's a movie being shown on television. The picture soon starts to break up and is replaced with strange, undulating patterns and a strange noise. (At the time I'm writing this you can go to the official website to see and hear the sig

Redmayne won both a Golden Globe and Oscar in 2015 for his performance as Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything , but he could sneak in and take home another globe for his turn as transgender pioneer Lili Elbe in 2016 too. After all, Jennifer Lawrence won Golden Globes back to back in 2013 and 2014 (for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress, admittedly), and there has been similar cases of back to back winners before. Nevertheless, at this stage Redmayne winning over DiCaprio would be an up

The Signal was one of my favorite films from those I had the opportunity to watch and review at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. As a longtime horror movie fan (much more of older stuff than what's come out recently), it was great on many levels and fortunately you'll be getting the opportunity to see it soon as it was picked up for theatrical distribut

They run into an interesting cast of characters in town including the tough and beautiful pregnant woman who owns the hotel where they're staying, a beautiful drug-dealing young woman who catches Ray's eye, and a midget (sorry, dwarf) who has a taste for prostitu