Writer/director Sam Mendes’ Empire of Light is a beautiful and emotional achievement, celebrating the beauty of cinema while allowing its star, Olivia Colman to deliver a powerful, layered and nuanced performance as Hillary. She’s a woman of a certain age who suffers from a mental illness, which she has to contend with in her day-to-day…
Tag: toby jones
Red Lights (2012) – Rodrigo Cortes
Red Lights is a bit of a mess, there are some solid ideas to it, but it doesn’t come off as well as it could have. It does feature a solid cast including Robert De Niro, Sigourney Weaver, Cillian Murphy, Elizabeth Olsen, Joely Richardson, and Toby Jones. Dr. Margaret Matheson (Weaver) is a skeptic who…
Frost/Nixon (2008) – Ron Howard
I love a film that depicts journalism taking on truth seeking and corrupt politicians. Perhaps in some corner of the multi-verse I’m a newspaperman, who knows… So when Ron Howard dramatised the incredible confrontation between Richard M. Nixon (Frank Langella) and host David Frost (Micheal Sheen) I was there from the get go. Then the…
Doctor Who (Matt Smith) – Amy’s Choice, and The Hungry Earth
Reality begins to mess with the Doctor (Smith), Amy (Karen Gillan) and Rory (Arthur Darvill) when we join them in the TARDIS for Amy’s Choice. Written by Simon Nye this unique episode first aired on 15 May, 2010 and introduced us to the Dream Lord (Toby Jones). As they bounce between realities, our heroes must…
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013) – Francis Lawrence
The Sci-Fi Chronicles book continues to entertain, and now, I’m diving into the cinematic adaption of Suzanne Collins’ trilogy, The Hunger Games. I’ve read the books, and reviewed the first film way back here, but hadn’t covered the other films in the series yet, so it was time to dive back into the world…
The Hunger Games
The Hunger Games is a good, solid film. I’ll spare you another rehashing of the plot, as I’ve done so in an earlier post, and people know how I feel about comparing it to Battle Royale – that’s a simple, superficial comparison a best, especially seen in the context of all three books. For fans…
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy – Review
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is an old school, cold-war spy thriller. And sadly, I think it’s not going to find as much of an audience as I would like it to here in North America. There’s not enough flash to hold the attention of the younger movie watchers who make up the large percentage of…
The Mind Reels 