by Kevin Muller
There are certain movies that are so soaked in mystery that talking about them in any kind of form would be a lapse in judgement. Tom Ford’s new film “Nocturnal Animals” is that very type of film. The trailer for this film doesn’t really show what this thing is about. It is refreshing to actually go into a movie without knowing over 50% of the plot. What Ford has given us though is something both thought provoking and emotionally raw.
by Kevin Muller
What more can you say about “La La Land” that already hasn’t been said? They say it is a masterpiece of a movie that is about ambition, dreams, and hope, all set against original music and beautiful dancing. They say Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling have one of a kind chemistry and are also individually incredible. Yes, a lot has been said about this film and most of it is true.
by Kevin Muller
It was a hot day in the summer of 1994. I was eleven years old and enjoying being off from school for the entire summer. God, I miss those days when summer was vacant of responsibility and work. That day, my friends and I had just finished playing a short game of roller hockey, due to the extreme heat. My friend Brad, whose house we were playing in front of, mentioned a movie that his brother and his friends had seen the previous weekend. It was about a clown and was written by an author I had heard my older cousins talk about at numerous family gatherings. Brad’s brother had it on VHS, where he recorded it off the television. He had the brilliant idea to cut the commercials out too. His brother was at work, so we decided to check out “IT.”
by Kevin Muller
Throughout cinematic history, there have been many films that have tried to capture the medical condition known as “Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder” experienced by returning soldiers. “The Deer Hunter” is a personal favorite and winner of the Best Picture Oscar back in 1978. That film completely sold how war deteriorates the mind of many to the point of tragedy. Many films before it and after give the condition its due through incredible writing matched with equally impressive acting and directing. Now, two time Academy Award winner Ang Lee proposes to show the effects of the condition by shooting his entire new movie in 120 Frames per second. Does it work or is it just a gimmick to cover a mediocre film?
by Kevin Muller
After much hype from Sundance, where it won both the Grand Jury and Audience awards, Nate Parker’s “The Birth of a Nation” has finally dropped upon us. How well will the true story of a slave who decides that enough is enough and decides to have a mini uprising, that resulted in the death of many innocent whites play with audiences? Parker, who is the writer, director, and star, has said this was a passion project for him. It was one that took him close to a decade to bring to the big screen. Was all his hustle and hard work worth it?
by Kevin Muller
“Don’t Breathe” asks you to take sides with criminals who decide to rob an Iraq Veteran who has been dealt a terrible bunch of cards in life: he is blind and lost his daughter in a car accident. Of course, the two of the three criminals are given character traits and back stories for you to feel that what they are doing is completely justified. This isn’t anything new in Hollywood, sometimes it is fun to side with the bad guys and see what living life in sin is like for a while. Usually though, characters ride the wave of pleasure until reality smacks them in the face. In this movie, reality does more than smack our main characters in the face, it beats them over the head with it and takes no prisoners.
by Kevin Muller
“Sully” has to be one of the shortest movies that has its eye on the Oscar that I’ve seen in a long time. As with the incident, which only lasted 208 seconds, the movie is short and is piloted by an expert. While Sully successfully landed the plane in the Hudson, Clint Eastwood guides this story quickly and to the point.
by Kevin Muller
The underwhelming summer movie season has come to pass. For us movie fans, Fall is just as an exciting time for us as summer, maybe more. This is the time where all the films are striving for the big one…Mr. Oscar. Some of them will come off as pretentious dribble or fall short of greatness while others will move us and make us happy we love cinema so much.
by Kevin Muller
As the time passes in Hollywood, women are gaining more and more power within the industry. This year, an all female “Ghostbusters” hit the cinemas with a mixed word of mouth and an underwhelming box office draw. Next year, we are getting an all female reboot of “Ocean’s 11.” Thankfully, “Bad Moms” is an original idea that is both insightful, well acted, and, at parts, hilarious.
by Kevin Muller
The simplistic story of a young girl finding fame, fortune, and independence, while losing her innocence, is as old as time itself. Even before movies visualized it, the story was told as a cautionary tale for the young. How do you sell it in a new way that hasn’t been done to death? Well, Nicolas Winding Refn has done it with his new movie “The Neon Demon” and it is one hell of a mind trip.
Cinephellas 