Whiplash (2014)
A jazz teacher, using cruel methods to push his percussionist student to achieve perfection, raises the question of what happened to kindness & inspiration?
TÁR (2022)
A world famous female orchestra conductor abuses her power in many ways & suffers the consequences of cancel culture on social media.
Finding Spiritual Values in Oscar’s “Best Pictures”
Courtesy of the Presbyterian News Service Each year the Academy for Motion Pictures and Sciences nominates five to ten films for the “Best Picture” category. I wish that it were a full ten this year, with the addition of Martin Scorcese’s haunting Silence rounding out the number. This well-filmed story, based on the terrible persecution …
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La La Land (2016)
In this ironically titled musical an aspiring actress & a would-be jazz pianist meet in Hollywood, fall in love, but find that success brings unexpected results–for themselves & for the audience.
December 2014 Journal
Inside: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1,The Theory of Everything, Rosewater, Birdman, Whiplash, Low Down, Interstellar, Big Hero 6, Before I Go to Sleep, T. Hobbit: The Battle of the five Armies, Diplomacy, Citizenfour, Glen Campbell … I’ll Be Me, and more.
Steve Jobs (2015)
The film tells the story of the difficult relationships of computer genius Steve Jobs with his partner, coworkers, girlfriend, & daughter is shown at 3 stages in his life.
Reactions to This Year’s Oscars Winners
Like most viewers I was both happy and disappointed with the winners at the 86th Academy Award ceremony. Let’s begin with the “happy” choices. My biggest thrill was the choice of and performance of the “Best Song,” “Glory.” As I wrote in my review of Selma,” I don’t know how the film will fare …
Match (2014)
When famous ballet teacher Tobi Powell is interviewed by two out of towners, it becomes evident that their agenda is far darker than what they had told him.
Film Capsules December 2014
Click onto a title to read a much longer review. Diplomacy Not Rated. Genesis 22:9-12. The filmmakers effectively open up a stage play that condenses into one night a series of confrontations between two strong-willed men in Paris during August of 1944. The men are General Dietrich von Choltitz, the recently arrived Nazi governor of …