Year: 2017

“Logan Noir” (2017) Cast: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Dafne Keen, Boyd Holbrook, Stephen Merchant, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Richard E. Grant, Eriq La Salle, Elise Neal, Quincy Fouse. Director: James Mangold. Screenplay: Scott Frank, James Mangold and Michael Green. Story: James Mangold. Source Material: John Romita Sr., Len Wein, Herb Trimpe, Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost. Trailer. What a difference cinematography can make. Thanks to a single production change, a good movie has been elevated to a great one, a film that carries far more meaning and impact than what was conveyed in its original incarnation. Such is the case with a new, limited edition, black-and-white version of the latest offering in the Wolverine films in the wildly popular X-men franchise, “Logan Noir,” now playing in theaters. Released in theaters earlier this year in a full-color format and now available for home viewing on DVD, Blu-ray disk and video on demand, “Logan” (web site) is the latest – and last – film in this X-men spinoff series featuring its original protagonist (Hugh Jackman) and his wise though sometimes-challenged mentor (Patrick Stewart). Even though it’s part of an ongoing series, the movie stands alone well enough so that viewers need not have seen ...

Reviews of “Logan Noir” and “Florence Foster Jenkins” and a magazine article preview are all in the latest Movies with Meaning post on the web site of The Good Radio Network, available by clicking here ...

Ever feel like you were completely on your own, isolated and disconnected from everyone and everything? Yet, often within a short time after the onset of those feelings, we find ourselves comfortably connected to others. Movies help to remind us of this in those times of doubt. Find out more about our inherent sense of connection in “The Ties That Bind Us,” my latest article in New Consciousness Review‘s Conscious Cinema series, available by clicking here and in the summer edition of the HAPI Guide, available by clicking here ...

Reviews of “I, Daniel Blake” and “Mia Madre” and a new movie book preview are all in the latest Movies with Meaning post on the web site of The Good Radio Network, available by clicking here ...

“I, Daniel Blake” (2016 production, 2017 release). Cast: Dave Johns, Hayley Squires, Brianna Shann, Dylan McKiernan, Kate Rutter, Sharon Percy, Stephen Clegg, Kema Sikazwe, Steven Richens, Micky McGregor. Director: Ken Loach. Screenplay: Paul Laverty. Web site. Trailer. When the chips are down, it’s comforting to know that there are those who have your back. That’s especially true for the residents of countries that have social services systems in place to provide needed support in times of crisis, like unemployment and health emergencies. It’s truly reassuring that those structures will be there when they’re needed. But will they? Do the agencies responsible for administering these services live up to their obligations? And what happens if someone in need fails to properly comply with bureaucratic dictates by not dotting an “i” or crossing a “t”? Those are the maddening frustrations explored in the moving new British drama, “I, Daniel Blake.” When 59-year-old Newcastle construction worker Daniel Blake (Dave Johns) suffers a heart attack on the job, he’s laid up while he recovers. He subsequently undergoes cardiac rehab and manages to bounce back relatively well, seemingly fit to return to work. But, when his medical evaluators fail to clear him for employment, he’s ...

“Wonder Woman” (2017). Cast: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Robin Wright, Connie Nielsen, Danny Houston, David Thewlis, Saïd Taghmaoui, Ewen Bremner, Eugene Brave Heart, Lucy Davis, Elena Anaya, Lilly Aspell, Emily Carey. Director: Patty Jenkins. Screenplay: Allan Heinberg. Story: Zack Snyder, Allan Heinberg and Jason Fuchs. Source Material: William Moulton Marston. Web site. Trailer. The process of self-discovery can be challenging enough in and of itself. But imagine what it might be like to go through that in the midst of trying circumstances in a world you barely understand. If you can picture that, you have an idea of what life is like for a superhero coming into her own, the story that provides the backdrop for the new summer blockbuster, “Wonder Woman.” In a secluded land created by Zeus, king of the Olympian gods, an impressionable young Diana (Lilly Aspell) pictures herself becoming one of the Amazonian warriors who populate this beautiful, remote, protected enclave. In this land devoid of men, these heroic women (all of whom were brought to life by Zeus, who sculpted them from the sacred clay of the earth) learn the ways of doing battle for just and noble causes. They train for years under the ...