BAFTA Award

‘Shoplifters’ redefines the nature of family

‟Shopliftersˮ (‟Manbiki kazokuˮ) (2018). Cast: Lily Franky, Sakura Andô, Maya Matsuoka, Jyo Kairi, Miya Sasaki, Kirin Kiki. Director: Hirokazu Koreada. Screenplay: Hirokazu Kore-eda. Story: Hirokazu Kore-eda. Web site. Trailer. What makes a family? Some would say it’s strictly a matter of blood relations. Others would contend that it’s based on emotional bonds, the kind that form through birth, adoption or matrimony. But others still might claim that such considerations are irrelevant, that being a family stems from other less common and less tangible but nevertheless significant connections, ties that keep everyone together for everyone’s benefit. These are questions raised and explored in the unusual new Japanese comedy-drama, “Shoplifters” (‟Manbiki kazokuˮ). Making ends meet in modern-day Tokyo can be difficult, as [...]

Brent Marchant2019-02-04T07:24:43-05:00January 14th, 2019|Comedy, Conscious Creation, Drama, Movie Reviews|

‘Mary Poppins’ affirms the power of magic

“Mary Poppins Returns” (2018). Cast: Emily Blunt, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ben Whishaw, Emily Mortimer, Colin Firth, Julie Walters, Meryl Streep, Dick Van Dyke, Angela Lansbury, David Warner, Pixie Davies, Nathanael Saleh, Joel Dawson, Jeremy Swift, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Jim Norton, Noma Dumezweni, Tarik Frimpong, Suda Bhuchar, Steve Nicolson, Christian Dixon, Chris O’Dowd (voice), Edward Hibbert (voice). Director: Rob Marshall. Screenplay: David Magee. Story: David Magee, Rob Marshall and John DeLuca. Source Material: P.L. Travers. Web site. Trailer. Children frequently delight in the power of magic. They appreciate the wonder it engenders, and they often look on in wide-eyed awe at what it can produce. But, somewhere along the line, many of us lose that sense of amazement as we age, believing that [...]

Brent Marchant2019-02-01T09:50:55-05:00January 11th, 2019|Comedy, Conscious Creation, Movie Reviews|

‘God’s Own Country’ encourages us to find ourselves

“God’s Own Country” (2017). Cast: Josh O’ Connor, Alec Secareanu, Ian Hart, Gemma Jones, Melanie Kilburn, Harry Lister Smith, John McCrea. Director: Francis Lee. Screenplay: Francis Lee. Web site. Trailer. Finding the courage to assert ourselves and lead the life we want can be challenging, especially under unrelenting and oppressive circumstances. We can retreat from the world, drowning ourselves in various diversions, but, while that might take away the momentary discomfort, it doesn’t really solve the issue at hand. And the longer we put it off to the side, the longer the pain lingers and the more likely we’re to grow jaded and embittered. In the end, confronting the matter will provide the only real chance at a solution, but [...]

Brent Marchant2018-06-10T22:07:59-05:00May 23rd, 2018|Conscious Creation, Drama, Movie Reviews|

‘Lady Macbeth’ cautions us to control our powers of creation

“Lady Macbeth” (2017). Cast: Florence Pugh, Cosmo Jarvis. Paul Hilton, Naomi Ackie, Christopher Fairbank, Golda Rosheuvel, Anton Palmer, Cliff Burnett, Bill Fellows. Director: William Oldroyd. Screenplay: Alice Birch. Novella: Nikolai Leskov, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District. Web site. Trailer. How far are you willing to be pushed before you reach your limits? Some of us might cave in quickly, while others will endure much. A lot ultimately depends on the nature of the circumstances and how willing we are to tolerate them. For one independently minded woman, those limits get reached rather fast, and her recourse is something to which most of us would probably never resort, consequences explored in the chilling gothic tale, “Lady Macbeth,” available on DVD, Blu-ray [...]

Brent Marchant2018-05-23T08:40:55-05:00May 2nd, 2018|Conscious Creation, Drama, Movie Reviews|

‘The Death of Stalin’ skewers unrestrained ambition

“The Death of Stalin” (2017 production, 2018 release). Cast: Steve Buscemi, Jeffrey Tambor, Andrea Riseborough, Michael Palin, Simon Russell Beale, Adrian McLoughlin, Jason Isaacs, Paddy Considine, Olga Kurylenko, Dermot Crowley, Paul Whitehouse, Paul Chahidi, Rupert Friend, Tom Brooke, Karl Johnson, Diana Quick, Gerald Lepkowski. Director: Armando Iannucci. Writers: Armando Iannucci, David Schneider, Ian Martin and Peter Fellows. Original Screenplay: Fabien Nury. Comic Book Source Material: Fabien Nury and Thierry Robin, The Death of Stalin. Web site. Trailer. When opportunity knocks, it may be tempting to pursue it with all the gusto we can muster. The rewards awaiting us can be incalculable. But what if such a quest prompts us to engage in questionable, almost Machiavellian behavior? Is the prize still [...]

Brent Marchant2018-05-13T01:44:51-05:00March 30th, 2018|Comedy, Conscious Creation, Movie Reviews|

How’d I Do on This Year’s Oscars?

With this year’s Academy Awards ceremony behind us, it’s time to take a look at how I did on my predictions for the winners in this annual competition, as first outlined in my previous blog, “Who Will Win This Year’s Oscars?”, posted on February 23. And the result? Five out of six correct calls, with one miss. Here are the details: Best Picture Projected Winner: “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” Actual Winner: “The Shape of Water” Result: Missed call (sort of) This has become the most difficult category to call in recent years, largely because it’s been hard to discern the mind of the Academy voters. In years when it seems they’re going to play it safe, they go with something [...]

Brent Marchant2018-03-12T07:12:46-05:00March 5th, 2018|Awards Season Discussion|

‘Film Stars’ probes the depth and truth of love

“Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool” (2017). Cast: Annette Bening, Jamie Bell, Julie Walters, Vanessa Redgrave, Kenneth Cranham, Stephen Graham, Frances Barber, Leanne Best. Director: Paul McGuigan. Screenplay: Matt Greenhalgh. Book: Peter Turner, Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool. Web site. Trailer. Falling in love is undoubtedly one of the greatest joys of life. The passion, fulfillment and bliss that come from it are indescribable and beyond compare. Unfortunately, when it goes wrong or becomes burdened by extenuating circumstances, it can have a debilitating, painful downside. Those ups and downs are the subject matter of the new, fact-based romance, “Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool.” Fading film star Gloria Grahame (Annette Bening) takes to the stage to prop up [...]

Brent Marchant2018-03-09T06:49:26-05:00January 31st, 2018|Conscious Creation, Movie Reviews, Romance|