?When someone steps on to the ballroom floor, they?re not just competing in categories. They?re telling a story. Someone who walks says, ?I am beautiful. This is who I am. I?m lovely no matter what you say, what you think. I?m beautiful.?? The LGBT community is far...
Lee Chandler (Casey Affleck) spends his days as a janitor in Boston. It?s not a great job, but it provides him with what he needs. Still,?there remains an?anger within him that comes out in inappropriate ways from time to time. When his brother Joe (Kyle Chandler)...
?What right do I have to not be happy? I have everything.? Susan Morrow (Amy Adams) seems to have a perfect life in Nocturnal Animals. She has a top job in the art world, a beautiful home complete with its own works of art, her clothes and makeup are flawless. Yet we...
Filmmakers often bring us the things we may read about in the news in a very personal manner. That is the case for all the films nominated for Best Short Documentary. Three of the films cover very similar territory but each has a different perspective. The films, in...
Short films tell us stories quickly, and often with greater effect than if we sat through a two hour movie. Those who make shorts may still be students, or accomplished filmmakers. There are Oscars given out each year for short films in three categories: animated,...
All the films nominated for Best Live Action Short this year come from Europe. Most deal with the human search for joy, but then some deal with some of the darker sides of life. All tell their stories with skill and brevity. In alphabetical order they are: Enemies...
?Once they leave the building, one rarely hears from them again.? From the opening scene, which seems to say ?It was a dark and stormy night?, Havenhurst is as conventional as a horror film can be. Besides the dismal weather for the opening, we immediately discover...
?You do know what?s right, don?t you? Maybe you don?t.? There was a time when two people who loved each other could not be married in some states. Even if they were legally married in another state, some states would refuse to recognize that marriage and might even...
The first thing to keep in mind about The Comedian is that it is not a comedy. To be sure there are spots of humor, but it is really a drama focusing on a man at odds with the world?and perhaps with himself as well. Jackie Burke (Robert De Niro) is an aging comedian...