Sarah Frankcom’s 2014 production, staged at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester and now being offered in a filmed recording, is a bare-bones, modern dress, multicultural interpretation of “Hamlet” that included gender reassignment in a few key roles.
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A couple stuck in their Montreal apartment after a major event outside sees their already strained relationship start devolving into mistrust and perhaps a bit of madness.
A journalist filled with gusto and ambition accidentally discovers the murder of 22,000 officers of the Polish army seemingly by the Soviet during WWII. The deeper he digs into the issue, the more danger he puts himself in.
This documentary focuses on Michael Zahs, a retired history teacher in rural Iowa who was responsible for rescuing rare nitrate films from the beginning of the 20th century that once belonged to William and Indiana Brinton, a pair of pioneering cinema exhibitors. The Brinton collection consisted of 130 films plus numerous magic lantern slides, and it also included a long-lost fantasy work from Georges Méliès called “The Triple-Headed Woman.”
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After the sheer duds that were “Jersey Boys,” and “Sully,” I was definitely ready for “The 15:17 to Paris” to be a riveting and emotional tale of true heroism in a dark world. The story of the Sacramento Hometown heroes is one of the great modern stories of heroism and courage in the face of sheer danger. And I could have thought of at least a dozen ways I would have loved to learn about this tale rather than a glorified television movie that’s pretty much a huge misstep in every direction. “The 15:17 to Paris” teeters back and forth between pure saccharine nonsense and baffling choices in filmmaking that kept me rolling my eyes and groaning throughout its run time.
The problem with prequels is that you already know what you’re getting, because you already know what’s going to happen to certain characters within the canon, so, “Solo” doesn’t pack much surprises. I will say though for arguably safe genre entertainment, it’s exciting and also delivers some well timed twists within its narrative. After the much ballyhooed problems during the making of the film, “Solo” ends up being a surprisingly competent popcorn movie that keeps a brisk pace, and channels the original tone of the episodes IV-VI better than the previous prequels/mid-quels (?).
After breaking his neck in a motorcycle accident, Aaron Baker is left paralyzed. As he’s been told he’ll never walk again, he searches for reasons to live and ways to prove the doctors wrong.