It’s hard to believe the story in new release Can You Ever Forgive Me?, based on writer Lee Israel’s memoir of the same name. Starring Melissa McCarthy, it follows Israel’s experiences creating forgeries of letters by famous dead authors and playwrights, including Dorothy Parker, Noel Coward, and Katherine Hepburn. Director Marielle Heller’s film feels like …
By CinemaSiren
The Hate U Give Review: Starr Power
Opening in wider release this weekend is the film adaptation of The Hate U Give, the bestselling novel by Angie Thomas. Director George Tillman Jr (Soul Food, Barbershop) brings to the screen the story of Starr Carter (Amandla Stenberg), who is the only eye-witness to the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at …
A Star is Born Review: 4th Time’s a Charm, but Just as Tragic
There are some movies that have been done enough, or so I thought, when I heard actor Bradley Cooper had chosen to reinterpret the thrice-released A Star is Born. Loving the actor and lead actress, the mega-star Lady Gaga, as well as co-star Sam Elliott (who proves for what must be the hundredth time he …
A SIMPLE FAVOR review: This Great Noir Throwback is Anything but Simple
Sometimes a torrid thriller is just the thing, but they’re so rare these days. Do you miss Joan Crawford and Hope Lange and all those trashy melodramas of the 50s, even though you weren’t alive back then? Me, too. Thank the cinematic gods for director Paul Feig, who helms A Simple Favor, a film based …
I AM NOT A WITCH Review: Rungano Nyoni’s Directorial Debut is Heartbreaking and Gorgeous
In limited release this weekend, but worth seeking out in your nearest arthouse theater, is I Am Not a Witch, the British submission for this year’s Oscars in the foreign film category. This multi-award winning directorial debut by Zambian-born Welsh writer-director Rungano Nyoni, through the collaboration with cinematographer David Gallego, uses the stunning backdrops of …
PICK OF THE LITTER Review: This Seeing-Eye Dog Training Doc is a Winner
Anyone who has ever had one of man’s best friends knows just how easily they can transform a bad mood. With just a solicitous face lick or an enthusiastic greeting at the end of a hard day, they can make everything better. Lately there have been a lot of hard days in this country, …
SEARCHING film review: John Cho Finds His Leading Man Mojo with this Great Thriller
The deserved success of Crazy Rich Asians has ostensibly opened the door in Hollywood for more Asian-American actors in lead roles. Hopefully the powers that be have finally seen proof that diversity sells. Not only is Crazy Rich Asians a delightful tale, it’s also full of charismatic performers, each of whom could carry a film …
THE BOOKSHOP review: Indie Film Royalty Acting Together
What can one say about The Bookshop, a movie that stars Emily Mortimer, and cinematic treasures co-stars Bill Nighy and Patricia Clarkson? It’s a bit like PBS version of a superhero movie…The Bookshop is directed by Isabel Coixet, who wrote the screenplay from the classic 60s novel by Penelope Fitzgerald. In 1959 England, widow Florence …
Crazy Rich Asians movie review: Represention Matters but Charisma Sells
Coming to theaters is the much anticipated movie Crazy Rich Asians, the first all-Asian cast film sent into wide release since 1993’s Joy Luck Club has taken over the entertainment news, which may mean impressive box office numbers. Great. It deserves them. Based on the best-selling Kevin Kwan novel, this Cinderella tale is filled with …
The Miseducation of Cameron Post Review and Interviews: Real Life Horror with a Splash of John Hughes
The Miseducation of Cameron Post, a film based on the 2012 novel of the same name by Emily Danforth, is directed and co-written by queer American-Iranian filmmaker Desiree Akhavan. This Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winning indie tells a story that takes place in 1993 chronicling the misadventures of Cameron (Chloe Grace Moretz), a teen placed in a …