For those of us who weren’t alive in the 60s, the assassination of John F. Kennedy was a very, very, very bad thing for the United States of America, and for the entire world. So bad, in fact, that Peter Landesman took upon himself the task of dedicating an hour and a half’s worth of narrative solely to convey that exact idea. The result of his blunt-force artistry is Parkland, a movie that bursts with promise on the page but never manages to fully live up to its latent potential on the screen; branding the film a total failure would be dishonest, but so too would calling it anything above…
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G-S-T Review…Metallica: Through the Never
It’s a kind of weird and awesome experience to grow up listening to band finally getting to see them in concert. Yes, concert, and we say that because Metallica’s new “movie”, a term to be used very loosely in this situation, can only be called a movie because it was 1. filmed by a camera and 2. will be exhibited theatrically. Held together with what generously can be phrased as a flimsy narrative finds Dane DeHaan, the lead in the 2012 surprise hit Chronicle, as a roadie for the iconic thrash metal band sent on an urgent mission during their sold-out concert. Other than than it’s a bona fide concert that becomes…
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G-S-T Review…Ron Howard’s Rush
With so many box-office bombs populating cineplexes, it’s really comforting and refreshing to see another Ron Howard film on the big screen. Does anyone realize that there’s been 6 Fast & Furious movies made between Rush and A Beautiful Mind? Guess you can say it takes time to make a quality product, but it’s not to say Howard hasn’t kept busy since his Oscar win. While Howard’s films haven’t all been great, it’s safe to say he’s never made a bad film (we’re gonna cut him some slack and just forget about The Dilema, ok?). That said, when he’s on, he is on and most of his films – specifically the…
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G-S-T Review…Don Jon
Few stars working today enjoy the same degree of near-universal adulation as Joseph Gordon-Levitt, now nine years out after ending his acting hiatus and all grown up from his stint on TV sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun. His latest film, Don Jon, a modern riff on the licentious legend of classic literary anti-hero Don Juan, may best evince how far he’s come from his Tommy Solomon salad days; here, he not only serves as leading man, but as writer and director, tasks he’s previously taken on with short films (produced by and distributed through hitRECord, the studio he and his brother founded in 2004) but never with a feature-length effort.…
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G-S-T TV: Low Winter Sun (S1, Ep 7: There Was A Girl)
AMC’s Low Winter Sun is rounding third and hoping for a win. In this episode Frank and Joe look to get a break in the McCann case. Frank confronts Damon and Maya at their house with a warrant charging him with Billy’s murder. They bring Damon and his crew in as a suspects and try to fully alleviate themselves of all suspicion. However Joe and Frank are reaching their breaking point and are driven further apart by their attempts at covering up McCann’s death. At the station Frank gives Damon a very hard edged interrogation but when Damon won’t back down Frank and Joe take things too near extremes. Joe and…
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G-S-T TV: Low Winter Sun (S1, Ep 6: The Way Things Are)
Like that old expression “slow and steady wins the race” AMC’s Low Winter Sun is getting better and in Episode 6 all the horses are getting up to speed, staring with its slowest. Following the shootout at the Blind Pig and the subsequent death of one of his friends, Damon (James Ransone) is running out of options. He is forced to turn to an enemy for help in a time of desperation but his edgy right-hand man Nick tries to prove himself but maybe going too far to do so. Damon’s shady agreement with Isaiah allowed him to sell Skelos’ drugs in the area, mostly at The Blind Pig, but…
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G-S-T Review…The Family
The Family is a lot of things; a deliriously violent black comedy, the first real Luc Besson film Luc Besson has made since 2011’s The Lady (which was itself preceded by a string of children’s movies and fantasy fare), the latest entry in his filmography well beyond his retirement date, and further proof to fuel suspicions that the ever-lovely Michelle Pfeiffer keeps a magical painting hidden somewhere in her attic, to name a few. But it’s primarily a film that’s about Robert De Niro, not just in his capacity as its leading man but as a fixture in mob cinema iconography, so much so that The Family wouldn’t make a lick…
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G-S-T Review…Populaire
French writer/director Régis Roinsard makes his feature length debut with Populaire, the story of a young girl searching for her identity and purpose in the world during the late 1950s, and the man who pushes her toward stardom. Rose Pamphyle (Déborah François) is a naïve girl living in Normandy, the town where she grew up. Raised by her widower father, a stubborn and conservative man set in his ways, Rose looks to start a new life in Paris. Her rapid typing skills – using only two fingers no less – land her a job with Louis Échard (Romain Duris), a handsome but smug insurance agent. It’s her quick hands that…
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G-S-T TV: Low Winter Sun (S1, Ep 5: Cake On the Way)
In the previous episodes of AMC’s Low Winter Sun, things have been quasi-interesting. Frank (Mark Strong) and Joe (Lennie James) have been trying to cover up the fact that they killed a corrupt cop who allegedly killed Frank’s hooker girlfriend Katia. On the other, darker side of the Motor City, Damon shot Billy, a low-level dealer, took his plentiful supply of narcotics and gave his up-and-coming crew an anonymous spring board into the local drug game. But the drugs in question are somewhat linked to the late corrupt cop Brendan McCann and Frank and Joe are using that key detail to its fullest potential. They think they can take this…
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G-S-T Review…Short Term 12
Winner of the Audience and Grand Jury Awards at SXSW in March, writer/director Destin Cretton’s Short Term 12 is a rare and beautiful film containing moments that will make you laugh, cry, render you speechless, take your breath away, and then leave you with a smile. The film’s title comes from the name of the group home that serves as the story’s central setting. The facility known as Short Term 12 serves as a foster home to troubled youth, victims of abuse, kids who have been forgotten, abandoned or otherwise left behind by their parents. On top of this many of the foster kids suffer from mental illness, making their behavior that more…