“Soapy” is usually a word with a negative connotation, but The Burnt Orange Heresy seems to challenge that. The film is a to-do list of soapy thematic tropes, such as using sex, deception, and even murder to drive its story, yet director Giuseppe Capotondi, screenwriter Scott B. Smith, and a great cast get away with it because the central drama is so interesting and the characters are so beguiling.
By: Jessica Goddard Paolo Virzì’s geriatric road trip flick wastes the legendary talents of Donald Sutherland and Helen Mirren on some of the most unfortunate forced sentimentality and rushed melodrama I’ve seen in years. Despite a promising premise, this adaption of Michael Zadoorian’s novel of the same name is more often cringeworthy than sincere.
By: Addison Wylie The Hunger Games series has been particularly strong with its film adaptations. However, something always appears to be slightly off key. Not always a detail that greatly affects the film as a whole, but an attribute that hampers the film from being great. The Hunger Games was a powerful introduction to dystopian District 12 and all the have-nots that inhabited such a mucky home. Audiences also received a brutal – yet PG-13…
By: Addison Wylie It was nice to see a young adult book series stick to its gritty tone and not feel the need to make it lighter for a mainstream audience. That’s exactly what The Hunger Games did with its first venture to the big screen. It did, however, succumb to attributes that felt reminiscent to other franchises with a widespread teen audience. One of these beats being complications with affection between two strapping young…
