It’s March 31, 1943, and Broadway lyricist Lorenz Hart (Ethan Hawke) is chatting up the patrons at Sardi’s, a restaurant that will be hosting the production of Oklahoma! after their opening night. The buzz around this new musical is rumoured to be a hit for Hart’s collaborative composer Richard Rogers (Andrew Scott), who paired with Oscar Hammerstein II for this folksy endeavour. Hart, whether he knows it or not, tries to tune out and drown away his…
Wildcat is an assuredly-made drama from director Ethan Hawke (Blaze) and his sensational star Maya Hawke (Do Revenge, Asteroid City). The unconventional period biopic marks the first feature-length father-and-daughter collaboration between the Hawkes, and audiences will surely hope it isn’t the last.
Zeros and Ones begins with an enthusiastic vlog from Ethan Hawke, who eagerly tells the audience that he’ll be playing a dual role in the movie that we’re about to watch. He also speaks highly of the film’s writer/director Abel Ferrara (Ms. 45, Bad Lieutenant, 4:44 Last Day on Earth), and how the filmmaker has made a truly special movie that speaks “to this moment” and that it’s “Abel’s hit on what we’ve been going through…
Tesla, written and directed by Michael Almereyda (Hamlet [2000], Majorie Prime), explores the famous Serbian inventor with an ostensible inventiveness in both narrative and form. While the experimentation is welcome and even appropriate, its application is uneven and questionable, and leads to an uncertain overall thesis.
From my experience, audiences usually like when a movie shifts into high gear right off the hop; especially if it’s an action movie. The Kid does just that. Using a pair of young fugitives as a vessel for the audience, the film essentially starts in the middle of a power struggle between Pat Garrett (Ethan Hawke) and Billy ‘The Kid’ Bonney (Dane DeHaan).
By: Trevor Chartrand Director Ethan Hawke’s country music biopic Blaze leaves a lot to be desired – with a lot of atmosphere and not much narrative, this film is meandering and weak. To some, the film could perhaps be considered an abstract poem, akin to the music stylings of the late Blaze Foley, which I suppose should be commendable. However, given the more obscure nature of this film’s subject, the storytelling gaps will leave audiences…
Eugene Jarecki takes to the road in Elvis Presley’s 1963 Rolls Royce in The King. The documentary’s narrative itself is like Jarecki’s luggage – crammed-full and seeping out of the zippers. However, this stuffed film is interesting in ways thought-provoking open discussions can be.
In First Reformed, writer/director Paul Schrader tells a story about characters living in excruciating personal turmoil. He then gradually develops his movie to be more visceral, so the audience can experience similar pain. You would think keeping movie goers in a state of compelling discomfort would be a tricky balancing act for Schrader, but he succeeds with ease; almost as if this area of emotional discomfort is a particular wheelhouse for the Taxi Driver screenwriter.
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is an astonishing film. Visually, it could even be described as a masterpiece. Unfortunately, a formulaic third act and a lack of chemistry between the two leads sink one of the most promising films of the year.
As the Gods Will (DIR. Takashi Miike) Takashi Miike has two modes of filmmaking: a deadly serious style that’s evident in films like Audition, and a goofy, over-the-top style visible in films like Ichi the Killer. In As the Gods Will, it takes the viewer mere minutes to figure out which category Miike’s latest falls into (for me, it was the moment when a student gets decapitated and bleeds red marbles).