War
Last Flag Flying
By: Jessica Goddard Richard Linklater’s Last Flag Flying is a touching, exquisitely-performed road trip drama, full of insight and engaging questions for the modern era. This is a movie that never stops breaking your heart, while it keeps you guessing at all the right moments. It’s both patriotic and skeptical; somehow inspiring and disillusioning.
Nowhere to Hide
Nowhere To Hide portrays war-torn life through curious interviews and on-the-fly videography. The doc’s results are unnerving and scary, but essential when understanding a culture who were rediscovering themselves.
Alone in Berlin
While I’m completely aware that Alone in Berlin is based on a true story, I’m afraid Vincent Perez’s big-screen adaptation is thin and tedious. There’s not enough here for the director/co-writer to flesh out, and likewise for the talented leading cast (Brendan Gleeson, Emma Thompson, Daniel Brühl).
The Wall
Set in 2007, after the official end of the Iraq war had been announced, The Wall follows two American soldiers who investigate the area where civilian workers were attacked during the construction of an oil pipeline. The soldiers find themselves pinned behind a crumbling wall by an enemy sniper and struggling for survival.
Perfume War
Canadian documentary Perfume War captures the story of modern revolutionist Barb Stegemann and how she turned her compassion towards an intimidating circumstance into a passion that helped a country and an industry.
Hacksaw Ridge
After a long, ten-year stint in filmmaker jail, Mel Gibson has returned with Hacksaw Ridge: a gruesomely violent WWII biopic about Desmond Doss, a medic and devout Seventh Day Adventist, who saved the lives of over 75 soldiers during the Battle of Okinawa without killing a single enemy combatant. Hacksaw Ridge features Gibson’s typical heavy-handed religious symbolism to great effect here, and serves as an unnerving contrast to the graphic violence in the film’s third…
Command and Control
Based on the book of the same name by acclaimed non-fiction author Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Command and Control delves deep into the how and why of the 1980 Damascus Titan missile explosion.
Drone
By: Addison Wylie Drone looks at the controversy attached to the airborne warfare from all angles; including the conception of the device (including some neat trivial facts about how drones were first intended for fishermen searching for tuna), the budding utilization introduced by the Bush administration, and the ongoing decisive back-and-forth over whether it’s an effective tactic or just creating war crimes. Considering the subject matter and the high risk surrounding drones, it’s to no surprise…
Kilo Two Bravo
By: Shahbaz Khayambashi Kilo Two Bravo may have surprised me, but Paul Katis’ film would have ultimately been better if it ditched the first and third acts. There is nothing new about the setup of this film: it is yet another bit of neo-white man’s burden propaganda which shows the importance of war while almost completely erasing the local victims of the aggression. It is only in the second act that the film finds its bearings – turning…