#REVIEW: “ELEANOR THE GREAT”
By Mr. Will Wong
Acclaimed Actress Scarlett Johansson tries her hand and directing in Dramedy ELEANOR THE GREAT, giving veteran Actress June Squibb a vehicle for recognition with a stellar performance, incredibly at the age of 95.
Hot off its Festival run, including a tiff50 debut, this Film centers on Eleanor (Squibb), who is about to lose her Holocaust-surviving friend Bessie (Ritz Zohar). Feeling alone, with the sense that her daughter Lisa (Jessica Hecht) is looking to admit her to a ...
Read more
#REVIEW: “THE SMASHING MACHINE”
By Mr. Will Wong
Easily one of the hottest tickets at tiff50, Actor/Writer/Director Benny Safdie is coming into awards season with his latest effort, THE SMASHING MACHINE, in an admirable position. The Biopic about Mixed Martial Arts legend Mark Kerr diverts from the typical Sports Drama, giving us a film that more rests its focus on obstacle, resilience, and the emotional costs of success on a grand scale.
We meet Kerr at the top of his game, an undisputed king who fights for big prize money ...
Read more
#REVIEW: “HIM”
Review by Justin Waldman for Mr. Will Wong
When Jordan Peele’s name is attached to a project, there is a certain level of excitement that it elicits, even if it is just a Producer credit it means something he saw he believed in and had faith in and wanted to back the movie. Whether that means the final cut of the movie lives up to that promise, is a different conversation. In the case of Justin Tipping’s latest, HIM, which he also co-wrote with Zack Akers and Skip Bronkie, we get some ...
Read more
#REVIEW: “THE HISTORY OF SOUND”
By Mr. Will Wong
After some positive reception at Cannes earlier this year, Oliver Hermanus' THE HISTORY OF SOUND now surfaces, but despite its polished aesthetic and soothing dulcet tones, it never quite strikes the chord it reaches for.
The queer historical romance centers on Lionel (Paul Mescal) and David (Josh O'Connor), two young men who form a strong connection over their love for music after World War I. They study at the Boston Music Conservatory, and while the time they are ...
Read more
#REVIEW: “DOWNTON ABBEY: THE GRAND FINALE”
By Mr. Will Wong
An era comes to an end. As The Crawley family enter the 1930s, extravagances dwindle, and with that, they must navigate keeping face and embracing their new reality and future. Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) is grappling with her new status as a divorcée and being shunned by her and her family's peers. Not only this, we have others who may or may not be swooping-in to take advantage of the family in their time of vulnerability.
As the dazzle begins to diminish, Director ...
Read more
#REVIEW: “THE ROSES”
Review by Amanda Gilmore for Mr. Will Wong
This adaptation is a reimagining of the 1989 classic film The War of the Roses, based on the Novel by Warren Adler. In this reimagining, life seems easy for the picture-perfect couple of Theo and Ivy (Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Coleman): a loving marriage and great kids. However, a tinderbox of fierce competition and hidden resentments soon emerges when Theo's career nosedives and Ivy's own ambitions take off. Theo is an architect whose career ...
Read more
#REVIEW: “SPLITSVILLE”
Review by Amanda Gilmore for Mr. Will Wong
When Ashley (Adria Arjona) asks for a divorce from her soft-spoken husband Carey (Kyle Marvin), he runs to his friends, the ‘happily’-married Julie and Paul (Dakota Johnson and Michael Angelo Covino), for support. It’s at their lavish home where Carey learns the secret to their ‘happiness’: an open marriage. But when Carey crosses the line, it throws all of their relationships into chaos.
There’s never been a Rom-Com ...
Read more
#REVIEW: “HONEY DON’T”
By Mr. Will Wong
Sharp turns and forked roads come to define Ethan Coen's new Dark Comedy, HONEY DON'T.
The Film centers on a lesbian detective named Honey O'Donahue (Margaret Qualley), who is tasked with solving the death of a woman who she was to meet with a day prior to her death. This leads her to uncover a religious cult, led by Reverend Drew Develin (Chris Evans) and a criminal underworld responsible for multiple deaths. Along the way, she engages in a passionate tryst with a police ...
Read more
#REVIEW: “NOBODY 2”
Review by Justin Waldman for Mr. Will Wong
From Director Timo Tjahjanto and Screenwriters Derek Kolstad (who wrote the first installment) and Aaron Rabin, comes a family vacation from hell in Nobody 2. The only people suffering are the ones who refuse to let our Mister Nobody finally relax, unwind, and go to the happiest place on earth – his former childhood vacation spot. Interrupt this man’s vacation with his family and the consequences may in fact be deadly!
The Movie focuses on Hutch ...
Read more
#REVIEW: “ALIEN: EARTH”
Review by David Baldwin for Mr. Will Wong
They say that in space, no one can hear you scream. And after nearly 50 years of screaming, it is about time the Alien franchise makes the voyage to Earth to see if that same mantra is true here too – and no, we will not count those Alien vs. Predator films if you won’t either.
Set in the year 2120, ALIEN: EARTH revolves around the fallout from the catastrophic crash of the deep space research vessel USCSS Maginot. The ship was carrying multiple ...
Read more
