#REVIEW: “WIND RIVER”
Review by Siobhán Rich for Mr. Will Wong
Inspired by actual events, Writer/Director Taylor Sheridan brings us Wind River, the story of Cory Lambert (Jeremy Renner) and Jane Banner (Elizabeth Olsen) trying to solve the murder of a girl on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. From vast open spaces to claustrophobic trailers Wind River’s tone is perhaps best captured in the Movie’s opening minutes when a girl is seen running barefoot through snow covered fields fleeing a menace the ...
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#REVIEW: “ANNABELLE: CREATION”
Review by David Baldwin for Mr. Will Wong
Annabelle: Creation is a rather unique Film in theory. It works as a Prequel to 2014’s Annabelle, which was a Prequel to The Conjuring as well as a spin-off in its own right, and is now being marketed heavily as the next chapter in a so-called Conjuring universe of Films. Still with me? Complicated connections aside, Creation is a Prequel/Sequel very few of us were clamouring for – but to my surprise, may be one of the best horror films we have ...
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#REVIEW: “THE NUT JOB 2: NUTTY BY NATURE”
Review by Amanda Gilmore for Mr. Will Wong
The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature is a sequel that’s better than its predecessor.
Since The Nut Job, Surly (Will Arnett) and his animal friends have been living extravagant lifestyle - eating colossal amounts of a wide variety of nuts - in the basement of an abandoned nut shop. When the shop accidentally explodes the gang are forced to return to their previous home, the Oakton City park. When they learn that the Mayor of Oakton is destroying the ...
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#REVIEW: “THE GLASS CASTLE”
Review by Amanda Gilmore for Mr. Will Wong
The Glass Castle honours Jennette Walls’ Memoir.
The Glass Castle is the adaptation of Walls’ (Brie Larson) Memoir of the same name. One night Walls sees her parents scrounging for food on the street and it brings memories from her past to light. Memories of her, her three siblings and her parents living an eccentric and resilient life when it was at its best. But also memories of alcoholism, lies and destruction when it was at its worst. ...
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#REVIEW: “THE TRIP TO SPAIN”
Review by Siobhán Rich for Mr. Will Wong
When friends drift apart, old bits become strained and comfortable silences become filled with patter rather than banter. Director Michael Winterbottom returns to familiar territory with The Trip to Spain which reunites Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon as friends who prove that maintaining relationships isn’t always an easy road but the effort is always worthwhile.
Coogan and Brydon play versions of themselves in this triptik around Spain. Brought ...
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#REVIEW: “DETROIT”
She time and again has riveted us with an outstanding body of work which includes Black Hawk Down, The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty. Academy Award-winning Director Kathryn Bigelow is back and just as impactful as ever on her latest effort, DETROIT. The Film gives us a look at what took place at the Algiers Motel incident during the racially-charged Detroit 12th Street Riots in 1967. Three black men were killed and nine people were brutally beaten, including seven black men and two white ...
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#REVIEW: “THE DARK TOWER”
Review by Jonathan Godfrey for Mr. Will Wong
Stephen King put pen to paper in 1970, and wouldn’t complete his first Dark Tower Novel until 1982. Seven books would follow over the next 30 years, as well as a series of comics that further fleshed out the times and trials of Gunslinger Roland Deschain. Bringing us to today, and the release of the aptly- titled Feature Film, The Dark Tower.
After ten years of production, director Nikolej Arcel was finally able to lift the ...
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#REVIEW: “LADY MACBETH”
Review by Siobhán Rich for Mr. Will Wong
Great feminist heroes can also be the villains of their own stories. Based on a book by Russian novelist Nikolai Leskov, Lady Macbeth is not the Shakespearean tale of a woman gone mad but a shockingly modern tale of a woman willing to do anything to stay in control of her own life.
Lady Katherine was wed, she is reminded by her husband Alexander (Paul Hilton), for a piece of land he wanted even less than he wanted her. Her father-in-law (Christopher ...
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#REVIEW: “ATOMIC BLONDE”
Review by Siobhán Rich for Mr. Will Wong
In a year that has already boasted several great Action Movies, Atomic Blonde leads with its best stiletto forward. Charlize Theron has proven her mettle as a dramatic actress and seems to have spent 2017 trying to show the world she can kick butt with the boys. Unafraid to take a hit or throw a punch, Theron is the perfect heroine for this mid-summer blockbuster.
When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 both East and West Germany were in a state of chaos. ...
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#REVIEW: “VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS”
Visionary Luc Besson worked with many great artists on groundbreaking The Fifth Element, including Jean Claude Mézières. Mézières is best known for his work on the Comic Book “Valérian.” Fast-forward twenty years. Besson has a studio (Europacorp), a Film Complex (Cité du Cinéma), and the means to extend his fantastical filmmaking even further. Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is the culmination of his genius.
Its story takes place in the distant future, and centers on a ...
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