#REVIEW: “MATTHIAS & MAXIME”
Review by George Kozera for Mr. Will Wong
I make no secrets of my admiration and borderline obsession with the works of Quebec’s auteur, Xavier Dolan. As an actor, he is charismatic and hypnotic even in movies he did not direct (check out his stellar work in “Boy Erased”). As a Writer/Director, Dolan’s movies are unique, visually spellbinding and impossible to forget. There may have been one or two missteps in his career, but which Director can say, with any honesty, that they may have ...
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#REVIEW: “JOKER”
Review by David Baldwin for Mr. Will Wong
When I first heard about Co-Writer/Director Todd Phillips developing a Joker origin film for adults, I scoffed and wrote it off as a horrendous idea. Did we really need a film chronicling the rise of Batman’s greatest villain? Had Heath Ledger not already given us the definitive cinematic portrayal of the character? How could Joaquin Phoenix even fathom the idea that he could live up to that legendary, Oscar-winning performance? Fast-forward to ...
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#REVIEW: “THE LAUNDROMAT”
Review by Justin Waldman for Mr. Will Wong
Steven Soderbergh and Scott Z. Burns team-up again to deliver an important movie about the Panama Papers, and what they exactly are for people who do not follow the news as closely as the rest of the world. It’s a cat-and-mouse story followed by an excellent Cast as well as fourth wall-breaking throughout, with a final impactful blow.
The Laundromat follows a widow, Ellen (Meryl Streep) as she tries to get to the bottom of an insurance fraud issue ...
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#REVIEW: “ABONIMABLE”
Review by George Kozera for Mr. Will Wong
My initial thought was “yet another animated movie about a Yeti?” when I entered the theatre with hundreds of the target audience in their seats alongside the adults. ABOMINABLE is the first major co-production between an American studio (DreamWorks) and China’s Pearl Studio, so I was relatively certain that the animation itself would be unique, and I was not disappointed with the spectacular visuals.
Set in modern day China, Yi (Chloe Bennet) ...
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#REVIEW: “JUDY”
Review by Mr. Will Wong
While Rupert Goold's JUDY might not be that feel-good Film of the year, it is a fascinating portrait framed around the final weeks of Hollywood icon Judy Garland's (Renée Zellweger) life. Set in 1969, we see her homeless and struggling to support her children, hence taking on a string of sold-out London shows, which pull her away from her children as she fights to retain custody of them. We see her fall in love with her much-younger fifth husband Mickey Deans (Finn ...
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#REVIEW: “AD ASTRA”
Review by George Kozera for Mr. Will Wong
The spectacular AD ASTRA opens with a close-up of the most striking blue eyes since Paul Newman’s. Brad Pitt plays Major Roy McBride, an astronaut who appears to be serene and calm under intense pressure which belie the angry voice over we hear of his inner thoughts and turmoil. In what has to be the most visually arresting ten minutes opening sequences we will probably see at the movies this year, we see Roy in space repairing a rig which is huge in ...
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#REVIEW: “YESTERDAY” BLU-RAY
Imagine a world without The Beatles. Danny Boyle's Musical Romantic-Comedy YESTERDAY explores this possibility as we follow struggling Singer/Songwriter Jack Malik's (a fantastic breakout performance by Himesh Patel) sudden rise to stardom after waking-up from an accident to discover he could get away with being the one responsible for crafting some of the greatest songs of all time. With his star rising internationally, at what cost does this come when he risks losing the love of his life, his ...
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#REVIEW: “JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 3 – PARABELLUM” BLU-RAY
Following its $320 million-grossing success internationally, JOHN WICK 3: CHAPTER 3 - PARABELLUM surfaces via Home Entertainment. Fans of the Franchise can expect the same "ass-kicking" and thrills we've come to expect of the stuntman-turned-Filmmaker Chad Stahelski-directed Series as we see Wick (Keanu Reeves) become excommunicado with every assassin out to get him with a $14-million bounty on his head. The Cinematography by Dan Laustsen (The Shape of Water) is phenomenal and more importantly, ...
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#REVIEW: “OFFICIAL SECRETS”
Review by George Kozera for Mr. Will Wong
In the early 2000s, the administrations of George W. Bush and Tony Blair asserted that Saddam Hussein's weapons programs were still actively building weapons, and that large stockpiles of “weapons of mass destruction” were hidden in Iraq. Despite lack of evidence, President George W. Bush launched a second Gulf War. The war lasted four years and over 150,000 U.S. and British soldiers lost their lives. Katherine Gun, played Keira Knightley, had a ...
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#REVIEW: “HUSTLERS”
Review by Mr. Will Wong
Make no mistake, HUSTLERS isn't just 'that stripper movie'. Lorene Scafaria (Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist, Ricki and the Flash) is back with this enthralling look at a group of woman, whom after thriving in the business relying much on Wall Street clientele, see it all fall apart after financial crisis ensues in the late 2000s. Refusing to fall in defeat, the women led by Ramona (Jennifer Lopez), band together in a carefully-executed plan, stealing from ...
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