Review: “Son of Saul”

At one point or another, everyone has cried during a film. A moment unexpectedly overcomes us as it becomes impossible to detach our emotions from the screen. It is, generally speaking, the mark of exceptional dramatic filmmaking. When I took my seat to to watch the Son of Saul, I fully expected this sort of reaction. After all, it captures the experience of a man named Saul Auslander as he is forced to assist Nazis exterminate Jews in Auschwitz, thus delaying his own death for a few months. Reading this description, or any others, one immediately creates a sequence in their mind of what events will unfold, emotions will be experienced, and story will be projected. I ask you to avoid this approach, for when I left the theater, I was still dry-eyed. It was then that I realized how easily first-time Hungarian director László Nemes could have made an overly sentimental picture with moving music and scenarios that tug at our heart strings. By not allowing the audience to experience these types of moments, he has reproduced the complex feeling that so many Holocaust survivors have explained: tears were not enough to express the horror.

Review: “Dirty Grandpa”

Within the first twenty minutes of Dirty Grandpa,  almost every synonym for genitalia has been used at least twice. That alone could represent the experience of watching this movie, but the runtime lands at 102 minutes, so there were many more sexual references to be had along this unconventional road trip movie.

Oscar Reactions: Part I

As another year of Oscar nominations comes and goes, the saying “the more things change the more things stay the same” rings in my head. A new year of movies has arrived, but not a whole lot has changed. The noms are released, people complain that “X” movie wasn’t nominated for “Y” category, everyone makes their predictions, it all feels rather familiar. In fact, this is one of the most boring Oscar years in recent memory due in no small part to 2015 being a somewhat tepid year for film. All of the films nominated for Best Picture are based on or are a follow-up to pre-existing material and events as opposed to last years best picture contenders which featured three original films. That being said there were a handful of quality films so let’s take a look at some of the major categories.

2015 in Review: 5 Films You Might Have Missed

This past year has been a tremendous year in movies, with summer blockbusters as big as “Jurassic World,” and record breaking box office numbers from the highly anticipated “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” With awards season upon us, the buzz is nonstop about top runners such as “The Revenant,” “Spotlight,” “Room,” and others. Every year during awards season, we remember the ones getting nominated for the top awards. Every year, great films go forgotten, and 2015 is no different. From the summer of 2015, here is a list of five such films, films that might otherwise go overlooked.