Ron Howard
I’d like to begin this review by stating that, for the record, I am anti-puppet.…
For his first report from Toronto International Film Festival, Wilson Kwong looks at two films based on true events.
Mukdeeprom and Howard make Thirteen Lives an entertaining and emotional translation of a major news event that captured the world.
In context to its insufferably self-congratulatory source, Hillbilly Elegy might be the least-bad adaptation one could hope for, for whatever that’s worth.
A Yale law student drawn back to his hometown grapples with family history, Appalachian values and the American dream.
Pavarotti is at times hard to watch, but ever so entertaining and explosive exploring one of the most captivating and astonishing artists of the 20th century.
The view on the 1990s Star Wars prequels is synonymous with hubris, failure, and shoddy filmmaking, that is until Disney came into the picture and changed the image completely with its latest additions to the franchise Rogue One and Solo.
Too heavy in its fan service at times, Solo: A Star Wars Story is not a terrible Star Wars entry, with enough fun moments to please.
Gus Edgar reports from Cannes Film Festival, where he saw Solo: A Star Wars Story, Lars Von Trier’s The House That Jack Built, and more, and lists the winners of the festival’s Awards.
Han Solo is one of the most beloved Star Wars characters, so it makes sense Disney decided to explore his backstory in their second Star Wars story.
Oscar winners Tom Hanks and Ron Howard reunite in their third collaboration on a Dan Brown adaptation, Inferno. Small wonder. The Da Vinci Code grossed better than $750 million worldwide, and its sequel, Angels & Demons, based on a lesser known novel that marked the first appearance of globe-trotting symbologist Robert Langdon, pulled in close to $500 million.
Willow has a special place in many film lovers’ hearts. Many of those who love the 1988 fantasy epic saw it as children, and at that young age, the film was possibly the greatest cinematic achievement they had ever seen. There were unlikely heroes, wondrous creatures and imaginative magic filling nearly every frame.
Inferno bumps the Robert Langdon film series up to a trilogy, as the symbologist is again swept up in a globetrotting mystery. While not as controversial as the series’ previous entries, The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons, the film stills deals heavily with Catholic mythology, this time centering on Dante’s Inferno and its formative influence on the modern idea of hell. It’s not surprising that the series, taken from books of the same name by Dan Brown, have such enduring popularity.
In the Heart of the Sea was originally supposed to premiere in early 2015, but it was pushed to later in the year at the last second. Ron Howard hoped that more people would come out to see the film now as opposed to in early spring, since some other oceanic adventure films have seen success around this time (Life of Pi, for example). It was my sincere hope that pushing the film to December was also because it would be worthy of premiering next to more awards-friendly films, which could mean that it was better than originally expected.