'Boudica: Queen Of War' (2023) Movie Review

Epic scope and scale on a bargain-basement budget. That might be the best way to describe DTV action auteur Jesse V. Johnson’s newest film, Boudica: Queen of War, starring Olga Kurylenko, who has carved quite a niche for herself in this realm. 

'True History Of The Kelly Gang' (2019) Movie Review

When you hear characters say, “Make a name for himself,” “Rewrite our history,” and “Every man should be the author of his own history,” it becomes clear what a film has on its mind. It’s about creating your own story, your own myth, and telling your tale the way you want. And with an ironic title like True History of the Kelly Gang, it also becomes clear that maybe their version of events isn’t 100% to be trusted.

'The Favourite' (2018) Movie Review

With movies like Dogtooth, The Lobster, and The Killing of a Sacred Deer on his CV, Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos crafts singular, alluring, if often cold and standoffish films. With his latest, The Favourite, he delivers his most accessible, warmest offering to date. Not without its own oddities, peculiarities, and the filmmaker’s trademark strangeness, it’s anchored by next-level performances; lush, intricate costume and production design; and will serve as an entry point for many into his cannon. 

'Ben-Hur' (2016) Movie Review

Sweeping biblical Epics have been Hollywood staples since day one. Having fallen out of favor in recent years, the latest attempts haven’t been great (the less said about Exodus: Gods and Kings the better, yeesh), or tumble into heavy-handed religious fare (this year’s Risen was much more watchable than most of it’s Bible-thumping brethren, but it’s still only okay). But worry not, Timur Bekmambetov, the guy who directed Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, is here to attempt to revive the genre with yet another Ben-Hur adaptation. And he’s bringing along the half-faced guy from Boardwalk Empire and an actor best known for being really good at playing a motion capture bonobo in the new Planet of the Apes franchise.

'Selma' Leaves You Shaken And Moved

Few historical dramas, no matter their aim, actually make you look at a public figure in a whole new light, change the way you view someone, or alter your perspective, but that’s precisely what Ava DuVernay’s Selma accomplishes. Martin Luther King Jr. is an icon, there’s no other way to put it. He’s this image you see on murals and in text books, whose speeches you study, but especially this far removed from his life, he hardly seems real, more myth than man. What DuVernay, working from a script by Paul Webb, and lead actor David Oyelowo achieve is to paint him as a man, a human, with all the flaws and failings inherent in all of us, and he becomes that much more powerful and moving because of this.