LA COCINA Reviewed by GREG KINGDirector: Alonso RuizpalaciosStars: Raul Briones, Rooney Mara, Anna Diaz, Lee Sellars, James Waterston, Oded Fehr, Motell Foster, Laura Gomez, Eduardo Olmos. Hell’s Kitchen? A comedy/drama La Cocina (Spanish for the kitchen) takes us behind the scenes of the combustible kitchen of The Grill, a swanky restaurant in Times Square in New York. It captures the pressure …
DON’T WORRY, HE WON’T GET FAR ON FOOT
Reviewed by GREG KINGDirector: Gus Van SantStars: Joaquin Phoenix, Jonah Hill, Rooney Mara, Jack Black, Udo Kier, Kim Gordon, Beth Ditto, Mark Webber, Tony Greenhand, Carrie Brownstone.The late US cartoonist John Callahan is not a household name, and is largely unheard of outside of the United States, which makes this quirky and unconventional biopic a bit of a hard sell. Callahan died in 2010. Set in …
MARY MAGDALENE
Reviewed by Greg KingDirector: Garth DavisStars: Rooney Mara, Joaquin Phoenix, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Tahar Rahin, Denis Menochet, Tcheky Karyo, Ryan Corr.In the 50s, Biblical films were extremely popular, with sweeping epics like the Oscar winning Ben Hur and the spectacular The Ten Commandments scoring at the box office. These stories drawn from the Bible featured timeless themes of good versus evil and …
SONG TO SONG
Reviewed by GREG KINGDirector: Terrence MalickStars: Michael Fassbender, Ryan Gosling, Rooney Mara, Natalie Portman, Cate Blanchett, Holly Hunter, Iggy Pop, Val Kilmer, Patti Smith, Flea.I loathed the past couple of films from revered auteur Terrence Malick, particularly his To The Wonder and Knight Of Cups, with their frustratingly obtuse, indulgent and abstract experimental nature, existential …
A GHOST STORY
Reviewed by GREG KINGDirector: David LoweryStars: Casey Affleck, Rooney Mara, Will Oldham.Despite its title, this is not a horror story, nor is it a conventional haunted house story. Nor is it a remake of the 1981 John Irvin film Ghost Story, that was based on a novel written by Peter Straub. Rather this oblique and glacially paced art house drama is a film about a ghost suffering an existential …
UNA
Reviewed by GREG KINGDirector: Benedict AndrewsStars: Ben Mendelsohn, Rooney Mara, Riz Ahmed, Ruby Stokes, Tara Fitzgerald.Based upon the controversial Olivier-award winning play Blackbird written by Scottish playwright David Harrower, Una is a confronting film that deals with some difficult and troubling and taboo material.Fifteen years ago, a 13-year-old Una (played by newcomer Ruby Stokes) had …
