FilmFlashes.com Blog

Manhattanites, Kate (Catherine Keener) and her husband Alex (Oliver Platt) divide their time between buying up estate sales, interacting with their elderly neighbor (Ann Morgan Guilbert) and her two dramatically different granddaughters/heirs, Mary and Rebecca (Amanda Peet and Rebecca Hall) and trying to be proper parents to their 15-year-old, needy but independent daughter. Commendable performances and [...]

[Read more →]

Swedish filmmaker, Jan Troell delivers an emotional portrait (based upon Troell’s wife’s relative) of a 1900’s Swedish, working class woman (Maria Heiskanen).  With the mentoring of a local photographer (Jesper Christensen) she discovers her gift for capturing beauty and calm amidst the social unrest, abusive behavior by her husband (Mikael Persbrandt), poverty, and child-rearing that engulf her.

[Read more →]

Kate Winslet and Leonardo DeCaprio play passionate against  volatile, as a Connecticut couple raising two young children in the mid 1950’s, frustrated by their entrappment in suberbia.  Sam Mendes (Winslet’s husband) directs the reunited stars (from the 1997 film ”Titanic”) in Justin Haythe’s adaptation of the 1961 novel by Richard Yates.
 
 

[Read more →]

Everyone’s on edge when Kym (Anne Hathaway), fresh out of rehab, joins her family for the wedding festivities of her sister Rachel (Rosemarie Dewitt). Jonathan Demme illuminates the tension and conflict in Jenny Lumet’s script in a jostling, home movie style that reinforces the discomfort of cast and audience alike.
Please share your opinion regarding [...]

[Read more →]

What’s a parent to do with a 40 year-old son still living at home and behaving like a 10 year old?  Not much; hence the predicament. But when a divorced mom (Mary Steenburgen) falls for a charismatic widower (Richard Jenkins) their respective sons (Will Ferrell & Jon C. Reilly) are forced to take responsibility [...]

[Read more →]

Be prepared to squirm in your seat as you sit through the true story of Barbara Daly Baekeland (Julianne Moore) and her twisted relationship with her husband Brooks (Stephen Dillane), heir to the inventor of Bakelite, and their son Tony (Eddie Redmayne ), who narrates.
Please share your opinion regarding Film Flashes movie review of Savage [...]

[Read more →]

Kate Holbrook, (Tina Fey ) is a single, no-boyfriend-in-sight, VP of a natural food chain, who decides to use a surrogate (Amy Poehler) to have a baby. And while the two stars provide plenty of laughs, writer/director, Michael McCullers was sharp enough to expand the comical lines to other characters (including [...]

[Read more →]

While the look and feel is set in the 40’s, the psychology is timeless: one never knows what the person next to you is thinking, whether it be a stranger, friend, or spouse. Harry (Chris Cooper) thinks there is only one way to save his wife (Patricia Clarkson) from total depression [...]

[Read more →]

This Coen brothers dark drama is filled with their signature, sharp dialogue and clear characterizations featuring Josh Brolin as a Texas plains hunter who stumbles across $2,000,000 in ill-gotten gains. Hot on his tail is a hired gun (Javier Bardem) who leaves a trail of blood and guts that does not go unnoticed by [...]

[Read more →]

Loretta Devine is the idealistic matriarch who thinks it’s going to be all hugs and kisses when her brood gathers for the Holidays in this not so jovial, Christmas pic. With Delroy Lindo, Regina King, Mekhi Phifer, Idris Elba, Sharon Leal, et. al., keeping it real, filmmaker Preston A. Whitmore II’s family [...]

[Read more →]

Quirks and calamities that may be familiar from other biopics are exagerated in this spoof, where fictional singer, Dewey Cox (John C. Reilly) lives to tell all.
Please share your opinion regarding Film Flashes movie review of Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story .

[Read more →]

A jealous young girl (Saoirse Ronan) ruins her sister’s (Keira Knightley) happiness when she accuses a suitor (James McAvoy) of a crime he did not commit. Flash backs, set during WWII envelope audiences in confusing scenarios and while there is a moving interview/explanation delivered by Vanessa Redgrave, it comes too late to rescue viewers [...]

[Read more →]

Wendy (Laura Liney) and Jon (Philip Seymour Hoffman) struggle with how to deal with their never-there for-them father ( Philip Bosco) during his final months. The fine performances almost make up for the grim subject matter cinematically captured in cold, east coast venues.
Please share your opinion regarding Film Flashes movie review of [...]

[Read more →]

Lars (Ryan Gosling) is an endearingly dysfunctinal guy who deals with everyone’s insistance that he socialize, by befriending a life size blow-up doll that he purchases on the internet. His brother (Paul Schneider), sister-in-law (Emily Mortimer), the local doctor (Patricia Clarkson), and the homey townsfolk do their part to help “normalize” [...]

[Read more →]

Will a young prosecutor (Ryan Gosling) with one foot on the doorstep of an AV rated law firm be able to prevent a decidedly diabolical aeronautics entrepreneur (Anthony Hopkins) from getting away with murder? The interaction, facial expressions, and a solid supporting cast make this pic a worthwhile stakeout.
Please share your opinion regarding Film Flashes [...]

[Read more →]