Genius
Growing up in small town Asheville, North Carolina, we didn't have many famous people we could claim. But the great writer Thomas Wolfe was ours. So when they made a…
Marguerite
Every few years two movies come out about the same subject at the same time, and one is lauded, while the other is overlooked. I hope that doesn't happen with…
Hockney
David Hockney has to be one of the most famous living artists. His work is in every major modern art museum and verging on 80 he is still going strong,…
The Lady in the Van
Are you having Maggie Smith withdrawal now that Downton Abbey has ended? Never fear! She's starring in a quirky little dramedy in theaters now (though it won't lose anything going…
Race
It’s a shame that Race, an inspiring biopic about American track-and-field superstar Jesse Owens competing in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, and Eddie the Eagle, an inspiring biopic about an…
Eddie the Eagle
Eddie the Eagle is a feel-good movie for the masses, inspired by a true story, though dramatically boosted by fictionalized supporting characters and plot points. It’s the story of Eddie…
Trumbo
Trumbo is set in Hollywood in the 1940s and 50s during the Red Scare, when the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) was convinced that there were Commie spies planting propaganda…
Straight Outta Compton
I really liked this film, even though I'm not normally a fan of hip hop, because it has a great story and great characters and, I have to admit, some…
Love & Mercy
I will admit right up front that I was never a fan of The Beach Boys. So I put this film off and that was a mistake. While Brian Wilson…
Woman In Gold
As the year comes to a close, I'm catching up on some of the films that slipped through the cracks. Woman in Gold tells the true story of Maria Altmann…
Bridge of Spies
Directed by Steven Spielberg. Starring Tom Hanks. (Re)written by the Coen Brothers. Start polishing the Oscars. Based on a true Cold War international incident, Bridge of Spies feels like an…
Steve Jobs
First, there was Jobs, a 2013 biopic about the Apple founder as portrayed (rather decently) by Jobs doppelgänger Ashton Kutcher. Then, there was Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine,…
The Walk
To enjoy this film you must a) get past Joseph Gordon-Levitt's French accent and b) have no fear of heights. The Walk is a pretty straight forward telling of what…
Black Mass
There’s really only one reason to see Black Mass - and that is the performance of Johnny Depp as south Boston’s notorious Irish mob boss James “Whitey” Bulger. Depp has…
The End of the Tour
The End of the Tour is not a biopic so much as an homage to a great writer who killed himself relatively young. In the film David Foster Wallace (Jason…