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Post-Trauma Life in “Margaret” (Missed Movies)
How you react to Margaret (2011) may depend on whether or not you enjoy imperfect movies that are challenging and ambitious. I spent much of the movie wondering where it was going to go as it...
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End-of-the-World Movies . . . Without Special Effects
In the last several years, there have been a number of interesting science fiction films that manage to avoid using special effects, or use very limited special effects. Maybe it is a response to the...
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Flight from Death (Missed Movies)
Several Chimesfreedom posts have touched on the theories of sociologist Ernest Becker. Among other things, Becker’s book Denial of Death has inspired artists including Woody Allen and writer Don...
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“The Way Way Back” Way Way Suprised Me (Missed Movies)
Occasionally, I will receive in the mail a Netflix movie where I have no idea how the movie ended up on my list. By the time I received The Way Way Back (2013) and popped it in my DVD player, I was...
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A Christmas Movie: “The Crossing” (Missed Movies)
If you are looking for an unusual holiday movie, you should check out The Crossing (2000). The film is an excellent A&E made-for-TV movie starring Jeff Daniels as George Washington. The Crossing...
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It’s About Time to Watch “About Time” (Missed Movies)
There are a number of reasons to give the movie About Time (2013) a chance, despite its somewhat generic title. The film is written and directed by Richard Curtis, who wrote Love Actually (2003),...
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Snow Angels (Missed Movies)
When one considers that much of the U.S. has snow on the ground for a significant part of the year, it is somewhat surprising that so few movies are placed in that setting. There are the Christmas...
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A Balance Between Culture and Fun: “In Bruges” (Missed Movies)
I recently watched In Bruges (2008) for a second time to see if it still held up for me after liking the movie the first time I saw it. I enjoyed the film, written and directed by Martin McDonagh,...
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Tommy Lee Jones and “The Homesman” (Missed Movies)
The odds are pretty good that you might have missed even hearing about a movie last year directed by and starring Tommy Lee Jones that also featured Hillary Swank, Meryl Streep, John Lithgow, James...
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Runaway Train (Missed Movies)
If you have not seen the 1985 movie Runaway Train, it will take you back to the time when action movies were about more than explosions. Even though there is plenty of action this film, there also is...
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Is “Captain Fantastic” Fantastic?
The film Captain Fantastic (2016) is much better than one might expect. Although a short description of the film sounds like a family television series, the movie rises above expectations so that the...
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“First Reformed” Is a Movie For Our Time
I became intrigued when I saw First Reformed (2018), starring Ethan Hawke, appearing on many lists of the best movies of the year. The movie rightfully belongs on such lists. Fifty years from now when...
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Chronicling the Struggle for Justice in “True Justice: Bryan Stevenson’s...
In some quarters, most people who know about Bryan Stevenson and his work see him as a hero. But many do not know about the wonderful work he has been doing for decades. The new HBO documentary True...
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Nicolas Cage Shines In Modest But Surprising “Pig” (Short Review)
If you are looking for an entertaining and thoughtful drama as a break from explosive super hero films, look no further than Pig (2021), starring a scraggly Nicolas Cage. While the premise and the...
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Searching for Lin Zhao’s Soul (Documentary of the Day)
The struggle for human rights has been an ongoing battle throughout history. Many heroes, like Martin Luther King Jr., are justly lauded for their work. But for each person we celebrate, there are...
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