Category: Culture watch

February 21, 2018

Thoughtful and kinder super-hero movie

by Ted Giese MARVEL first introduced T’Challa as Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) to film fans back in Captain America: Civil War (2016). In that film terrorists killed his father T’Chaka (John Kani), the King of the secluded and secretive fictional African nation of Wakanda, while…

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January 5, 2018

In Review: Star Wars — The Last Jedi

In a galaxy too close to home… by Ted Giese In Star Wars: Episode VIII–The Last Jedi (2017), Resistance warrior Rey (Daisy Ridley) continues her mission to convince the Jedi Master Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) to return from his self-imposed exile to assist the Resistance…

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December 8, 2017

The Star: Surprising family fare from Hollywood

by Ted Giese The Star (2017) is a lighthearted kind animated family film from Affirm Films, a subsidiary of Sony Pictures. Set during the nine months leading up to the birth of Christ, The Star tells the story of a young donkey and a little…

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November 21, 2017

Thor: Ragnarok — Chuckling at the Apocalypse

by Ted Giese With Thor: Ragnarok, the third film in the Thor franchise within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the series receives a Guardians of the Galaxy-style makeover with comedy director Taika Waititi at the helm. As a result this new film feels dramatically different compared…

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November 9, 2017

Blade Runner 2049: Souls searching for a miracle

by Ted Giese With Blade Runner 2049, Canadian director Denis Villeneuve provides an admirable sequel to Ridley Scott’s 1982 sci-fi masterpiece Blade Runner. Set 30 years after the first film, the dystopian future Villeneuve presents is grimmer and bleaker. Advances in technology, collapses in the…

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September 29, 2017

It: Of Fear and Faith

by Ted Giese Every 27 years the town of Derry, Maine undergoes a series of tragedies often involving children. Lurking beneath the tragedies is a malevolent force, an evil entity feeding off the fear of its victims, stalking the weak and defenceless, hunting the put-upon…

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