Category: Feature Film Review

Lew Ritter Film Review: ‘Hidden Figures’

HIDDEN FIGURES: Soaring into the history books

by Lew Ritter

CAUTION: HERE THERE BE SPOILERS!

In the late 1950‘s, America and Russia (then the U.S.S.R) were locked in a space race. Each nation was determined to place the first man into orbit around the Earth and eventually land a man on the moon. It culminated with Neil Armstrong being the first American to land on the Moon in 1969.

Prior to HIDDEN FIGURES, movies depicting the Space Race, such as THE RIGHT STUFF and APOLLO 13, focused on the exploits of the white astronauts, who were the pioneers of the space race. HIDDEN FIGURES is a historical drama about three hitherto unknown participants in the American space program. Most remarkable is that these unsung heroes were three African American women. Their contribution to the American space program went overlooked for half a century. read article

PASSENGERS – ADRIFT IN OUTER SPACE SEEKING A PLOT

Film Review by Lew Ritter

PASSENGERS is the mega-budget pairing of two A-List stars in what promised to be the must see Sci-Fi thriller of the Christmas Season. It is about the giant Starship Avalon, a giant spaceship /arc containing five thousand sleeping passengers. They are hibernating in pods on a one hundred twenty year journey to a green, undisturbed new planet.

Along the way, the spaceship suffers a meteorite strike, and one of the pods malfunctions. It belongs to JIM PRESTON (Chris Pratt) an engineer looking for a new life. He had spent most of his life savings starting a new life on the new world. Jim awakens from hibernation. To his dismay, he awakened ninety years before the ship would reach its final destination.

Jim becomes the modern Robinson Crusoe of outer space. He is alone on a giant technological marvel of a space ship with all the amenities except company. ARTHUR (Michael Sheen) is Jim’s Friday, a chatty, robot bartender. After a year of solitude, the joys of the technology have worn thin and his thoughts turned to suicide. He steps out of the ship’s airlock and for a moment, contemplates plunging into the dark void of space. read article

Diana Vacc sees “Snowden”

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by Diana Vaccarelli

              *If you haven’t viewed this film yet be warned this review may contain spoilers!*

As another step in our march through the Awards Season, I went and saw Snowden.  This film follows a story some of us are quite familiar with: NSA analyst Edward Snowden and how he leaked the NSA’s illegal surveillance techniques.

THE GOOD:

  • The performance of Joseph Gordon Levitt as Edward Snowden is Oscar worthy as he not only got the voice and speaking rhythm right but physically changed into this man. 3rd Rock from the Sun is long gone from him now. Way to go, JGL!
  • The writing of this film by Oliver Stone and Kieran Fitzgerald is a thing of beauty.  Stone and Fitzgerald bring this controversial news story to life. Watching this film made me think long and hard about the reach our government’s eyes and ears have and how all of us need to fight for our privacy.

THE BAD: read article

Diana Vacc sees “Ghostbusters”

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by Diana Vaccarelli

*If you haven’t viewed this film yet be warned this review may contain spoilers!*

It has been thirty years since the original Ghostbusters was released into theaters and instantly became a classic.  Paul Feig, famed director of Bridesmaids and Spy, took the helm in this reboot for a new generation.  This film finds a new cast of characters headed by Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones, and Chris Hemsworth investigating paranormal activity in Manhattan. read article