REVIEW: Queen of Katwe

Directed by Mira Nair
2016 Biographical Drama
2 hours 4 minutes
From Disney Studios

Starring
David Oyelowo
Lupita Nyong'o
Madina Nalwanga
Esther Tebandeke
Martin Kabanza
Ethan Nazario Lubega

Our Miss Arden

Here was a character actress of the highest order which is why she's getting her own posting and doesn't have to share it with others as I usually have done.  Eve Arden had occasional leading roles and excelled in dramas, comedies and musicals.  By far her most popular role, the one that accords her lasting fame is Our Miss Brooks, which she first played on the radio, then as a popular television series and finally as a movie.  I always thought she was a hoot, didn't you?

REVIEW: The Hollars

Directed by John Krasinski
2016 Drama
1 hour 28 minutes
From Sony Pictures Classics

Starring
John Krasinski
Sharlto Copley
Richard Jenkins
Margo Martindale
Anna Kendrick
Charlie Day
Josh Groban
Randall Park
Ashley Dyke
Mary Elizabeth Winstead

Good 40s Films: Born to Kill

1947 Film Noir
From RKO Pictures
Directed by Robert Wise

Starring
Lawrence Tierney
Claire Trevor
Walter Slezak
Audrey Long
Phillip Terry
Elisha Cook Jr.
Esther Howard

REVIEW: Snowden

Directed by Oliver Stone
Biographical Drama
2 hours 14 minutes
From Open Road Films

Starring
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Shailene Woodley
Rhys Ifans
Zachary Quinto
Melissa Leo
Tom Wilkinson
Ben Schnetzer
Timothy Olyphant
Scott Eastwood
Joely Richardson
Ben Chaplin
Nicolas Cage 

Bette's 1940s Films

Oh I hope no one is saying Bette who because we are going to skip over biographical information and focus on her films of the 1940s.  Bette Davis made her first film in 1931 and last in 1989 and while there were some good, even great, films in other decades, her work in the 1940s is simply astonishing.  These were mainly the films she made at Warner Bros where she reigned as its queen. 

Charles Laughton

I don't think I am overstating it when I say he was a legend in his own lifetime.  He was certainly no ordinary actor.  Intellectually and temperamentally complex, he was a perfectionist (frequently to the annoyance of his costars) who became more and more preoccupied with everything Laughton and less about anyone else as he aged.  At the same time, in an industry consumed with vanity, he detested his looks.  But more than anything, perhaps, were his feelings of guilt and inadequacy over being gay.

REVIEW: The Light Between Oceans

Directed by Derek Cianfrance
2016 Romance Drama
1 hour 32 minutes
From Dreamworks

Starring
Michael Fassbender
Alicia Vikander
Rachel Weisz
Jack Thompson
Florence Clery
Bryan Brown
Anthony Hayes
Jane Menelaus
Garry Macdonald

Good 40s Films: Gilda

1946 Film Noir
From Columbia Pictures
Directed by Charles Vidor

Starring
Rita Hayworth
Glenn Ford
George Macready
Joseph Calleia
Steven Geray