Spotlight: Film & TV Reviews

Released – February 26th, 1993 Written By – Ebbe Roe Smith Directed By – Joel Schumacher Starring – Michael Douglas, Robert Duvall, Barbara Hershey Runtime – 113 minutes Genre – Crime / Drama In a city rife with racial tension, a struggling economy, and a dwindling middle class, a disgruntled middle-aged man has armed himself with a bag of guns and is rampaging the city. This may seem like a present-day news headline, but it’s actually the plot of a Joel Schumacher film from 1993 starring Michael Douglas. The relevance of the film is even more poignant today. With racial injustices prompting Black Lives Matter, and a disgruntled middle America electing Donald Trump into the White House, the plot for Falling Down seems to focus on the exact type of man who might vote for Trump and fit into a 2018 environment. Michael Douglas plays a character we know only as “D-FENS,” based…

Released – November 20th, 1970 Written By – Claude Lelouch, Claude Pinoteau, & Pierre Uytterhoeven Directed By – Claude Lelouch Starring – Jean-Louis Trintignant, Christine Lelouch, Charles Gerald, Charles Denner Runtime – 120 minutes Genre – Crime / Thriller A contemporary of the Nouvelle Vague directors but never really one of them, Claude Lelouch continues to plug away at the age of 80, releasing a film annually to the indifference of French critics. In the States, his legacy will likely be the derisive laughter of high school French classes forced to sit through A Man and a Woman, but there are some genuinely interesting titles in his filmography. Similar to Truffaut, what comes through Lelouch’s work is a love of cinema, and The Crook is his film that most effectively conveys this exuberance. Jean-Louis Trintignant stars as “Simon the Swiss,” a notorious Parisian thief on the run after escaping from…

Released – March 9th, 1990 Written and Directed By – John Patrick Shanley Starring – Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Lloyd Bridges Runtime – 102 minutes Genre – Dark Comedy / Fantasy / Romance Most people are familiar with the combination of Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks. From Sleepless in Seattle to You’ve Got Mail, the duo has proven to be a sure-fire winner. But there’s a lesser known film in which the two star: Joe Versus the Volcano. When the film released in 1990, it was met with mixed reviews. Most people didn’t “get” it—and that’s not surprising, as the most common word used to describe the film is “quirky.” As you begin watching, bubbly Amblin credits roll over the screen while an amalgamation of depressing imagery harkens back to German expressionism. You may find yourself wondering, “isn’t this a comedy?” But this is the genius, near-impossible-to-pull-off tone of Joe,…