Conviction is based on an inspirational true story of resolute dedication and dogged persistence in the face of monolithic cultural and societal odds. The film’s title, a smart double entendre, suggests a story of righteous tenacity, the sort of fantastic narrative that you might be tempted to dismiss as fiction were it not true. While [...]

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This review first appeared in The Colorado Springs Gazette. To read this review at its original source, click here.
Sequels that outstrip originals are like students who surpass teachers. It is an exceedingly rare event and worthy of adulation (provided, of course, the original was worth something). For all others, to draw near their shadow will [...]

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Americans and their perverse obsession with happy endings. Especially during the holidays. Everybody’s Fine is a remake of an Italian film by director Giuseppe Tornatore (who made the wondrous Cinema Paradiso). In it, a retired Sicilian bureaucrat, played by the great Marcello Mastroianni, heads to the mainland to surprise his five children, only to find [...]

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Several years ago, I listened to an enjoyable 1950’s era radio drama about an astronaut who falls prey to dementia after prolonged exposure to the solitude of living in deep space. So I very much looked forward to Moon, for all appearances a philosophical sci-fi thriller in the same vein. If Moon disappointed me on [...]

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