Popcorn Zombies

By Michael Momper   Here we have, I hope, a serious Oscar contender for 2021 Best Picture. Belfast,  Kenneth Branagh’s love letter to his hometown and formative years, paints a striking portrait even in black and white. It’s full of life, vibrant, energetic. It is beautiful and imbued with a boyish sense of wonder, seen through the eyes of marvelous child actor Jude Hill. This movie’s biggest asset is its establishment of  time period  and place. The streets of Belfast are alive with the play of children and the labor of the blue-collar working class. Brick buildings line the streets that are peppered with old cars, wooden  outhouses  and garbage cans. Blanketing this scene is a gray, seemingly damp sky. Somehow, this all looks beautiful. The viewer is sucked into the nostalgic charm that Branagh portrays- everything is so wonderfully lit, with noir shadowplay throughout. You can almost swear that the sunlight pouring in through the windows and cracks in do...

Graham Craycraft Unfortunately Lady Gaga’s and Al Pacino’s performance cannot save this movie.  House of Gucci is Ridley Scott’s 2021 historically based story of the fall of the family run business Gucci. Not to say the business no longer exists, but what once was an empire controlled entirely by the Gucci family is now void of anyone named Gucci. There are some major flaws with this film and not enough positive aspects to save it. Let’s dive right in. First and foremost is the language. This is a story that begs to be made as an Italian language film. The idea that the audience should suspend their belief as characters slip between Italian accents and the occasional Italian phrase is not fair to the audience. These are not Italian- American mobsters in New York. These are native born Italians living in Italy. Why wasn’t it made in Italian? Well quite simply because the people who made the movie don’t speak Italian and most of the big name cast doesn’t either. Moving this idea to a...