An observational documentary set in the Sderot lookout on the Israel-Gaza border, a charged memorial site. Today, a coin-operated telescope aimed directly at Gaza has been installed there. Visitors: children, soldiers, Birthright groups, foreign tourists, families, take turns swiping their credit cards to activate a telescope aimed directly at Gaza. Through their immediate reactions, the film captures a cross-section of Israeli and Jewish society encountering destruction in real time. The film becomes an observation of how we observe the suffering of others, inviting the viewer to confront a complex reality and the darker layers of the human soul.
Based off the book of the same name, ‘The Miseducation of Cameron Post’ (2018) follows teenager Cameron Post (Chloë Grace Moretz) after she is caught being intimate with another girl and then sent away to a gay conversion camp.
Marvin Gaye's powerful music addresses the same themes as "Da 5 Bloods" and elevates the film to even greater heights.
As this critic continues to look back at some of this Summer's films I have taken in, I would be remiss if I didn't mention one of the most overall unsettling trends in Hollywood over the last several years.....sequels, reboots, and remakes. Look, I am all for seeing more than one film for certain originals that made a splash, ie: "Jurassic Park", "Pirates of the Caribbean", "Transformers", etc.
Another uneven "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" redux that says nothing novel about its subject matter.
I suppose you could argue that the story wasn’t what Director James Cameron was aiming for, it was the visuals. The spectacle of it all was the point, and it certainly shows.
I first saw Dear Evan Hansen on the Broadway stage. Apparently, I was so blown away by the magic of theater that I didn’t pick up on the questionable dynamics. The story's clumsy handling in the movie brought those issues to light.
