Movie Review: 'Dunkirk' is an intense, beautiful film

Dunkirk (2017, directed by Christopher Nolan. U.S.A./U.K., English, Color, 106 minutes) In the realm of war movies, the most memorable one of recent years is 1998's "Saving Private Ryan" - even though "The Hurt Locker" is better. It's violent, it's bloody, there's a human interest aspect to it, and it has pretty boys acting out a young man's fantasy of shooting guns and fighting off the Nazis.

Almost 20 years later and Christopher Nolan releases "Dunkirk", a film with a keen eye for suspense and storytelling that it easily eclipses Spielberg's one-trick pony of a film.

Movie Review: Emotions sink like a stone in dried up 'Wind River'

The Weinstein Company

Wind River (2017, directed by Taylor Sheridan. U.S.A., English, Color, 111 minutes) In his directorial debut following his Oscar nomination for writing last year's "Hell or High Water", Taylor Sheridan continues his passion for crime with "Wind River", the incredibly mean-spirited and drab story about a young girl found frozen to death in the middle of a Wyoming Indian reservation. Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen team up as the Fish and Wildlife Service officer and FBI agent, respectively, tasked with combating personal conflicts and cultural differences to solve the crime in the barren, frozen lands.

Movie Review: 'Lady Macbeth' is a powerful masterclass

Lady Macbeth (2017, directed by William Oldroyd. England, English, Color, 89 minutes) Lady Macbeth is a memorable figure in Shakespeare's epic tragedy "Macbeth," but the film "Lady Macbeth", an ode to the manipulative wife of the titular character, is not the main character of this film. Instead, a young bride named Catherine is the driving force of this morbid story set in mid-19th century rural England, but her affects are reminiscent to those of the Lady herself. 

Movie Review: Simmering tension ignites 'The Beguiled'

Courtesy of Focus Features

The Beguiled (2017, directed by Sofia Coppola. U.S.A, English, Color, 94 minutes) A group of young women, their teacher and the headmistress are confronted with a shocking reality that has yet to fall before them. A wounded Union soldier is brought to them in to their Virginia school during the thick of the Civil War. But it's not the war lying right there at their doorstep that's intrusive for them. Oh no. It's the ruggedly handsome soldier who inflames repressed sexual tension among the women, and it fills the screen with an intensity that slowly explodes over the course of 90 minutes.

Media Film Festival Returns Tonight!

Grab the popcorn and the quarters for the parking meters because the Media Film Festival is back.

The homegrown festival dedicated to local and international short films returns for its 10th outing on April 7 and 8 with a lineup of 36 films that include student-produced narratives, world premiere showings and a block of horror films.

“It just gets to be more and more fun every year,” said the festival’s marketing director Emily Scheivert. “It’s wonderful, so much fun to put together.”

To find selections for the fest, a dozen members of a screening jury watched 100 submissions to weed out the best, the worst and those in the middle. It was mathematical, for the most part, to pick this year’s selections.

“While the scoring, the balloting is important there is sometimes a bit of subjectivity in that middle area …. Sometimes you go back to judgment night (when final selections are chosen) and then pick who they like best,” said Scheivert.

The 59th Annual Grammy Winners

Winners in over 80 categories in the fields of pop, rap, classical and music video and so many more were announced during the 59th Annual Grammy Awards on Sunday. The bulk of the winners were announced during the premiere ceremony before the main telecast. 

Beyoncé led the slate with nine nominations this year picking up best music video at the premiere ceremony and then best contemporary album for "Lemonade".

Adele was the biggest winner of the night winning in all five categories she was nominated for: album of the year and pop vocal album for "25" and record of the year, song of the year and best pop solo performance for "Hello".

Drake, Rihanna and Kanye West earned eight nominations each this year, but only Drake was able to earn wins winning best rap song and rap/sung performance for "Hotline Bling."

David Bowie earned four posthumous Grammys winning best alternative album and best engineered album, non-classical for "Blackstar," and earning a rock performance and rock song win for the title track. "Blackstar" also won best recording package for its art director. He won his first Grammy in 1985 for best short form music video.

Chance the Rapper won best rap performance at the premiere ceremony before claiming the primetime telecast's first award of the night, best new artist and, later, best rap album over album of the year nominee "Views".

Winners will be posted live throughout the afternoon and evening.

Record of the Year- "Hello," Adele.

Album of the Year- "25," Adele.

Song of the Year- "Hello," Adele Adkins and Greg Kurstin, songwriters. (Adele)

Best New Artist- Chance the Rapper

POP

Best Pop Solo Performance- "Hello," Adele.

Best Pop Duo/Group Performance- "Stressed Out," Twenty One Pilots

Best Pop Album- "25," Adele.

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album- "Summertime; Willie Nelson Sings Gershwin," Willie Nelson.

DANCE/ELECTRONIC

Best Dance/Electronica Album- "Skin," Flume

Best Dance Recording- "Don't Let me Down," The Chainsmokers featuring Daya

Movie Review: 'A Cure for Wellness' Full of Campy Wonders

A Cure for Wellness (2017, directed by Gore Verbinski. U.S.A./Germany, English, Color, 146 minutes) Reading the synopsis for Gore Verbinski's new mind-bending thriller "A Cure for Wellness" I was prepared for a very cliché story à la "Shutter Island" where the supposedly "normal" protagonist was actually a resident of the asylum the story takes place. It's such a predictable outcome yet is a favorite twist for audiences to uncover.

"A Cure for Wellness" is not that type of movie (thankfully?). 

Going back to the creepy, beautifully macabre supernatural story like the one in the "The Ring" that put him on the spot in 2002, Verbinski takes those elements and presents a story that is equal parts disturbing and deliciously campy. 

At the edge of the Swiss Alps above a German village is an elaborate castle housing a sanitarium (wellness center) where rich old people go to luxuriate in its various aquaponic delights to treat any illnesses. Saunas, water aerobics, steam chambers, full-body rinses, swimming. It's all there. No one seems to be sick since they have all been cured, yet they don't leave. They stay to play croquet, badminton, fly a kite, or even play table games with each other on the precisely trimmed front lawn. It's a perfect life there, almost Stepford-like.