MoVTie Critic

 Woody Allen has always been known for his theatrical work in bringing to life adult-themed pieces and theatrical works made for the movies and "Wonder Wheel" is no exception. Written and directed, he has once again brought to life a piece that can be easily written for the stage. Acting as a narrator as the story plays out Mickey (Justin Timberlake) a poet and aspiring playwright working as a lifeguard at Coney Island during the summer off from earning his masters at NYU in the 1950's. Addressing the audience, he tells the story of Ginny (Kate Winslet) a former actress now waitress in a loveless marriage to her second husband Humpty (Jim Belushi). During the summer, she deals with reflecting on the choices she made in life while dealing with her husband's daughter Carolina (Juno Temple) who is hiding out from her mobster husband, her son Richie (Jack Gore) who is skipping summer school to go to the movies and setting fires while she carries on an affair wi...

In 2003, a film was released called "The Room" that was written, directed and starred Tommy Wiseau. The film would go on to be a cult classic and be called "The Citizen Kane of Bad Movies" for being so bad that it was good and led to the success of two friends in the film industry, this is their story. Greg Sestero (Dave Franco) is a wannabe actor that is at a standstill working local modeling jobs and doing theater classes until he enlist the help of Tommy Wiseau (James Franco) an odd mysterious man who's whole life is one big stage and he is the star in his mind. Together they set out for Los Angeles hoping to follow their dreams, but after an altercation with a producer in a restaurant telling Tommy that he would never make it in the business, he sets out to prove them all wrong by making his own movie. In 2001, a screenplay is finished and using Tommy's "unlimited resources" they set out to make the movie "The Room", but as...

 Crime movies have always had gripping tales and have portrayed characters at their rawest element with emotion and flaws that make us reflect on ourselves seeing how different and similar we are to them. Many of them are descent at heart and when faced with a chance at redemption will go to any links to gain it. Mike Kendell (John Hawkes) a former cop who was let go after being drunk on the job that ended with his partner and a kidnapped victim dead has been doing very little to improve his life for the past year. Drinking heavily and collecting unemployment, his sister Kelly Banks (Octavia Spencer) and brother-in-law (Anthony Anderson) are supportive, but growing impatient with him in his effort to improve his life.  After a night of drinking, he wakes up in his car outside of town and finds a woman who has been beaten almost to death. Although able to race her to the hospital, he learns that the woman named Kristy (Stephania Barr) has died. Determined to find h...

Normally, I try to stick with the lesser known films or films that just came into theaters, but a friend recommended I see this and I decided it needed a few words. After all, this was the winner of four Academy awards this year and being called "an other-worldly fairytale". It seems only right to mention a film like this. Taking place in 1962 Baltimore, Elisa Esposito (Sally Hawkins) is a cleaning woman who has been mute since she was scarred and abandoned at infancy. Leading a simple life she has only a few friends, Giles (Richard Jenkins) and old artist who lives with his cats next door to Elisa and Zelda Fuller (Octavia Spencer) a fellow cleaning lady who spends most of their day talking to her and for her when needing translation.  Working for a government facility to clean their labs and offices, Elisa discovers that they are bringing in an Amphibian Man (Doug Jones, who played another water creature Abe in the Hellboy movies) that at first is seen as aggre...

We've got another "Movie Verses" and it will be the first featured on my Facebook page Mo VT ie Critic for those who wish to follow my page. This time its action verses science fiction drama where life and death are the subject of the films. How we choose to live or how we choose to die making the difference in the world around us. Up first, we find Ethan Hawke playing Travis Conrad, a former Marine turned assassin for a company called Red Mountain. When he is hired to kill a whistle-blower Keith Zera (Tyrone Keogh) he tracks his whereabouts to a source named Lin (Qing Xu) who is in charge of protecting him, but when she discovers his intentions, she takes him out before he can reveal the location. Suddenly Travis finds himself waking up in an unknown lab where Dr. Helen (Nathalie Boltt) has used a procedure that Red Mountain has been perfecting to bring him back to life, only to learn its a temporary fix and that he has twenty-four hours to live before he dies agai...

Each culture around the world has its rituals for laying the dead to rest. Egyptians mummified their royals in magnificent tombs and modern culture here holds a funeral and a wake to remember those we've lost. Yet what happens when the spirit is not at rest and refuses to go without being heard? Alice (Erica Dasher) and her friends along with college professor Jeff (Mark Borkowski) travel to Siberian Russia to pay their respects to their friend Kara (Ana Flavia Gavlak) who was believed to be murdered by Alice's brother Brandon (Chris Petrovski) at her birthday party a year ago. Invited to participate in a cultural ritual to let Kara's spirit be at peace since she died so tragically, they watch as a Shaman chants as they link together in a circle, but when something goes wrong it soon becomes clear that Kara is not at rest and that they've unleashed something evil. One by one, members of the group become possessed by a demon that they are told was unleashed by Kara...

Some may wonder why I don't only do box office reviews, well that's because many films don't even make it to the huge movie theaters. Some go straight to Blu-ray or DVD while others are only featured and festivals like Sundance or Toronto and we miss out completely. This is one of those examples. Taking place in Italy in the summer of 1983, Elio Perlman (Timothée Chalamet) is a seventeen-year old Jewish American-Italian boy who spends most of his time reading and playing/writing music on the piano. His father (Michael Stuhlbarg) is a professor in archeology and has invited a twenty-four year old Jewish American grad student named Oliver (Arnie Hammer) to live with his family for the summer while assisting with academic paperwork. At first Elio could care less for Oliver's carefree behavior and resents having to share part of his room with him. His only escapes are his books and spending time with his girlfriend Marzia (Esther Garrel). Yet as the two begin to spend ...