‘Belfast’ Review: So Personal yet So Sterile

✯✯½

Kenneth Branagh has established himself over the years as one of the most prolific Shakespearean actors – both on the screen and working behind the scenes. With Belfast, he opts to tell a story that should bring him closer to home, to how he saw his childhood in Ireland. While it’s easy enough to see that Branagh’s heart is in the right place when telling a movie about growing up during the Troubles, perhaps there’s something missing to supposedly meaningful revisiting of one’s own childhood. Branagh certainly is a well-meaning director, but the reminiscences of the past don’t really add up to all that much in return.

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Money Monster – Review

✯✯✯½

Jodie Foster stated at one point she wishes to be known for directing although at this rate it’d be impossible to deny her icon status at least from playing Iris in Taxi Driver or Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs. However she’s convinced me that she can pull off something rather solid after seeing Money Monster, which convinced me that she might have more capabilities as a director than I’d have thought after having been left unimpressed with The Beaver. Although it very much is extremely flawed, Money Monster leaves behind enough to provide a solid thrill from start to finish. Continue reading →