March 03, 2018

Saturday movie review: Last Flag Flying

March 03, 2018/ Lisa Carpenter

When I covered the Denver Film Festival last November, one of the movies I was especially excited about seeing was the drama/comedy LAST FLAG FLYING, directed by Richard Linklater and starring Steve Carrel, Bryan Cranston, and Laurence Fishbourne. The trailers convinced me the road trip movie featuring the oft-comic cast as vets on a mission would be laugh-out-loud funny with a few touching scenes scattered throughout and a sure highlight of my festival experience.

Unfortunately I didn't see LAST FLAG FLYING at the festival. The movie was among the most popular and sold out quickly, so my husband and I missed out.

We hit the jackpot last week, though, when LAST FLAG FLYING hit the top of my Netflix queue. It took mere minutes after starting the DVD for my assumptions about the film to be flipped as it immediately proved...

January 06, 2018

Saturday movie review: The Greatest Showman

January 06, 2018/ Lisa Carpenter

Though I've never seen one on Broadway, Broadway musicals are by far my favorite form of entertainment. Despite living 1,777 miles from the bright lights of New York City, I've had the privilege of seeing several shows by national touring groups on their stops in Denver (The Who's Tommy being my forever fave... so far).

I've found nothing more magical nor moving as experiencing the spectacular sights and sounds of a well-produced and passionately performed musical. No concert I've ever attended has compared. No movie I've seen has come close to affecting me like a live musical production.

Until, that is, I saw THE GREATEST SHOWMAN, which Jim and I went to see New Year's Eve afternoon.

December 30, 2017

Saturday movie briefs: My top four true tales seen in 2017

December 30, 2017/ Lisa Carpenter

I'm a fan of films of a vast range of sorts. There's something about films based on true stories, though, that seems to smack me in the heart the most. (Which is a good thing.)

In 2017, four films in particular smacked my heart hard and firmly established for themselves a forever spot on my list of memorable movies as well as top spots of those seen in 2017.

December 02, 2017

Saturday movie review: Big Sonia

December 02, 2017/ Lisa Carpenter

What the world needs now is love. And tolerance and acceptance and BIG SONIA — both the film as well as Sonia Warshawski on whom the film is based.

Ninety-one-year-old Sonia Warshawski is a Holocaust survivor. She was an eye-witness to genocide, the victim of horrors unknown to all but those who lived and died in concentration camps, one who miraculously made it through six years of hell to the unforgettable day of liberation by allied forces.

November 06, 2017

Kudos to Kyra Sedgwick!

November 06, 2017/ Lisa Carpenter

Jim and I attended a film screening and post-screening discussion on Saturday as part of the Denver Film Festival. The importance of the subject compelled me to tell you about it today, pre-GRAND Social (my most visited feature), rather than as a future Saturday movie review.

STORY OF A GIRL is the directorial debut for Kyra Sedgwick, and a powerful film parents, grandparents, and anyone sympathetic to struggles today's girls face should see.

For the film — which aired on Lifetime in July — Sedgwick directs her husband, Kevin Bacon, and Ryann Shane, as well as her daughter, Sosie Bacon. (Her son contributed the score, making it a full family affair.) Shane shines as Deanna, a 16-year-old girl attempting to overcome the repercussions of a sex video featuring her that...