Festivals Reviews

Train Dreams kicks off SFCS’s Best Pacific Northwest Film Series next week at SIFF Downtown

Opening with a spectacular shot of a massive tree falling in the woods (shot from the perspective of the tree) in the late 1800s and spanning decades into the twentieth century, Train Dreams was one of the major premieres to emerge from this year’s Sundance. Ahead of its theatrical release, it plays next week as a special presentation by the Seattle Film Critics Society.

Reviews

Mary Shelley would be giddy over del Toro’s Frankenstein

The story is a metaphor for many things and if you read it in high school English I’m sure you discussed more than your fair share of conclusions, so I’ll digress from that. However, what I’ve read of and from her, Mary Shelley loved the macabre. Dark stories that hit at the heart of our deepest desires and most crippling weaknesses. Intensity is the key. I had an inkling, but even while watching del Toro’s take on this story, I was confident Shelley would be enthralled by his re-imagining.

Reviews

The sad truth of Roofman is what it reveals about the world we live in

In Roofman we see the world through the everyman Jeffrey Manchester (Channing Tatum). It starts off with his most notorious act, robbing a McDonalds, but in the sweetest way you can while holding hostages at gunpoint. The story backs up a little to explain what brought him to that point: after leaving the military he had no real sense of who he was or how he fit in the world. The only thing he really did well was observation, seeing the details that others missed (or maybe just didn’t use for their own gain).

Reviews

Kiss of the Spider Woman brings razzle and dazzle to a dingy, Argentinian prison

“The story unfolds mostly in a dank Argentinian prison where Valentín is being held for his revolutionary activities. Desperate to extract information from him as torture has thus far proven ineffective, prison officials introduce a new cellmate, Molina, who is sent to spy on Valentín in exchange for the promise of release to see his ailing mother in her final days.”

Reviews

Nostalgia and 3D printed soldiers doesn’t exactly save Tron: Ares from disintegrating

Tron: Ares takes place exactly 15 years after its predecessor Tron: Legacy also coinciding with the years in which each film was actually released inviting a sense of connection to world they create and the one we live in. We find (Kevin) Flynn’s son Sam stepping back from the business as expected from his intentions set at the end of Legacy and in his place twin sisters Eve (Greta Lee) and Tess Kim had a continued the pioneering spirit at the helm of Encom.