Yet, all the while, we find ourselves pining to spend more time with the venerable ladies in Nonnas. They deserve a happy ending as much as Joe, and both history and the movie grant them a lovely one. With a marinade of humor and a dash of spiritual Catholic contrition, Chbosky and Maccie find the meaningful meat behind the fluff for a welcome crowd pleaser. Come hungry and leave full, with Billy Joel appropriately sending you out.
Read MoreLet’s just say it. The subgenre of redneck crime films is a messy place. The “black hat” is almost always a crazy SOB engaged with a less crazy SOV “white hat.” Slickness is replaced by stains. Dazzle is replaced by dinge. Calling any of them “sagas” is too much credit and heft. Unless you’re the Coen brothers (and even if you’re them too), spicing up this slow-and-low movie barbecue takes some of that absent slickness and dazzle injected into either the filmmaking or storytelling departments, or both.
Read MoreIt should come as no surprise to anyone who has followed the career path of Mel Gibson, either in front or behind the camera, that "Hacksaw Ridge" rings up the descriptor of "excessive" more than any film to date this year. "Hacksaw Ridge" is a war film of excessive violence operatically woven into a biopic screen story of excessive hero worship based on a true story of World War II Congressional Medal of Honor winner Desmond Doss. Both excesses are laid on very thick. Only half of one of them are worth it.
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