Month: December 2020

In some ways, ‘Greenland’ is a surprising disaster flick, but it’s also a dull, predictable trip

Jeff Mitchell

“Greenland” – After discovering “Greenland” on your Video On Demand Rolodex, you might assume that the 1-hour 59-minute film is a new Disneynature documentary about the planet’s largest island.  (Greenland is over 800,000 square miles and about nine times bigger than the United Kingdom.) Perhaps, this movie is a Werner Herzog doc, but that’s not right because it would’ve been named “Greenland: The Perils and Wonders of a Massive Ice Sheet and Rectifying any Confusion or Conflation with Iceland”. No, “Greenland” is a feature, and director Ric Roman Waugh’s picture…

Movie of the Week: ‘The Concert’

Jeff Mitchell

Do you miss concerts?  Yea, we do too, but with a COVID-19 vaccine around the corner, perhaps your favorite musical acts will soon arrive at a venue near you!   In the meantime, here’s one of our favorites from 2009, “The Concert”, a stand-up-and-cheer crowd pleaser! “The Concert” (2009) – Sometimes, life presents opportunities for second chances, and director Radu Mihaileanu’s offbeat story features a most worthy one.  In “The Concert”, Andrey Filipov (Aleksey Guskov) has been looking for a second chance for 30 years.  Andrey currently works as a janitor…

‘Wild Mountain Thyme’: This beautiful-looking rom-com doesn’t pass the smell test

Jeff Mitchell

“Wild Mountain Thyme” – This tale of two families – the Reillys and the Muldoons – might be the most Irish film released in 2020 or any year in recent memory.  Gorgeous, sweeping shots of Kelly green prairies and rolling hills, crystal blue streams, winding country roads, a wandering sheep herd, and a horse or two grace the screen with proud bravado.  Accompanied by a lovely score – heavily influenced by the nation’s traditional music (the The Chieftains, perhaps?) – this welcoming Emerald Isle setting needs a few random shots…