Year: 2023

‘Emily’: Mackey rises to spectacular heights in O’Connor’s passion project

Jeff Mitchell

“Emily” (2022) – “I’ve loved Emily Bronte probably all my life.  I guess like on a super-geeky kind of level.” – Frances O’Connor, Sept. 9, 2022, at the Toronto International Film Festival O’Connor has starred in television and film since 1993, but she took a dramatic professional turn toward a passion project.  This English native put pen to paper and stepped behind the camera to fashion an engaging biopic of a notable countrywoman, Emily Bronte (1818 – 1848).  Bronte authored the celebrated book “Wuthering Heights”, her only novel. Note: this…

‘Sharper’: Engaging performances and brisk pacing are a cut above some semi-farfetched threads

Jeff Mitchell

“Sharper” (2023) – “Is this real?” – Sandra (Briana Middleton) “This is real.” – Tom (Justice Smith) This lovely, intimate exchange between two 20-somethings in a New York City bookstore carries a double meaning.  Tom shows Sandra an original edition of “Jane Eyre”, and her question refers to the famous novel and the evident spark between them. Tom has been coping with depression for a while, and now, this beautiful NYU Ph.D. student walks into his shop and makes small talk, and before you can say, “I would always rather…

Despite the story’s grander scale, this ‘Ant-Man’ sequel falls short

Jeff Mitchell

“Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” (2023) – “The cracks between the paving stones, like rivers of flowing veins.  Strange people who know me, peeping behind every windowpane.” – “The Real Me” (1973) by The Who “The Real Me” is a track from “Quadrophenia”, which quasi-shares a connection to the third Ant-Man film, a movie that kicks off the MCU’s fifth phase.  The aforementioned lyrics almost describe the setting – the Quantum Realm – of “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania”.  The locale is a bizarre spot, a micro-universe on a subatomic…