Author: Jeff Mitchell

Letts and Winger masterfully play a flawed couple in ‘The Lovers’

Jeff Mitchell

“The Lovers” – “Cheating and lying aren’t struggles.  They’re reasons to break up.” – Patti Callahan Henry Michael (Tracy Letts) and Mary (Debra Winger) have been married for eons.  Perhaps many of their years together have been happy, but not recently.  Residing in Santa Clarita, California, this 50-something couple share a comfortable suburban home and drive to white-collar jobs that one might find near Initech, the infamous company from “Office Space” (1999). Although Michael and Mary have zero passion for their day jobs, their work does not create emotional heartburn, per…

Taylor-Johnson and Cena cannot rest against ‘The Wall’

Jeff Mitchell

“The Wall” – What images immediately come to mind when you read the words, “war movie”?  Human history unfortunately can provide thousands of examples in which people become mired in mass conflict and attempt to kill one another, and the big screens sometimes masterfully recapture those horrific struggles. For me, three films immediately pop into my brain. Steven Spielberg’s “Saving Private Ryan” (1998) illustrates the murderous spectacle of war via the Allied invasion of Normandy.  Stanley Kubrick’s “Paths of Glory” (1957) depicts the brutality of war, when French soldiers scurry…

‘The Dinner’ serves up an intriguing, tense drama

Jeff Mitchell

“The Dinner” – Look up “dinner” in the dictionary, and it reads “the principal meal of the day” and “a formal feast or banquet”.  For most households, however, dinner has a larger meaning.  It is a time when families congregate to share their experiences and feelings while also – functionally – breaking bread.  Sometimes laugher fills these caucuses, but many times, family members toss issues on the table and either productively work through them or dive deeper into valleys of conflict. For decades, television shows have featured American experiences at…