Category: Reviews

Big-screen legends have fun in ’80 for Brady’, but the movie doesn’t throw it deep

Jeff Mitchell

“80 for Brady” (2023) – 335; 649; 7,753; 89,214; and 97.2. What are these numbers?  Are they significant?  They are related, but how?  Here are two more integers that double as hints:  7 and 12. Okay, let’s decode the numeric mystery. 335 games, 649 touchdowns, 7,753 completions, 89,214 yards, a 97.2 quarterback rating, and 7 Super Bowl victories belong to one individual, #12 Tom Brady. He’s the greatest quarterback in National Football League history, an organization founded in 1920, so standing tall – at 6’ 4” – on top of…

‘Turn Every Page’ is a big-screen page-turner

Jeff Mitchell

“Turn Every Page – The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb” (2022) – “50 years.  5 books.  4,888 pages.” Robert Caro wrote five books, and Robert Gottlieb edited them, works that helped uncover the inner workings of American government, the invisible machinery to John and Jane Q. Citizen, and these legislative levers – constructed from backroom dealings and human ambition – forged massive changes to infrastructure and everyday ways of life for millions and millions of the aforementioned residents. Power is the throughline subject of Caro and Gottlieb’s labors…

‘The Son’ does not stand as tall as ‘The Father’

Jeff Mitchell

“The Son” (2022) – “No love is greater than that of a father for his son.” – Dan Brown Author and playwright Florian Zeller burst onto the cinematic scene, and the grandest worldwide stages embraced “The Father” (2020), his poignant and distressing debut feature film.  “The Father” garnered six Oscar nominations, and Anthony Hopkins and Zeller won the coveted, prized statues for Best Actor and Adapted Screenplay, respectively. (“The Father” was this critic’s #6 film of 2020.)   Zeller (along with screenwriter Christopher Hampton) adapted his 2012 play, “Le Pere”,…