Film Review: “Empire of Light”

Bright spots transcend cliched moments in new Mendes picture  

Hilary (Olivia Colman) works the ticket booth at the Empire Cinema. 

Hollywood loves to make movies about itself. My last review was on The Fablemans, a movie about the magic of movies. This review is about Empire of Light, a movie about the healing power of movies. And my next review will be about Babylon, a movie about, you guessed it, the good and bad of the movie industry. If Hollywood wants to get folks back into theaters, maybe making a bunch of narcissistic films about itself isn’t the best way, but nevertheless, here we are, with three releases within a month that basically say, “Movies are awesome! Go to the movies!!” This week’s offering makes its case mightily, and somewhat succeeds in spite of the pervasive layer of schmaltz that covers the picture.

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Film Review: Kingsman: The Secret Service

What if you took all the story beats from a James Bond movie and turned them up to 11?

Colin Firth in Kingsman -- The Secret Service
Colin Firth in Kingsman: The Secret Service

When Casino Royale was being advertised a few years ago, the tagline often being used was “This is not your father’s James Bond.” Kingsman: The Secret Service is directed by Matthew Vaughn (X-Men First Class, Layer Cake, Kick Ass), who was under consideration for directing the James Bond reboot. This, then, is possibly a preview of what we might have seen from a James Bond film. But while it takes the basic framework of a classic spy thriller, the execution is much, much more.

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