High-Def Digest: The Bonus ViewEwan McGregor Archives - High-Def Digest: The Bonus View

Doctor Sleep Review: Worth Staying Up For

Jason Gorber — Wed, 30 Oct 2019 19:00:29 +0000

Consider me shocked. As much as I enjoyed director Mike Flanagan’s Oculus, the idea of messing with Stanley Kubrick’s vision by making a sequel to The Shining is a tough prescription for Doctor Sleep to fill. Most of you already know that Stephen King didn’t care for what Kubrick did to The Shining. His 2013...

The post Doctor Sleep Review: Worth Staying Up For appeared first on High-Def Digest: The Bonus View.

Weekend Roundtable: From Indie to Payday

Josh Zyber — Fri, 08 Mar 2019 18:00:03 +0000

After her Oscar win for Room, Brie Larson jumped right into the gargantuan Kong: Skull Island and is now headlining a mega-budget Marvel superhero flick. Our Roundtable this week looks at other actors who’ve made the leap from indie acclaim to blockbuster stardom. David Krauss Though opportunities for black actresses are growing (it’s about frickin’...

The post Weekend Roundtable: From Indie to Payday appeared first on High-Def Digest: The Bonus View.

Christopher Robin Review: Come On, Get Happy

Deirdre Crimmins — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 20:00:35 +0000

Few children’s stories are held as dear as those with Winnie the Pooh. Long before being licensed by Disney in 1961, Pooh and his friends had adventures that spanned the whole length of their Hundred Acre Wood. As much as modern day armchair critics like to cry foul whenever Disney acquires a new property, the...

The post Christopher Robin Review: Come On, Get Happy appeared first on High-Def Digest: The Bonus View.

‘Fargo’ 3.01 Recap: “I Ain’t Gonna Lie, It Didn’t Go Smooth”

Josh Zyber — Tue, 25 Apr 2017 12:00:16 +0000

Noah Hawley has been a pretty busy guy this year. In addition to creating and launching the supremely weird superhero drama ‘Legion‘ a few months ago, Hawley’s fascinating and often hilarious spinoff of the Coen brothers’ ‘Fargo’ returns for its third season on FX. Is the show off to a good start so far? You...

The post ‘Fargo’ 3.01 Recap: “I Ain’t Gonna Lie, It Didn’t Go Smooth” appeared first on High-Def Digest: The Bonus View.

‘Beauty and the Beast’ (2017) Review: Pretty but Superfluous

Philip Brown — Fri, 17 Mar 2017 12:00:18 +0000

While Jon Favreau’s high-tech take on ‘The Jungle Book’ may have reinvented enough elements of the Disney animated classic to justify its existence, the live-action reboot of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ feels like little more than a restaging of the 1991 cartoon triumph. It’s nice enough and pretty enough, but why does this need to...

The post ‘Beauty and the Beast’ (2017) Review: Pretty but Superfluous appeared first on High-Def Digest: The Bonus View.

‘T2 Trainspotting’ Review: Choose Life… Again

Philip Brown — Thu, 16 Mar 2017 19:00:12 +0000

After years of speculation, rumor and in-fighting, ‘T2 Trainspotting’ has finally arrived. It’s one of the most unexpected sequels to shuffle onto screens in years and, thankfully, it’s also one of the best. Not as good as the original? Sure, but what is these days? The biggest challenge everyone involved had in delivering a ‘Trainspotting...

The post ‘T2 Trainspotting’ Review: Choose Life… Again appeared first on High-Def Digest: The Bonus View.

‘American Pastoral’ Review: American Boredom

Philip Brown — Fri, 21 Oct 2016 14:00:31 +0000

By all accounts, Ewan McGregor is a great guy. Talented, charming and attractive, the actor is nearly impossible not to like. When he decided to make his directorial debut, you have to admire that he attempted something as ambitious as an adaptation of ‘American Pastoral’, Philip Roth’s sweepingly ambitious and symbol-laden tale of American history....

The post ‘American Pastoral’ Review: American Boredom appeared first on High-Def Digest: The Bonus View.

TIFF Journal: ‘American Pastoral’

Philip Brown — Tue, 13 Sep 2016 15:00:37 +0000

It takes a lot of guts for a movie star to transition into directing. Although landing that debut gig will likely be far easier than it would be for anyone lacking experience, the pressure is high and folks will be rooting for failure. Ewan McGregor deserves credit for even giving it a shot, but the...

The post TIFF Journal: ‘American Pastoral’ appeared first on High-Def Digest: The Bonus View.

‘Our Kind of Traitor’ Review: Le Carre Like Clockwork

Philip Brown — Tue, 28 Jun 2016 16:00:25 +0000

It’s a bit strange that there have been more cinematic adaptations of books by paranoid spy specialist John le Carré over the past decade than there were from the 1960s to the 1990s combined. On a certain level, the author’s novels are dated to Cold War politics, yet films like ‘The Constant Gardener’, ‘Tinker Tailor...

The post ‘Our Kind of Traitor’ Review: Le Carre Like Clockwork appeared first on High-Def Digest: The Bonus View.

‘Miles Ahead’ Review: He Loved Him Madly

Philip Brown — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 19:00:17 +0000

Another week, another musician bio-pic. That’s how it goes. These movies never stop. Thankfully, Don Cheadle’s ‘Miles Ahead’ doesn’t fit the routine. The brilliant actor has spent years trying to make a film about jazz icon Miles Davis, toiling away through several scripts, learning the trumpet, and eventually co-writing and directing a movie himself just...

The post ‘Miles Ahead’ Review: He Loved Him Madly appeared first on High-Def Digest: The Bonus View.

‘Mortdecai’ Review: Mortifying

Philip Brown — Fri, 23 Jan 2015 18:00:50 +0000

It’s really a shame about Johnny Depp. Once the most consistently electric actor of his generation, now the Deppster is a walking collection of ticks and scarves and eyeliner and desperation. At some point during the decade since the first ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’, he transformed into the new Jim Carrey. Depp is now a...

The post ‘Mortdecai’ Review: Mortifying appeared first on High-Def Digest: The Bonus View.

Now Playing: Bryan Singer Knows ‘Jack’ About Fairy Tales

Luke Hickman — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 14:00:30 +0000

What happened to Bryan Singer? Where is the filmmaker who gave us the brilliant ‘The Usual Suspects?’ Where is the director who gave us the fantastic first two ‘X-Men‘ films? Most believe that he started going downhill with ‘Superman Returns‘ (I’m actually in the tiny minority that loves that one) and fizzled with ‘Valkyrie‘. After...

The post Now Playing: Bryan Singer Knows ‘Jack’ About Fairy Tales appeared first on High-Def Digest: The Bonus View.