High-Def Digest: The Bonus ViewJoel Edgerton Archives - High-Def Digest: The Bonus View

TIFF Journal: Boy Erased

Jason Gorber — Tue, 18 Sep 2018 17:00:21 +0000

In Boy Erased, Joel Edgerton directs a coming-of-age drama about conversion therapy, the dubious and often destructive practice of attempting to “cure” homosexuality through a combination of half-baked psychological practices and religious rites. Based in part on the memoir of the same name by Gerrard Conley, the film stars Lucas Hedges as Jared Eamons, the...

The post TIFF Journal: Boy Erased appeared first on High-Def Digest: The Bonus View.

‘Gringo’ Review: Snatch-o

Luke Hickman — Fri, 09 Mar 2018 18:00:15 +0000

Aussie cinema has been ramping up over the last dozen years, but the country’s films haven’t quite broken into the American mainstream yet. While Nash Edgerton’s gritty dark comedy ‘Gringo’ doesn’t quite reach the level of greatness, it’s nice to see it get a wide release on this side of the Pacific. If you haven’t...

The post ‘Gringo’ Review: Snatch-o appeared first on High-Def Digest: The Bonus View.

‘Red Sparrow’ Review: Bird-Brained Sleaze

Philip Brown — Thu, 01 Mar 2018 20:00:44 +0000

The big problem with the soon-to-be-forgotten ‘Red Sparrow’ is that it can never quite decide what movie it wants to be. Is this the blockbustery spy romp and Black Widow knockoff like the trailers suggest? Or is it a dark and twisted exploration of the ugly side of espionage and the horrors of getting entwined...

The post ‘Red Sparrow’ Review: Bird-Brained Sleaze appeared first on High-Def Digest: The Bonus View.

‘It Comes at Night’ Review: A Dark Apocalypse

Philip Brown — Fri, 09 Jun 2017 15:00:41 +0000

Kind of a zombie movie without the zombies and certainly a film without hope, ‘It Comes at Night’ is a brutal, gut-wrenching and cynical stab at the apocalyptic pandemic genre. Don’t go unless you want to feel worse about humanity. Writer/director Trey Edwards Shults (‘Krisha’) doesn’t exactly waste time on niceties with his sophomore effort....

The post ‘It Comes at Night’ Review: A Dark Apocalypse appeared first on High-Def Digest: The Bonus View.

‘Loving’ Review: Heartfelt Historical Honesty

Philip Brown — Fri, 11 Nov 2016 16:00:10 +0000

‘Loving’ is one of those true life inspirational stories that tend to come out around Oscar season and coast by on message rather than content. Thankfully, this is one of the few examples that lives up to its origin and has quietly become one of the more important films of the year. A big reason...

The post ‘Loving’ Review: Heartfelt Historical Honesty appeared first on High-Def Digest: The Bonus View.

TIFF Journal: ‘Loving’

Philip Brown — Wed, 14 Sep 2016 17:00:26 +0000

‘Loving’ is one of those important historical dramas about groundbreaking folks who changed America. It’s also an incredibly intimate character study of two simple people uncertain of why their pure love could cause such wild controversy. The ways the movie stays so small and human make the latest feature from Jeff Nichols (‘Take Shelter’, ‘Midnight...

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

‘Midnight Special’ Review: Zod v. Kylo Ren – Dawn of Superkid

Philip Brown — Thu, 31 Mar 2016 19:00:17 +0000

There are several ways in which ‘Midnight Special’ feels like a throwback. In movie geekery terms, the film plays as an homage to the mystery, complexity, wonderment and technical mastery that young Steven Spielberg and John Carpenter brought to their early efforts (specifically, ‘Close Encounters’ and ‘Starman’). More than that, the movie harkens back to...

The post ‘Midnight Special’ Review: Zod v. Kylo Ren – Dawn of Superkid appeared first on High-Def Digest: The Bonus View.

TIFF Journal: ‘Black Mass’

Philip Brown — Tue, 15 Sep 2015 19:00:47 +0000

The tale of Boston crime lord James “Whitey” Bulger is so good that it’s surprising it took this long for someone to make a movie out of it… or at least an official bio-pic anyway. Martin Scorsese flavored his ‘Infernal Affairs’ remake ‘The Departed’ with Whitey’s legend and Joe Berlinger made a pretty fantastic documentary...

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

‘The Gift’ Review: A Clear and Present Danger

Philip Brown — Fri, 07 Aug 2015 15:00:57 +0000

Generally speaking, directorial debuts from actors should be approached with absolute dread. Just because an actor reaches a level of fame that makes it possible to get a movie made doesn’t mean he or she really has the chops to pull it off. Thankfully, there’s no need for such concerns with ‘The Gift’, the first...

The post ‘The Gift’ Review: A Clear and Present Danger appeared first on High-Def Digest: The Bonus View.

‘Exodus: Gods and Kings’ Review: An Unexpected ‘Noah’ Sequel

Philip Brown — Thu, 11 Dec 2014 20:00:32 +0000

The strangest major studio release last spring was Darren Aronofsky’s wacky ‘Noah’. In a perverse way, it makes sense that 2014 should wrap up with another ambiguous Old Testament blockbuster. Ridley Scott’s twist on the Ten Commandments serves up a Moses with questionable sanity and harshly violent CinemaScope spectacle in a manner that the old...

The post ‘Exodus: Gods and Kings’ Review: An Unexpected ‘Noah’ Sequel appeared first on High-Def Digest: The Bonus View.

Now Playing: ‘Gatsby’, Actually Pretty Great

Bryan Kluger — Fri, 10 May 2013 13:00:05 +0000

Director Baz Luhrmann has created a grand opus filled with shiny costumes, modern music, magical camera tricks and classical early Hollywood filmmaking to once again bring to life F. Scott Fitzgerald’s beloved and iconic novel ‘The Great Gatsby’. The film is over-the-top, lavish and a bit flawed, but so is the title character, after all....

The post Now Playing: ‘Gatsby’, Actually Pretty Great appeared first on High-Def Digest: The Bonus View.

Now Playing: ‘Timothy Green’ Is People!

Luke Hickman — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 13:00:04 +0000

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with watching a little sentimental movie from time to time. While ‘The Odd Life of Timothy Green’ isn’t the best film of this sort, it’s fortunately far from the worst. The family-friendly flick opens with a couple (Jennifer Garner and Joel Edgerton) sitting down for an interview with an adoption agency....

The post Now Playing: ‘Timothy Green’ Is People! appeared first on High-Def Digest: The Bonus View.