Kenneth Branagh’s name will likely be a mainstay during this year’s awards season with his absolute masterpiece of a film, ‘Belfast.’ Inspired by his childhood experiences, ‘Belfast’ follows a young boy and his family's crossroads between leaving their home town or staying to endure violence and religiously driven civil warfare.    The themes of the film are heavy, but the true essence of the film is innocence and hopefulness. It is masterly ...

Dunkirk, Review by Siraj Syed: 300,000 stranded soldiers--Between certain death and uncertain rescue, a movie to cling on to It really happened. Give or take a few details, it really happened. Between 300,000 and 400,000 British troops were evacuated by British vessels from a beach in Dunkirk, France, in May 1940, amidst German submarine and aerial attacks. Dunkirk, the movie, is a visual roller-coaster on land, sea and air, where thrills are interwoven with chills, and dizzy heights blend wit...

Cinderella, Review: Kinder Ella and some Branagh courage Eschewing 3D and confining the classy animation/effects to only relevant scenes, Cinderella is a new take on the fable of the tortured step-daughter and her Prince Charming, with major roles played by animals and objects, led by a dazzling and highly desirable glass slippers that many teenagers would be willing to die for. It is the same old story, with minor cinematic license and major positive shift in logic. Ella (Eloise Webb) is an...

 Monday, October 8-------SLEUTH, the stage thriller by Anthony Shaffer that has more twists and turns than an amusement park ride, is coming back to the big screen, 25 years after its original film incarnation. That version, directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and released in 1972, was toplined by Sir Laurence Olivier (who received his final Oscar nomination for one of his last substantial film roles) and Michael Caine, who played, respectively, a wealthy novelist whose wife had left him for a muc...