While I don’t quite agree with this being up for Best Picture at the Oscars earlier this year, I do understand the appeal for certain audiences.

Set at the beginning of The Troubles in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1969, the film follows a young boy named Buddy (Jude Hill) as he navigates those troubled times with his parents (Caitríona Balfe and Jamie Dornan) and grandparents (Judi Dench and Ciarán Hinds).

​This is the first part where the film lost me a bit in that I didn’t connect with the story. It’s obviously a very personal story for Branagh who is from Belfast and would have been around Buddy’s age at the time of the events depicted.

I can understand why many people lauded this as one of the best films of 2021, but still just couldn’t make that connection on a personal level to it. I appreciate the artistry and care put into making the film, but stop short of calling it a true masterpiece.

7 out of 10

Oliver Stone delivers an inside peek into what it may have felt like to experience Vietnam first hand as an infantryman.

I have never been in the military, and I most certainly have never been in a war zone like the one portrayed in Platoon, but I can imagine this is pretty much what it would feel like. It's clear that Stone knows what he's talking about, having been in Vietnam himself and he wanted to make sure that reflected on the screen.

The cast of the film is what really makes it shine. Between the young and initially naive Chris (Charlie Sheen), the hardened warrior Sgt. Barnes (Tom Berenger), and the idealistic Sgt. Elias (Willem Dafoe), you get the full spectrum of people involved in the war. We see young men getting their first taste of the atrocities that exist in war, often on both sides of a conflict.

I couldn't help comparing this film to Apocalypse Now, and through that comparison is the only way I can find fault with this film. That is not to say this is a bad film. Quite the contrary. The film is fantastic and allows you to take the journey with Chris throughout the film as he goes from grunt, fresh of the plane in Vietnam, to a man who is willing to take on his superiors when he perceives they are doing wrong, but also aggressively interrogates a perceived enemy after one battle.

This is a war film that has stood the test of time. It is told with an eye toward realism and intensity that gives is a feeling of truth.

9 out of 10​​​​

Films that redefine a genre usually come along once a generation, and I would consider 1917 the defining war film of today, as Saving Private Ryan was over two decades ago.

Even though it is told on a grand scale at time, the story here is very personal. British commanders in World War I find out that another battalion is walking into a trap in the attack they are set to carry out the following morning. The brother of one of the men is sent to carry the message of the trap, along with one other soldier. The only path they can take to get there in time goes directly through enemy held territory.

Much has been made about 1917 and it's intensity as a film designed to look like one single shot and in that respect it doesn't disappoint. The lengths that the filmmakers went to achieve this effect cannot be understated, and it creates an amazing feeling throughout the film. While there are a few instances where cuts and breaks are clear when characters pass through a doorway or behind a rock, most of the cuts are seamless.

Initially I thought this effect would make the entire film feel restless, being in constant motion. But the effect is subtle when it needs to be and frenetic when the action calls for it. About a third of the way into the film, there is an incredibly personal moment between the two soldiers. The camera continues to move around them as the scene plays out, but it does so in a way that is reminiscent of how you would frame a basic two shot, just without the standard cutting you might find in that type of scene. A similar scene appears closer to the end of the film between one of the soldiers and a French woman. Her terror is palpable and again the scene is presented in a constantly moving camera, but at a very slow rate that allows the viewer to take in the entire scene, and understand the depths of her fear beyond just her words and gestures.

In short, this film is a masterpiece and deserves every accolade it received, and probably many that it didn't. You can trace a line from All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) through The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), The Dirty Dozen (1967), Patton (1970), Apocalypse Now (1979), Platoon (1986), and Saving Private Ryan (1998) and all the way to 1917. It's almost fitting that 90 years later, we have cycled through every major conflict of the 20th Century and returned to the war that filled the screen in All Quiet on the Western Front. Even with the benefit of nearly a century of hindsight, that conflict is still just as brutal as it was then, and the haunting images in 1917 capture that brutality in a beautiful and thought provoking way.

1917 is available on Bluray, DVD, and on demand.

10 out of 10​​​​

While I have never been a die hard Queen fan, I have always appreciated their music and enjoyed the partial look behind the curtain provided by this film.

I did a little research on Queen performances after watching this film and can't believe how well the musicians were portrayed on the screen, with the obvious focus being on Rami Malek's Freddie Mercury. There are definitely parts throughout the film where Malek completely disappears and all you see on screen is Mercury. The same can be said for Gwilym Lee's portrayal of guitarist Brian May and Joseph Mazzello as bassist John Deacon. Overall, the casting of the film was spectacular and the roles seemed genuine throughout.

From various information I read at the time of the release, this film doesn't delve as deeply as it could have into the causes of Mercury's downfall before rising again for the LiveAid performance in 1985. I know some have quibbled with this fact, but I didn't mind it. There was enough to give the general idea of what was going on with the superstar, while not becoming an R (or X) rated film intended to get reactions from the public.

I appreciated the focus on family throughout the film, be it biological family or family created by the coming together of people from different backgrounds. The message there was strong, even if it may not have been 100% true to the details of reality.

In the final verdict, if you're a Queen fanatic, you've probably already seen the film, but go watch it again. And if you've ever wondered just how they put all those odd pieces together for the song "Bohemian Rhapsody," you'll love the montage that shows the making of that track. Again, not necessarily how it actually happened, but a fun look behind the curtain no less.

8 out of 10

Spike Lee won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay this year, and while this is a great adaptation of Ron Stallworth's autobiographical book by the same name, I felt a little put off by some of the decisions the director made in translating the story to the screen.

Overall, the film is great. It tells an incredible story of the black man who infiltrated the Colorado Springs chapter of the Ku Klux Klan, "The Organization" as those involved call it. As expected, the film has plenty of thoughts on the topic of race and what it means to be fighting for your own race, regardless of what side you come down on.

John David Washington is perfect as Stallworth, Adam Driver shines as his white alter ego, and Topher Grace puts in a good performance as Klan Grand Wizard David Duke. The portrayal of Stallworth as a man stuck between two worlds is hammered home throughout the film when he participates in an undercover investigation as a black power rally, and then ultimately lands his place in the local Klan.

Where I felt the film lacking was in the actual adaptation of the book. I listened to the book on CD, read by the author, immediately prior to watching the film and didn't like some of the plot choices Lee made in translating it to film. While we don't know for sure if the Klan members Stallworth interacted with during his investigation ever suspected his true identity, the film portrays several of them doing just that. The character selected for this suspicion also doesn't come across as the brightest bulb, but somehow puts together the rouse that is being played on him and his pals.

In the end, the film accomplishes the goal of covering race relations from various angles. The closing segment with footage from the vehicle incident in Charlottesville, Virginia from August 2017 is jarring, but a reminder that the world portrayed throughout the film has more in common with today than it has differences. Despite some claiming that we have moved on, there is still plenty of hate in this country, regardless of your political beliefs.

​7 out of 10