Month: February 2020

Romance is a bit fuzzy in ‘The Photograph’

Jeff Mitchell

“The Photograph” – Location, Location, Location. If you live in Mesa, AZ, would you take a job across town in Buckeye?  According to Google, the cities are 53 miles apart, and at 6:00pm on a Thursday, the one-way commute is 1 hour and 18 minutes.  Unless you have a How to Learn French in 500 hours app, a pile of gas money, a reliable, late model Honda or Toyota, and are born with oceans of patience, handing a tattoo pen to your 6 year-old son and asking him to draw…

‘Birds of Prey’ might have you praying for a better movie

Jeff Mitchell

“Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey” – Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) is a badass broad.  Don’t take this critic’s word for it.  She gave herself that moniker in “Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey”, and why not.  She earned a PhD.  She plays roller derby.  She swings a baseball bat when trouble is afoot.  She loves greasy egg sandwiches with a hearty slice of cheese, and she’s Joker’s girlfriend. Well, she was Joker’s girlfriend.  Sometime after Harley Quinn’s previous big screen performance in the dreadful “Suicide Squad” (2016) – where she and…

‘The Assistant’ clearly documents empathy without empowerment

Jeff Mitchell

“The Assistant” –  “Empowerment through empathy.” – Tarana Burke “Tumble out of bed, and I stumble to the kitchen.  Pour myself a cup of ambition and yawn and stretch and try to come to life.   Jump in the shower, and the blood starts pumping.  Out on the street, the traffic starts jumping with folks like me on the job from 9 to 5.” – “9 to 5” by Dolly Parton Jane (Julia Garner) works for a movie production company in New York City.  She’s an entry-level assistant to the top…