Tag: Susan Coyne

REVIEW: French Exit [2021]

Jared Mobarak

My plan was to die before the money ran out. Frances Price (Michelle Pfeiffer) married Franklin Prince (Tracy Letts) and they had a son named … Malcolm (Lucas Hedges)? I guess continuing the name gag to make him Frankie or François was a bit “too far” for screenwriter Patrick deWitt (adapted from his novel). I don’t blame him and director Azazel Jacobs for drawing that line, though, considering I didn’t register the similarity until after the fact anyway. It’s just one more straight-faced joke layered atop the rest to either…

Read More

REVIEW: The Man Who Invented Christmas [2017]

Jared Mobarak

Why throw everything away for a minor holiday? As Les Standiford‘s book would tell it, Charles Dickens (Dan Stevens) found himself in somewhat of a creative rut after a lengthy and expensive tour of America post-Oliver Twist. He had published three flops since buying a new London home in need of wholesale remodeling and began watching his pocketbook dwindle along with his confidence. It was as though the autumn of 1843 presented him a make or break moment wherein he wasn’t certain he would ever write again. And then inspiration…

Read More