"Hell or High Water" Review by Tim Hellman

'HELL OR HIGH WATER': Five Stars (Out of Five)

Critically acclaimed crime drama flick; about two bank robbing brothers, in West Texas, trying to raise money to save their family's ranch. The film stars Jeff Bridges, Chirs Pine and Ben Foster. It was written by Taylor Sheridan (who also wrote 2015's outstanding 'SICARIO'), and it was directed by David Mackenzie. The film received almost unanimously positive reviews from critics (98% positive on Rotten Tomatoes), and it's been a small hit at the Box Office (so far) as well. I loved it.

Toby Howard (Pine) is a divorced father, living in West Texas, that desperately wants to leave a better life for his two estranged sons (John-Paul Howard and Christopher W. Garcia). His brother Tanner (Foster) is an ex-con, that wants to help Toby achieve this dream. They're family ranch is about to be foreclosed on, and there's a great deal of oil that's just been discovered on the land. The brothers decide to rob several banks, in order to pay off the farm. Marcus Hamilton (Bridges) is the retiring Texas Ranger that wants to stop them.

The movie is a very well put together western/heist flick; that focuses a lot more on rich character development, than action. With that said, the climactic shootout/chase at the end is epic. The three leads are all great in the film, but Bridges is classic (it's probably one of his best performances ever). Pine is likable, as the movie's main character; and Foster is awesome at being crazy, once again (I don't think he can play anything else). Like I said, the movie is a little slow-paced/slow building at first; but it's worth it! Sheridan's script is brilliant.

"Warcraft" Review by Tim Hellman

'WARCRAFT: THE BEGINNING': Four Stars (Out of Five)

Fantasy-action flick; based on the immensely popular video game franchise, and novel series (of the same name). This movie tells the origin story, of how an army of orcs invaded the world of Azeroth; to take it for their own. It was directed by Duncan Jones (who also helmed such other popular sci-fi flicks, as 'MOON' and 'SOURCE CODE'); it was also written by Jones and Charles Leavitt (based on a story, and characters, created by Chris Metzen). The film stars Travis Fimmel, Paula Patton, Toby Kebbell, Ben Foster, Dominic Cooper, Daniel Wu and Ben Schnetzer. It's gotten mostly negative reviews from critics, but it's also been a hugely profitable blockbuster overseas (breaking many records, all around the world). I really wanted to like this movie, and I did love it's visuals, but the story and characters are a little disappointing.

The film tells the story of a world of orcs, called Draenor, that's quickly dying. They've discovered a portal, using a powerful magic force called the fel, that will lead them to another world (known as Azeroth). The army of orcs, known as the Horde, is lead by a sinister orc, named Gul'dan (Wu); who uses the fel to drain the life force of other species (in order to fuel the portal). One noble orc chieftan, named Durotan (Kebbell), doesn't want to enslave the people of Azeroth (for this purpose). So Durotan, and a half-breed (orc-human) named Garona (Patton), attempt to form an alliance with the humans there. The humans are lead by a king, named Llane (Cooper), and a knight, named Lothar (Fimmel).

I've never played the game, or read any of the books (or comics), so I didn't have any real high expectations for this movie. I did love the trailer though, because of it's visuals; and I have to say, the special effects (in this movie) are some of the best I've ever seen. I also love epic sc-fi fantasy flicks, like this. I'm just disappointed that the story, and characters, don't live up to the film's spectacular visuals. Duncan Jones is a very talented director; but his wife did get cancer during the production of this movie (and his father, David Bowie, died of it). Still, I think he delivered. I think the movie's main problems are due to it's script (which Jones did help write though). I think it was probably too faithful to the video game series, and novels. The story might have worked really well in those formats, but translating it to other art forms (like film) doesn't always work. I hope the sequels are much better (I did absolutely love this movie's visuals though). I probably would have liked the film much more, when I was a kid.

Official Trailer for Lance Armstrong Bio Film "The Program"

Momentum Pictures recently send us over the official trailer for Stephen Frears'(The Queen, Philomena) "The Program". The film is inspired by the book "Seven Deadly Sins: My Pursuit of Lance Armstrong" by David Walsh and stars Ben Foster, Chris O’Dowd, Guillaume Canet, Jesse Plemons, Lee Pace, Denis Ménochet, Edward Hogg and Dustin Hoffman.

"The Program" hits theaters in limited release and VOD on March 18th.

For more information on this film, you can visit the film's official website at: http://www.theprogrammovie.com

Plot Synopsis:

From Academy Award® nominated director Stephen Frears (The Queen, Philomena) comes the true story of the meteoric rise and fall of one of the most celebrated and controversial men in recent history; Lance Armstrong, the world-renowned Tour de France champion.

"The Program": Official Trailer