Blog — 3 Brothers Film

Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

A rare sequel that goes in a different direction, darker and deeper, The Empire Strikes Back permanently transformed what the Star Wars saga would be.

TIFF19: Uncut Gems

The Safdie Brothers continue to mine chaos and momentum in the riveting Uncut Gems.

Reviews, The Festival Circuit, Aren's ReviewsAren BergstromSeptember 18, 2019Josh Safdie, Benny Safdie, Ronald Bronstein, Adam Sandler, Lakeith Stanfield, Julia Fox, Kevin Garnett, Idina Menzel, Judd Hirsch, Eric BogosianComment

TIFF19: A Hidden Life

Terrence Malick has crafted his most political and religious work yet.

Reviews, The Festival Circuit, Aren's ReviewsAren BergstromSeptember 17, 2019Terrence Malick, A Hidden Life, August Diehl, Valerie Pachner, Michael Nyqvist, Jurgen Prochnow, Matthias Schoenaerts, Bruno Ganz, Martin Wuttke, Franz Rogowski, Maria Simon Comment

TIFF19: One Day in the Life of Noah Piugattuk

One Day in the Life of Noah Piugattuk is a rewarding film and a microcosm of Inuit-settler relations.

Reviews, The Festival Circuit, Aren's ReviewsAren BergstromSeptember 16, 2019Zacharias Kunuk, Norman Cohn, Apayata Kotierk, Kim Bodnia, Benjamin Kunuk, One Day in the Life of Noah Piugattuk, Inuk, InuitComment

TIFF19: Weathering with You

Makoto Shinkai’s follow-up to Your Name is a similarly high-concept exercise in empathy.

Reviews, The Festival Circuit, Aren's ReviewsAren BergstromSeptember 13, 2019Weathering with You, Your Name, Makoto Shinkai, Kotaro Daigu, Nana Mori, Shun Oguri, Tsubasa Honda, Chieko Baisho, Sakura Kiryu, animeComment

TIFF19: The Platform

The Platform is both an allegory for class warfare and a seriously entertaining science-fiction horror film.

Reviews, The Festival Circuit, Aren's ReviewsAren BergstromSeptember 12, 2019The Platform, TIFF, TIFF19, Toronto International Film Festival, Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia, David Desola, Pedro Rivero, Ivan Massagué, Antonia San Juan, Zorion Eguileor, Emilio Buale, Alexandra MasangkayComment

Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977)

The simplicity and iconicity of Star Wars obscures its remarkable formal achievement.

Star Wars, Reviews, Flash BackAnton BergstromSeptember 11, 2019Star Wars, Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, Star Wars Retrospective, Star Wars: A New Hope, George Lucas, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, Peter Cushing, Alec Guinness, myth, hero's journey, legendComment

TIFF19: Sound of Metal

Sound of Metal has one of the most astounding sound designs in recent memory.

Reviews, The Festival Circuit, Aren's ReviewsAren BergstromSeptember 10, 2019Sound of Metal, Darius Marder, Abraham Marder, Derek Cianfrance, Riz Ahmed, Olivia Cooke, Paul Raci, Lauren Ridloff, Mathieu Amalric, Domenico Toledo, TIFF19, TIFF, Toronto International Film FestivalComment

Review: Ready or Not (2019)

A gruesome, funny B-movie to end the summer movie season.

Reviews, The Current: In Theatres, Aren's ReviewsAren BergstromSeptember 5, 2019Ready or Not, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett, Samara Weaving, Adam Brody, Mark O'Brien, Henry Czerny, Andie MacDowell, Nicky Guadagni, Melanie Scrofano, Elyse Levesque, Kristian Bruun, John RalstonComment

Review: American Factory (2019)

A remarkable documentary that gets at the inherent tensions of a globalized economy.

Reviews, Aren's Reviews, The Current: At HomeAren BergstromAugust 30, 2019Netflix, American Factory, Julie Reichert, Steven Bognar, Barack Obama, FuyaoComment

Review: The Great Hack (2019)

The Great Hack is an addictive primer on the Cambridge Analytica scandal, but it avoids delving into the muddier waters of its subject matter.

Reviews, Aren's Reviews, The Current: At HomeAren BergstromAugust 23, 2019The Great Hack, Karim Amer, Jehane Noujaim, Erin Barnett, Cambridge AnalyticaComment

Review: The Highwaymen (2019)

John Lee Hancock’s revisionist take on Bonnie and Clyde leans into Western conventions while flirting with a deeper take on the mythology of American violence.

Reviews, Aren's Reviews, The Current: At HomeAren BergstromAugust 16, 2019The Highwaymen, John Lee Hancock, John Fusco, Kevin Costner, Woody Harrelson, Kathy Bates, John Carroll Lynch, Kim Dickens, Thomas Mann, William Sadler, Bonnie and ClydeComment

Review: Kindergarten Cop (1990)

Kindergarten Cop is sentimental, but also a strong encapsulation of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s strengths as a performer.

Reviews, Overlooked and Under-Appreciated, Aren's ReviewsAren BergstromAugust 9, 2019Kindergarten Cop, Ivan Reitman, Murray Salem, Herschel Weingrod, Timothy Harris, Penelope Ann Miller, Pamela Reed, Linda Hunt, Richard Tyson, Carroll Baker, Arnold SchwarzeneggerComment

Review: The Lion King (2019)

The 2019 photorealistic remake of the 1994 classic is pointless nostalgia.

Review: Armageddon (1998)

While it is often dismissed as a prime example of bad, American action films, Michael Bay’s Armageddon is actually carefully constructed, developing its film style in service of a powerful work of American propaganda.