Articles by Paul Hall

Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Now available On Demand and on DVD is the music biopic Bohemian Rhapsody that tells the tale of the rock band Queen. Freddie Mercury (Rami Malek) is just a guy from Zanzibar and a baggage handler at London’s Heathrow airport until he impresses upon a local band who just lost their lead singer that he is the perfect replacement. After some trepidation at first, Brian May (Gwilym Lee) and Roger Taylor (Ben Hardy) hear Mercury sing and make him a member of their group. They also need a new bassist since […]

Whoville loves Christmas! Family, presents, food, decorations and so many more things all come together in one glorious celebration for the residents of this little town. The Dr. Seuss tale returns to the big screen and is brought to life with a modern look and feel with the release of The Grinch. Despite the celebratory atmosphere around Whoville, there is one resident living high above this small town who is less than enthused about the joy that exists. That resident, of course, is the Grinch (voice of Benedict Cumberbatch). Something had an impact on the Grinch’s ability to enjoy Christmas […]

Spies and various shadowy government figures are always good for a film treatment. These films generally consist of suave men and women with stylish villains and amazing modern technology. That isn’t quite true when it comes to the film Johnny English Strikes Again. The digital age leads to modern problems, and when a villain steals the identities of all of Britain’s active undercover agents, the government must look to former agents to find the culprit. Their ultimate choice is none other than a man who once was an agent but now is a schoolteacher, Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson). English is […]

First. Rarely do we remember who was second to anything. Super Bowl winners are often remembered, but the team that lost in the Super Bowl? We all know Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball, but few know Larry Doby was the second (he was, look it up). In the film First Man, we see life unfold through the first to walk on the surface of the moon. Most people are aware that Neil Armstrong (Ryan Gosling) was the first man to walk on the surface of the moon. But what made Armstrong tick? What were his […]

Michael Myers. The name itself strikes fear in fans of the horror genre. He’s spoken of alongside the likes of Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees and Norman Bates as one of the most memorable horror film villains in history. Now, 40 years removed from the original film, Halloween is back and so is Michael. Haddonfield is a community that has never forgotten the night Michael unleashed a killing spree upon it. While Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) made it out alive, she also has never forgotten. She has isolated herself in what can be called nothing less than a compound, and […]

Being a teenager means dealing with some of life’s earliest challenges: dating, school, sports, friends and growing up in general. In the film White Boy Rick, those aren’t the only challenges faced by one Detroit-area young man. Richard Wershe Sr. (Matthew McConaughey) makes a living buying and selling guns on the streets of Detroit. He has taught his son Ricky Wershe Jr. (Richie Merritt) the intricacies of the world of weapons. But the teenage Ricky wants more and beginning at age 14 he became a street hustler, FBI Informant and later moved to drug kingpin — he gets so much […]

Mysterious old houses have been the centerpiece of many films through the years. Think of the creepy factor behind the Psycho house or the domicile in The Amityville Horror. Each is an additional character in their respective films. In the film The House With a Clock in Its Walls, there is a creaky old house filled with the tick tock that itself is a character. Young Lewis Barnavelt (Owen Vaccaro) has had tragedy strike his life. Lewis has lost both of his parents and is being sent to stay with his uncle Jonathan (Jack Black). It’s a new school, a […]

Look for a job, and it’s everywhere — high school diploma or GED required. Most jobs require one of these pieces of paper. When an individual doesn’t have that diploma, it takes a GED to qualify. Night School, helps us to prepare for that all-important GED exam. Tests in an educational setting have never agreed with Teddy Walker (Kevin Hart). Since walking out of a practice standardized test, Teddy has wanted to avoid anything that remotely has to do with education and testing. But he has a future thanks to his current job as a successful salesman. Teddy’s boss has […]

We’ve seen the revenge narrative played out on film a number of times before, but rarely is it a story where a woman is taking revenge on those who have taken everything she holds dear. Peppermint is that movie, and so much more. Riley North (Jennifer Garner) is working hard to raise her beautiful daughter Carly (Cailey Fleming). Her husband Chris (Jeff Hephner) longs for more money as his day job is not providing the funds he had hoped it would for his family. That search just may lead him to the wrong type of people, and he’s still not […]

In the film Operation Finale from director Chris Weitz, we explore the planning and execution of the Mossad’s attempt to capture a notorious war criminal and bring him to trial. Adolf Eichmann (Ben Kingsley) stayed in the shadows for years. Some believed that the architect of some of the most sinister actions in the history of the Nazis had killed himself as so many had. One day, through an innocent slip of the tongue, Eichmann is discovered in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The Israeli people long for justice, so the Mossad (Israel’s national intelligence agency) sends a team to Argentina to […]