Articles by Paul Hall

When I initially saw the trailers for the new film Get Out, I was intrigued. It looked to be cool melding of comedy and horror from the mind of Jordan Peele. What I got even I didn’t expect, but let’s just say Peele’s film exceeded my hopes. Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) and Rose (Allison Williams) have been a couple for five months. They are extremely comfortable with each other and have a great rapport. Rose is excited to bring her boyfriend to meet her parents at their country estate. Chris is nervous, as any man can relate, for that first meeting […]

People have searched for years to find their purpose in life. Some go a lifetime without ever realizing why they are here and others are lucky enough to find that purpose at a young age. But what about dogs? Do they have a purpose? In A Dog’s Purpose, from director Lasse Hallström, we meet one such dog looking to find his purpose in life. Bailey (voice of Josh Gad) meets young Ethan at just the right time. The dog is found sweltering in the backseat of a car. When Ethan agrees to do everything that is needed to take care […]

Enamored. That was the word after my screening of La La Land from director Damien Chazelle. It was all I could say as I exited the theater. I was enamored. La La Land tells the story of Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) and Mia (Emma Stone) against the gorgeous backdrop of Los Angeles. Sebastian loves jazz — smooth, clean and classic jazz. He dreams of opening a club of his own that focuses on his passion and opening that club at a legendary location that has turned its back on the art form. Mia is an aspiring actress that is working at […]

Most of us have indulged in McDonald’s at one time or another. But, how many of us know the story behind the story of those legendary “golden arches” and their rollout across America? The Founder, featuring Michael Keaton as legendary businessman Ray Kroc, takes us behind the scenes of the fast food empire’s rise. A milkshake machine salesman from the Midwest, Ray Kroc stumbles upon something amazing when a small restaurant in California wants a number of his machines to keep up with demand. When Kroc meets owners Dick (Nick Offerman) and Mac (John Carroll Lynch) McDonald, he is enamored with […]

In the film Hidden Figures, we pull back the curtain to see some of the brave African-American women who worked behind the scenes to put a man into orbit and bring him back home safely. Katherine G. Johnson (Taraji P. Henson) knew her math. Always ahead of boys and girls her age, she grew into one of the smartest mathematicians around. But there was a challenge that Katherine couldn’t solve. She was an African-American woman and was looking up from the bottom of the societal totem pole. NASA hired African-American women, but still had segregated bathrooms. It employed these bright […]

The people of Boston celebrate Patriots Day annually. The celebration includes the running of the Boston Marathon and unites this great American city. But on Monday, April 15, 2013, this day would take on a whole new meaning as bombs exploded near the finish line of the marathon. Patriots Day, by director Peter Berg, tells us the story of the ordinary people of Boston who came together in an extraordinary fashion to deal with terrorism in their city. Many of us know the story of the marathon bombing, but what about the stories of some of the people who were […]

Washington, D.C., is a place that can swallow those who don’t have a thick skin. Let’s be honest: Many of the biggest decisions aren’t made as simply as voting thumbs up or down on legislation. Countless individuals work around the clock to persuade elected officials to cast votes on one particular side. In the new movie Miss Sloane, we take a look at some of those people who drive legislation. Elizabeth Sloane (Jessica Chastain) is one of the most powerful people in Washington. When she is brought in to lead a team, she gets the job done. Some may have […]

In the new film Sing, we meet Buster Moon (voice of Matthew McConaughey), a theater-owning koala who is a bit down on his luck. After his latest production fails, putting the theater at risk, he comes up with a great idea: to present a singing competition with a prize of $1,000. But when Buster’s secretary adds a couple of zeroes to the prize money by mistake, the floodgates open and Buster has a big production on his plate — with practically no prize money for the winner. Every animal in town with a dream shows up to audition for the […]

The film Jackie takes us inside the head of former first lady Jackie Kennedy. We’ve seen many films come along that explore the environment around the late President John F. Kennedy, but rarely, if ever, have we seen that level of intimacy in an examination of Jackie. Her struggles, pain and humanness have never been more evident than in this film. Everyone knew Jackie (Natalie Portman) as a glamorous woman standing by her husband’s side, but in this film we see the real struggles that come with such a high-profile position. As she sits down for an interview with a […]

New to On Demand: Trolls Poppy (Anna Kendrick) is one of the happiest trolls of all time. Ever since her father, King Peppy (Jeffrey Tambor), saved her from certain death, she has exuded more happiness than any member of the troll community. With Poppy all grown up in the new film Trolls, we get to see what happens when the eternally happy characters are faced with an attack on their happiness. The Bergens are a community that is the direct opposite of the trolls. They have no happiness left anywhere within their being. It was always told to them that […]