Fences

i felt this was a faithful adaptation of august wilson's play to the screen (well, i mean, wilson was working on the script for this before his death). my huge complaint is that, despite going all the way to the hill district in pittsburgh to film this, it still felt like the movie was being staged on a theatre stage. and yes, this is also despite the fact there are scenes that get away from troy's house. but i liked it regardless. read more

it can be a tricky thing to bring a stage play to the big screen. theater is a very personal, often intimate experience, while cinema lends itself to bigger and more bombastic ways. often the most successful adaptations of plays are either musicals -- which can be as over the top as the hollywood films require -- or those that expand the production values and script to make for a bigger, bolder version of the original story. fences doesn't to that. the denzel washington-directed adaptation of august wilson's beloved stage production keeps things small in scope, thus allowing the power of the... read more