ron howard – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

EDEN – Review by T.J. Callahan

August 19, 2025August 19, 2025 T. J. Callahan ana de armas, Daniel Bruehl, Galapagos, jude law, ron howard, Sydney Sweeney, vanessa kirby

Eden is Gilligan’s Island meets Lord of the Flies. Based on “those who survived”, the Ron Howard film is the true story of Dr. Friedrich Ritter and his partner, Dore Strauch, who settled on Floreana Island in the Galapagos to live a better life alone, foraging for themselves while escaping the collapsing economy of WWI Germany. Ritter’s letters home soon became glamorized by the press encouraging others to join “Paradise”. He was the first influencer without meaning to be.

Reviews

THE STUDIO – Review by Susan Granger

May 17, 2025 Susan Granger Anthony Mackie, bryan cranston, catherine ohara, charlize theron, Chase Sui Wonders, dave franco, Greta Lee, Ice Cube, Kathryn Hahn, martin scorsese, olivia wilde, ron howard, Sarah Polley, Seth Rogen, steve buscemi, The Studio, zac efron, Zoe Kravitz

Ever wanted to sneak behind-closed-doors and see what propels the Hollywood Dream Machine? That’s what happens in the cameo-cluttered, 10-episode satire The Studio, skewering the perennial Art-vs-Commerce dilemma. When delusional dreamer Matt Remick (co-creator Seth Rogen) becomes the head of Continental Studios , he’s told by CEO Griffin Mill (Bryan Cranston) that his job is to make IP-driven movies that will succeed at the box-office, not “artsy-fartsy films.” Problem is: pretentious cinephile Matt thinks he can do both

Reviews

THIRTEEN LIVES – Review by Susan Granger

August 16, 2022August 17, 2022 Susan Granger Colin Farrell, John Volanthen, ron howard, Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, Tham Luang cave, Thirteen Lives, truth-based, Viggo Mortensen

On June 23, 2018, twelve soccer players and their coach became trapped in the Tham Luang Nang Non cave in northern Thailand. In Thirteen Lives, director Ron Howard details how they were rescued. While the boys (ages 10 to 16) and their 25 year-old coach were exploring deep into the massive cavern system, heavy rains of the monsoon season began to fall, flooding the exit and stranding them inside.

Reviews

THIRTEEN LIVES – Review by Diane Carson

August 9, 2022August 12, 2022 Diane Carson Colin Farrell, John Volanthen, ron howard, Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, Tham Luang cave, Thirteen Lives, truth-based, Viggo Mortensen

Director Ron Howard’s Thirteen Lives impressively dramatizes actual events from 2018, an equally terrifying and inspiring, seemingly impossible rescue mission. Even knowing the outcome for the twelve Thai Wild Boar soccer boys and their coach as they enter the Tham Luang Cave in Thailand’s northern Chiang Rai Province, a palpable chill takes over as monsoon storms unleash torrents of rain.

Reviews

THIRTEEN LIVES – Review by T. J. Callahan

August 4, 2022August 6, 2022 T. J. Callahan Colin Farrell, joel edgerton, ron howard, Thirteen Lives, truth-based, Viggo Mortensen

Director, Ron Howard and a star studded cast team up to tell the harrowing story of the soccer team that got trapped in a Thailand cave on June 23rd, 2018. A disaster seen around the world, Thirteen Lives, at 2 1⁄2 hours, gives us a day by day, hour by hour, and minute by minute account from the time the Wild Boars entered the Tham Luang cave system until the last one was pulled to safety after unexpected monsoon rains flooded the cavity and left the boys and their coach stranded for 18 days.

Reviews

HILLBILLY ELEGY – Review by Martha K Baker

November 23, 2020December 3, 2020 Martha K. Baker (Archived Contributor) 0 Comments amy adams, glenn close, hillbilly elegy, j.d.vance, netflix, ron howard

“Poverty porn” suffuses Hillbilly Elegy as does self-aggrandizement (see the cards and rotogravure with the credits). Hillbilly Elegy skims the surface of the book to focus on family more than politics, resulting in a tolerable film. Thankfully, it’s not Hee-Haw, but it’s not Barbara Kopple’s iconic documentary, Harlan County, U.S.A. either.

Reviews

HILLBILLY ELEGY – Review by Susan Granger

November 16, 2020November 16, 2020 Susan Granger 0 Comments amy adams, glenn close, hillbilly elegy, j.d.vance, ron howard

J.D. Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis is about his chaotic childhood. It’s been termed “poverty porn,” detailing his mother’s chronic drug addiction, pivoting from personal “down home” recollections to inevitable culture clashes. In the film adaptation, it comes across as a family drama, a resonant slice of rural Americana.

Reviews

HILLBILLY ELEGY – Review by Susan Wloszczyna

November 10, 2020November 10, 2020 Susan Wloszczyna 0 Comments amy adams, glenn close, hillbilly elegy, j.d.vance, netflix, ron howard

When J.D. Vance’s 2016 memoir, Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, landed on best-seller lists just months before Donald J. Trump would become our 45th president, it was treated like portal into the mind set of those in the disenfranchised white underclass who supported him.

Interviews

Ron Howard Talks DADS – Sarah Knight Adamson interviews

June 19, 2020June 19, 2020 Sarah Knight Adamson 0 Comments Bryce Dallas Howard, dads, documentaries, ron howard

Director, Bryce Dallas Howard set out to create a tribute film to her father, Ron Howard, but through the process, produced a movie to which we can all relate. Dads features Hollywood celebrity dads telling funny and serious anecdotes about their kids with sure-fire delivery that brightens your spirits. Here’s what principal dad Ron Howard has to say about his daughter’s directorial debut.

Festivals Interviews

TIFF 19 Ron Howard talks DADS, Bryce Dallas and Women in Film – Sarah Knight Adamson interviews

September 9, 2019September 15, 2019 Sarah Knight Adamson 0 Comments Bryce Dallas Howard, dads, documentaries, ron howard, TIFF, toronto international film festival

Ron Howard beams when he’s asked to comment on his daughter’s directing debut. In Dads, Bryce Dallas Howard’s documents anecdotes, humor and wisdom told by famous Hollywood fathers Will Smith, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Judd Apatow, Neil Patrick Harris and Ron Howard, among others, who answer the question, “What does it mean to be a dad in today’s society?”

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