KNIVES OUT takes a brisk pace with its cinematic legerdemain as its cast expertly calibrate their performances so that arch never strays into the certain disaster of becoming artificial. The result is a giddily entertaining, emotionally engaging film that sets a new standard for its genre, and, if there is any justice, will launch the Benoit Blanc franchise.
LAST CHRISTMAS
LAST CHRISTMAS is a lugubrious exercise in muddled storytelling. Billed as a romantic comedy, there is little humor to be found as the romance between a klutz who’s lost her way in life, and the handsome stranger who pops in and out of that life fails to ignite past the infamous friend zone. The klutz… Read More »
THE CURRENT WAR: THE DIRECTOR’S CUT
THE CURRENT WAR: THE DIRECTOR’S CUT is an elegantly realized intellectual thriller which considers not only the eternal struggle between art and commerce, but also the effect of personalities on inventing the future. In this case, three visionaries, Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, and Nikola Tesla. Each with a particular kind of genius, each with idiosyncrasies… Read More »
HARRIET
HARRIET achieves the proper, and richly deserved, tone of reverence for its subject, Harriet Tubman. That is, alas, its greatest failing. The astonishing life of one of the most courageous Americans who has ever lived is told in a series of set pieces, vignettes with all drama sapped from them as they take on the… Read More »
GEMINI MAN
It is the age old question, just because we >can< so something, does that automatically mean that we should? In the case of pitting an older Will Smith against a younger Will Smith courtesy of the slick visual effects in GEMINI MAN, the answer is a resounding no. Make that NO. The visual trickery that… Read More »
WHERE’D YOU GO, BERNADETTE
Based on the novel by Maria Semple, WHERE’D YOU GO BERNADETTE is a tale of artistic vision quashed by its run-ins with the crasser elements of reality, and the consequences of living the resulting inauthentic life with Cate Blanchett perfection as Bernadette, the eccentric anti-social wife of a Seattle Microsoft bigwig. Her skirmishes with her… Read More »
BRIAN BANKS
BRIAN BANKS is an earnest film that hits all the necessary and expected plot points as it makes its cogent indictment of the criminal justice system. It never becomes a screed, though the based-on-a-true story of 16-year-old who ended up serving time for a rape he didn’t commit certainly has all the elements to support… Read More »
FAST AND FURIOUS PRESENTS: HOBBS AND SHAW
HOBBS AND SHAW is, occasionally, as clever as it thinks it is. Fueled by that cocksure attitude, a healthy dose of ironic self-awareness, and the undeniable star power of its three eye-candy leads, this spin-off from the Fast and Furious franchise is a pleasant enough diversion. The plot is strictly a perfunctory exercise involving a… Read More »
SPIDERMAN: FAR FROM HOME
We learn many things in SPIDERMAN FAR FROM HOME. We learn that not only are the Dutch polyglots, but also that they are the nicest people on earth, even when a private jet is making hash of their iconic tulip fields. We learn that saving the planet is just as important as getting that first… Read More »
THE BEST OF ENEMIES
We know going in to THE BEST OF ENEMIES that there will be soul-searching and redemption. The challenge for director Robin Bissell in adapting this true-life story from the book by Osha Gray Davidson was to frame doing the right thing in terms that truly demonstrate to the audience the temper of the times that… Read More »
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