Sir Ian McKellen is 80 years old; Dame Helen Mirren is 74. Individually, these veteran thespians, each with decades of work on stage and screen under the belts, are capable of out-acting, outrunning and outgunning performers one third their age. This is not disputable. They can both go big, broad, …
Read More »'Aquarela' Review: The Shape of Water, Indeed
Shot in high definition at 96 frames per second — though most theaters will only be able to show it at 48 fps — this eyepopper from Russian director-writer-cinematographer-editor Victor Kossakovsky (¡Vivan Las Antípodas!) is like nothing you’ve ever seen. His free-form documentary on water opens by scaring us to …
Read More »'Little Woods' Review: Tessa Thompson Saves Down-and-Out-in-U.S.A. Drama
What’s it like living strapped in America? Little Woods, an uneven but compelling feature debut from writer-director Nia DaCosta, takes you right into the trenches. Things are booming in the remote town of Little Woods, North Dakota, as long as you’re in the oil business. But if you’re Ollie (Tessa …
Read More »'Sunset' Review: Light Fades on Empires and Evil in Scathing Historical Drama
László Nemes is a filmmaker who keeps his friends close and his cameras closer. The Hungarian director’s devastating 2015 debut, Son of Saul, distinguished itself not just by sticking right next to its main character but virtually breathing down his neck — the fact that our guide was a Sonderkommando …
Read More »'Aquaman' Review: D.C. Superhero's Solo Movie Is a Waterlogged Mess
He’s the laughing stock of the DC Comics Extended Universe — and Aquaman’s solo movie almost gets by on razzle dazzle, since that’s all it has up its waterlogged sleeve. Not that this underwater superhero knows much from sleeves: A shirtless but never humorless Jason Momoa plays Arthur Curry, a.k.a. …
Read More »'American Animals' Review: Who Likes Doc Hybrids About Dumb Criminals?
You’d call this heist film un-fucking-believable, except that American Animals really is rooted in fact – that is, whenever the British documentarian Bart Layton, in a mightily impressive narrative feature debut, doesn’t mess around too much. “This is not based on a true story,” reads a title card at the …
Read More »'How to Talk to Girls at Parties': When Horny Punks Met Alien Sex Fiends
Earth, 1977: England’s dreaming, London’s burning, and punk is raging as the U.K.’s youth culture du jour. Enn (Alex Sharp) spends his days writing and drawing his zine – titled Virys, because punk! – and giving polite society the two-fingered salute. At night, he and his knuckleheaded buddies hit up …
Read More »'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri': The Best Movie of 2017
Duck, you suckers – this darkly comic bonfire of a movie shoots off dangerous sparks that can burn and leave marks. A livewire Frances McDormand will blow you away as Mildred Hayes, a divorced woman who’s mad as hell at the police in her town of Ebbing, Missouri. So mad, …
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