12 Hour Shift
Writer/director Brea Grant’s dark comedy/satire on the healthcare industry is a manic joyride full of shocking twists and turns. Angela Bettis stars as a nurse who makes extra money by illegally selling organs, and her schemes eventually catch up with her during the course of one extremely unlucky evening. Unpredictable and chaotic, the film offers a hilarious and terrifying look at what just might be going on behind the scenes of your local hospital.
GRADE: A
#Alive
This South Korean horror/thriller follows a lone survivor of a zombie apocalypse (an excellent Yoo Ah-in) as he fends for himself while barricaded inside his apartment. #Alive is an intense and suspenseful film with some effectively thrilling and horrific moments. It is balanced by likable, relatable, and well-defined characters who provide a grounded humanity to the monstrous storyline. This is a film that knows what it wants to accomplish and does so with precision, skill, and enormous heart.
GRADE: A
Another Round
This Oscar-winning Danish entry isn’t quite the masterpiece word-of-mouth suggests it is. The film’s flawless cast (lead by the great, one and only Mads Mikkelsen) is the best thing about it.
Another Round centers on a group of middle-aged men who decide that life would be more gratifying if they were drunk all the time. Though it is plenty charming and vivacious, the film is ultimately as aimless as a drunken day spent at the beach. Spending two hours witnessing grown men drunkenly make fools of themselves while waxing poetic about their youths, philosophies, and disappointments only grows increasingly tedious. It might be an eye-opener for anyone who hasn’t spent time in an actual bar but, for everyone else, it’s a bit obvious and pointless.
GRADE: B-
Arkansas
Director/co-writer (adapted from John Brandon’s novel)/costar Clark Duke (who previously appeared in Kick-Ass and The Office) makes a solid feature debut behind the camera with this darkly funny modern noir. Though the film plays like an homage to John Dahl and the early work of the Coen Brothers, it also manages to find its own voice. The stellar ensemble cast also features Liam Hemsworth, Vivica A. Fox, Vince Vaughn, and John Malkovich in some of the freest and most playful performances of their careers.
GRADE: B+
Ava
Jessica Chastain stars as an assassin who has to fight for her life after her bosses decide to terminate her for breaking protocol on her assignments. We’ve seen variations of this story told many times before, but Ava works in spite of that because of the care it takes in developing its characters and their relationships. Chastain (along with co-stars John Malkovich, Geena Davis, and Colin Farrell) breathes life into the familiar material with a performance that focuses on true-to-life reactions rather than clichéd action movie posturing. Director Tate Taylor does a terrific job of balancing carefully staged action sequences with moments of identifiable humanity.
GRADE: A-
The Babysitter: Killer Queen
This sequel to 2017’s The Babysitter captures the stylish mayhem of its predecessor, but it also suffers from a storyline that gets a little too complex and ambitious for its own good. Killer Queen rehashes the first film’s best moments in true sequel fashion and enhances them just enough for the film to be entertainingly worthwhile. The surprises and the simplicity are gone, but the heart and chaotic spirit are still charmingly there.
GRADE: B
Babyteeth
A terminally ill teenager (Eliza Scanlen) falls in love with a troubled addict in his early twenties (Toby Wallace). The pacing sometimes drags (the film runs at least fifteen minutes too long), but the overall power of the story manages to persevere in an effectively heartbreaking manner. Scanlen and Wallace both deliver devastating and naturalistic performances, and the docu-realistic style of the film makes their struggles all the more tangible. Ben Mendelsohn and Essie Davis are both excellent as Scanlen’s suffering and loving parents.
GRADE: B+
Bad Boys for Life
The return of Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in their iconic buddy cop roles is a mostly fun, funny romp with some expertly staged action sequences (courtesy of directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah). The film takes itself a tad too seriously in its final act, however, with a rather somber plot twist that feels out of tune with the rest of the film and its predecessors. The movie is still plenty entertaining, however, and shouldn’t disappoint fans of the franchise.
GRADE: B
Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn
The DCEU has been struggling to find its footing. Birds of Prey, though colorful and mildly entertaining, is proof of that. Margot Robbie is at home as Harley Quinn, and Ewan McGregor has infectious fun with his role as the villainous Black Mask, but they can’t save a messy script from its overall aimless narrative.
GRADE: C+
Black Bear
An emotionally distant filmmaker with writer’s block (Aubrey Plaza) stays at a woodland B&B that is owned by a bickering couple (Sarah Gadon and Christopher Abbott). What happens from there is open to interpretation, and it shouldn’t be spoiled here. Black Bear is a challenging movie that prides itself in keeping its viewers guessing about the specifics of its story and its overall meaning. What is real or imagined is intentionally vague, but writer/director Lawrence Michael Levine provides just enough relatable humanity to keep the film grounded in emotional reality.
Plaza’s performance starts off as an exhibition of her endearing dryness but eventually evolves into something painfully raw, intense, and unlike anything we’ve previously seen her do.
GRADE: A-
Bloodshot
Vin Diesel does a lot of punching while falling through mid-air in this super-digital action spectacle that seems to be intent on paying homage to Zack Snyder while forgetting to tell a memorable story with enticing characters. All the busyness and carnage can’t make up for a weak script or uninspired direction. Diesel far too heavily relies on his familiar screen presence and provides little more than macho posturing to a character that needed a tad more thought and humanity to be relatable.
GRADE: C-
Castle in the Ground
This depiction of the opioid epidemic is strikingly well-acted (Imogen Poots and Keir Gilchrist both excel in lead roles) and functionally well-crafted. Unlike many addiction-themed movies, this one focuses on the road leading to addiction rather than the extreme highs and lows experienced in the midst of it. While this angle is fascinating, the film doesn’t quite know what to do with itself in order to reach its full dramatic impact. It could have been an amazing short film, but it drags out with too many inconsequential moments to fully succeed as a feature.
GRADE: B-
The Christmas Chronicles 2
Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn appear to be having a ball as Mr. and Mrs. Claus in this joyful and colorful sequel to Netflix’s Christmastime hit. Chris Columbus (Home Alone, Mrs. Doubtfire) takes over the directing reigns this time around, providing the film with laughs, mischief, and saccharine sweetness. This is a seriously adorable movie if you’re in the mood for some unabashed holiday cheer.
GRADE: B+
Color Out of Space
Nicolas Cage stars in this John Carpenter-esque horror film (based on an H.P. Lovecraft short story) as the father of a family whose lives are severely disrupted by a fallen meteorite in their backyard. Richard Stanley’s (Hardware, Dust Devil) long-awaited return to the director’s chair is an atmospherically moody success. Though its tone is a tad rocky (it verges on being silly at some questionable moments), the film is still worth checking out for fans of Stanley, Cage, or the horror genre in general.
GRADE: B+
Come to Daddy
Elijah Wood has been making interesting choices since his days as a hobbit. This darkly comedic indie about a troubled young man’s reunion with his long-estranged father continues to showcase that. Wood is vulnerable and wholly committed, putting the audience right in his shoes as his character falls deeper into his own personal hell. Come to Daddy is bold, surprising, and quite oddly poignant.
GRADE: A-
The Croods: A New Age
This sequel to the 2013 animated hit about a family of cavemen fighting to survive is an endearing and entertaining effort. The animation is top-notch, and the designs are colorful and eye-catching. The script hits all the right notes to provide plenty of laughs and heartwarming moments while still delivering its messages about the importance of family, staying true to oneself, and the consequences of interfering with Mother Nature.
The highly talented vocal cast features Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Catherine Keener, Cloris Leachman, Clark Duke, Kelly Marie Tran, Peter Dinklage, and Leslie Mann. They all supply the appropriate amount of heart and innovation to make their characters feel alive.
GRADE: B+
Da 5 Bloods
This Spike Lee film centers on a group of Black veterans (Delroy Lindo, Clarke Peters, Norm Lewis, and Isiah Whitlock Jr.) who return to Vietnam to track down a stash of gold and the remains of their fallen friend (the late Chadwick Boseman).
As is often the case with Lee’s more recent films, Da 5 Bloods goes off on too many exhausting and over-bearing tangents to rank as one of the director’s masterworks. Still, it contains some great performances (Lindo steals the show), impressive filmmaking, and some important messages to ponder. A masterpiece could have emerged with some more disciplined editing decisions (particularly in the first half) but, as it stands, it’s a solid but flawed effort.
GRADE: B
The Death of Dick Long
This odd, Coen-esque dark comedy is quirkily and shockingly effective though somewhat thin in its story and character development. The characters of the film go to some fairly unmentionable extremes in their behavior—which the movie admirably doesn’t shy away from—but we’re given little information as to why. The film only scratches the surface of its unsettling subject matter, which needs more in-depth detailing to truly make an impact.
GRADE: B-
Extraction
Chris Hemsworth leaves his likable screen presence at home with his stoic portrayal of a mercenary who has to rescue the kidnapped son of a crime lord. There is one amazingly awesome action set piece that makes the film stand out, but it’s an otherwise uninteresting story that is derivative of too many far better films. Hemsworth and the ambition behind that one sequence deserve to be in a more noteworthy film.
GRADE: C
Fatman
This deliciously nasty Christmas story is a welcome diversion from standard holiday offerings. Mel Gibson stars as a world-weary, cynical Santa Claus who has to fend off a disturbed hitman (the great Walton Goggins) who was hired by a spoiled, sociopathic child (Chance Hurstfield) to take Santa out. Violent, darkly hilarious, and mischievously inventive, the film is an unpredictable and brutal ride that still manages to deliver a message of holiday cheer—no matter how deranged its delivery method may be.
GRADE: A
Force of Nature
In spite of a strong cast (Emille Hirsch, Kate Bosworth, Mel Gibson) and a well-written script (by Corey Miller), this film cannot fully rise above its own, exceedingly average production value. The editing is choppy, the camera work is uninspired, and the direction is so generic that it feels like literally anyone could have been at the helm. Though far and few between, the film has some impressive moments that show us what could have been if someone with a more distinct vision had seen it through.
GRADE: C-
Freaky
A teenage girl (Kathryn Newton) swaps bodies with a deranged serial killer (Vince Vaughn) in this gleefully demented new offering from Blumhouse Productions. Freaky is a roller coaster ride filled with big laughs, great scares, and over-the-top gore that should appease just about any horror fanatic.
Vaughn and Newton exhibit a good deal of range in their interchanging roles, with both of them nailing comedic moments while portraying a teenager. They also both exhibit a believably threatening presence while playing a madman. Cowriter/director Christopher Landon (Happy Death Day) continues to be one of the most reliable and innovative presences behind the camera when it comes to the horror/comedy genre.
GRADE: A-
The Gentlemen
One of Guy Ritchie’s less-obnoxious entries (this writer is not usually a fan), The Gentlemen is a well-written and well-made crime flick. A great cast (Matthew McConaughey, Hugh Grant, Charlie Hunan, Colin Farrell) elevates the already clever (though occasionally self-congratulating) material significantly. Farrell is the film’s scene-stealing highlight.
GRADE: B
Gretel and Hansel
This updated take on the classic Brothers Grimm fairy tale is a fairly solid, though significantly underwhelming, effort. The film is successful in creating a dreadful, creepy tone that keeps the audience on edge for most of its duration. It just would have been nice if it featured characters who aren’t as chilly as the film’s atmosphere. It’s hard to sympathize with or root against anyone in the film, as most of its humanity gets lost in its inhuman environment.
GRADE: C+
Greyhound
Tom Hanks stars in and wrote (based on a C.S. Forester novel) the screenplay for this exceedingly well-crafted WWII thriller. Portraying a U.S. navy commander who has to continuously fight off German submarines, Hanks’ unblinking commitment to his role makes the film’s unrelenting tension all the more tangible for the audience. With a runtime of only 91 minutes, director Aaron Schneider keeps the story compact, making a large impact with little screen time.
GRADE: A
Guns Akimbo
Daniel Radcliffe stars in this hyperkinetic action fantasy as a computer programmer who gets sucked into a bizarre and violent live game after pistols are bolted to both his hands. Colorful, loud, and unrelenting, the film is a clever (though slightly exhausting) homage to and critique of the online gaming world. Costar Samara Weaving (Ready or Not) further exhibits her endless range as a savage and relentless antagonist.
GRADE: B
Happiest Season
A young woman (Mackenzie Davis) invites her girlfriend (Kristen Stewart) home for the holidays but neglects to mention that she has yet to come out to her family. Though its story is predictable, this inclusive Christmas tale has its heart in the right place and manages to be an entertaining, funny, and heartwarming effort. Davis and Stewart share great onscreen chemistry, and a strong supporting cast (Mary Steenburgen, Victor Garber, Aubrey Plaza, Alison Brie, Mary Holland) elevates the formulaic material significantly.
GRADE: B+
Hard Kill
Bruce Willis’ face may be on the promotional materials for this hopelessly generic actioner, but that doesn’t mean he’s featured in a memorable or overly prominent role. With the small amount of screen time he has, Willis is given little to do but appear uninterested and tired. It’s hard to blame him, though, since it’s nearly impossible for the audience not to feel exactly the same way.
GRADE: F
Hillbilly Elegy
Director Ron Howard and screenwriter Vanessa Taylor’s adaptation of J.D. Vance’s celebrated memoir has been treated rather unkindly by critics and audiences. Having not read the book, this writer can only guess that its many fans had a different interpretation of the story. Taking the movie strictly for what it is, however, it is an emotionally moving, exceedingly well-made, and beautifully acted (Amy Adams, Glenn Close, Owen Asztalos, and Gabriel Basso all deserve Oscar nods) study of a loving but highly dysfunctional southern Ohio family.
Though it’s been otherwise accused, the film is a sensitive depiction of Appalachian life that doesn’t rely on easy or insulting caricatures. It doesn’t sugarcoat the story’s harsher aspects (which is perhaps what some critics and audiences found so insulting), but it still manages to convey its characters’ reality with enormous fondness and heart.
GRADE: A
Honest Thief
Liam Neeson stars as a bank robber who decides to turn himself into the F.B.I. after meeting the effervescent love of his life (Kate Walsh). Whatever interesting dramatic conflict that could have been explored with the premise is thrown out the window in favor of contrived characters and a string of average and tiresome action sequences. The film’s strictly by-the-numbers execution lacks imagination and pizazz, but the strong cast (particularly Neeson, Walsh, and Jeffrey Donovan) saves the film from being a complete waste of time.
GRADE: C
Horse Girl
A young woman who works in a fabric store and obsesses over her childhood horse begins to slowly lose her grasp on reality in this uncompromising examination of mental illness. Cowriter/star Alison Brie delivers a knockout performance (one of the best of the year) that is as sympathetic as it is unnerving. This is a strong, impactful film from beginning to end that never cheapens itself with easy or contrived answers.
GRADE: A
The Hunt
This darkly comedic horror/thriller is about a group of upper-class hunters whose prey happens to be lower-class humans. The film successfully works on numerous levels. It’s highly suspenseful and provides plenty of shocks and thrills, but it’s also an astute and scathing satire of the American social class system. Though the film slightly runs out of steam before it reaches its climax, it’s still well worth checking out. Bette Gilpin (Glow) gives a strikingly strong performance as the film’s hunted protagonist.
GRADE: B+
I’m Your Woman
This dramatic thriller revolves around a young woman (Rachel Brosnahan) who goes into hiding with her new baby after her criminal husband gets into trouble.
Co-writer/director Julia Hart shows immense promise, efficiently staging scenes of highly captivating tension. Brosnahan and her costars all give excellent, thoughtful performances. The overall result is somewhat cold, however, due to an underdeveloped screenplay that doesn’t provide enough backstory or motivation to its characters. The film is exceptionally well made but lacks the appropriate amount of heart and soul needed to be fully captivating.
GRADE: B-
The Invisible Man
Writer/director Leigh Whannell continues his hot streak (following up his excellent 2018 effort, Upgrade) with this updated take on the classic horror story. Elizabeth Moss is a vulnerable, sympathetic lead as the haunted girlfriend of a mad, narcissistic scientist. The film is the perfect metaphor for an abusive relationship. Though logic sometimes feels a tad abandoned, the film is still highly suspenseful, intelligent, and thought-provoking.
GRADE: A-
Jiu Jitsu
This sci-fi/martial arts pic is essentially a conflation of Kickboxer and Predator. It’s utterly ridiculous in every possible way, but it still succeeds (in a charmingly cheesy way) due to some wild action sequences, inventive camerawork, and–it goes without saying–the presence of Nicolas Cage in a supporting role. All its elements work together to achieve unabashed b-movie glory.
GRADE: B
Kajillionaire
Quirky is something that many movies aspire to be, and some are more successful than others. Sometimes, you can just tell when a filmmaker has seen one too many Wes Anderson titles and seems hell-bent on making quirky its own independent genre. Sometimes, a filmmaker can choke on his or her own cleverness and create something that is so obnoxiously self-congratulating that it’s barely watchable.
Kajillionaire, which is centered on a family of small-time grifters, is sadly such a movie. It tries very hard to be above conventional storytelling but forgets to provide us with characters or a plot that are enticing or accessible. In spite of a highly talented cast (Evan Rachel Wood, Richard Jenkins, Debra Winger) and the film’s surprisingly moving final few minutes, the film falls hopelessly and quirkily flat.
GRADE: D+
Last Moment of Clarity
This mystery/thriller has a strong premise: a man living in Paris (Zach Avery) sees a movie featuring an actress that looks just like his departed lover (Samara Weaving) and he soon becomes obsessed with tracking her down. The first half is wholly engrossing, but the second half suffers from too much padding and subplots that are more contrived and generic than the strong central story deserves. Though the film overall works, it increasingly feels as though it was a bit too thinly stretched to reach a feature-length running time. But, man, that first half is entrancing.
GRADE: B
Line of Duty
Aaron Eckhart stars in this media-satirizing actioner as a cop trying to beat the clock to save a kidnap victim. The movie is well made, smart enough, and tightly paced. Eckhart’s commanding presence raises the formulaic (though well-written by Jeremy Drysdale) material up a few notches.
GRADE: B
The Lovebirds
Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani share great onscreen chemistry as a couple whose rocky love life is interrupted after they witness a brutal murder. Though formulaic and predictable, the talented cast always manages to keep things lively and fresh. Director Michael Showalter keeps the momentum up and the pacing quick, making The Lovebirds a tight and entertaining comedic experience.
GRADE: B+
The Midnight Sky
Producer/actor/director George Clooney’s latest is a slow-paced but hypnotic science fiction/post-apocalyptic drama that goes to some unexpected places. On first viewing, the film’s execution might seem to be a bit haphazard. It sometimes tests its viewer’s patience with its multiple storylines and complex structure. If you stick with it, however, The Midnight Sky’s final moments provide an enormous emotional and intellectual payoff that makes whatever frustrations it took getting there well worth it.
Clooney delivers a grounded and subtle performance as a scientist trying to warn astronauts against returning home to Earth because of the planet’s now-inhospitable climate. Felicity Jones, David Oyelowo, Kyle Chandler, and Caoilinn Springall all stand out amongst the impressively solid ensemble cast.
GRADE: A-
The New Mutants
This long-delayed and much-reshot spinoff of the X-Men series isn’t nearly as bad as it should be. In spite of some rough edges, it still manages to be entertaining throughout. Interesting characters, innovative effects, and well-staged action sequences save a somewhat muddied narrative. Anya Taylor-Joy stands out amongst the film’s solid ensemble, exhibiting a fierce and steely screen presence that steals focus every time she’s on camera.
GRADE: B-
The Old Guard
A group of immortal mercenaries who have protected the world for centuries fight to keep their powers from getting into the wrong hands. Charlize Theron heads an impressive cast as the group’s leader, and there’s no denying she has the presence or strength to be believable in the role. The film grows tired, however, with one exhausting and uninspired action set piece after another. Though it tries, the film doesn’t offer enough development to its many supporting characters to make them relatable or discernable.
GRADE: C
The Other Lamb
A teenage girl (Raffey Cassidy) begins to question the teachings of her toxic cult leader (Michael Huisman) and soon finds herself at odds with everything she was raised to believe. Though the film has a timely message of female empowerment, it’s marred by an overwhelming nonlinear editing style that oftentimes feels at odds with the film’s story and characters. Beautifully photographed and well accomplished on a technical level, the film’s stylistic flourishes ultimately distract the audience from the film’s full dramatic potential.
GRADE: C+
The Outpost
Director Rod Lurie (The Contender, Nothing But the Truth) continues his reign as one of the most reliable and underappreciated talents working behind the camera today. Set during the Afghanistan war, the film centers on a group of U.S soldiers during a surprise attack on their vulnerable outpost. The battle scenes are impressively realistic and harrowing, but it’s the ensemble cast’s commitment to their roles and the care Lurie takes in developing their characters that makes the film truly stand out. Caleb Landry Jones, in particular, showcases an effective and intense vulnerability.
GRADE: A
Possessor
Writer/director Brandon Cronenberg’s hallucinatory science fiction/horror movie about an assassin (the wonderful Andrea Riseborough) who inhabits other bodies to carry out her duties has an undeniably fascinating premise. It deserves credit for not taking the standard action/thriller route, but its intentionally vague execution grows increasingly tiresome as numerous plot threads go unexplained and/or unresolved. Unwarranted and graphic brutality ultimately distracts the audience with its excessive presence. Brilliantly executed on a technical level, the film is initially fascinating but ultimately, and quite frustratingly, unsatisfying.
GRADE: C+
Project Power
A great concept (an illegal pill gives its users superpowers for five minutes) is completely wasted with a stale screenplay and an overall derivative execution. In spite of its potential, there’s nothing new offered here except that it might be the most boring superhero movie in recent memory. The talents of stars Jamie Foxx and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are wasted with this mediocre and easily forgettable production.
GRADE: C-
Relic
An elderly woman (Robyn Nevin) needs care after returning from a mysterious disappearance, bringing her daughter and granddaughter (Emily Mortimer and Bella Heathcote) together to help her. Relic explores the psychological horror of watching a parent grow old. Cowriter/director Natalie Erika James keeps things grounded in emotional reality while still telling a story that is appropriately creepy and moody. Though its pacing sometimes drags and the ending lacks a dramatic punch, the film still manages to hauntingly linger long after it’s over.
GRADE: B
The Rhythm Section
Blake Lively’s focused and wounded portrayal of an everyday woman who seeks revenge against those who killed her family is about the only thing that stands out in this hopelessly average thriller. We’ve seen variations of this story told numerous times before, and the film’s screenplay offers little by way of inspiration. Director Reed Morano does a functionally good job of staging the action but seems to be at a loss as to how to emotionally involve her audience in a story that is fundamentally stale and tired.
GRADE: C-
She Dies Tomorrow
A woman (Kate Lyn Sheil) comes to believe that her life is going to end on the following day, and its effects spread to everyone around her when they begin to believe that their life will also end the next day. Though ambitious and adeptly trippy, the film fails at being inclusively coherent and succeeds only at becoming increasingly dull and tedious. While the moody atmosphere is at first intoxicating, it grows tiresome as She Dies Tomorrow progresses and it becomes increasingly evident that the movie is headed nowhere very, very slowly.
GRADE: C-
Smiley Face Killers
A graduate student (Ronin Rubenstein) who suffers from mental instability begins to receive anonymous and threatening messages that make him further question his sanity.
The team-up of director Tim Hunter (River’s Edge) and screenwriter Bret Easton Ellis (the novelist who penned American Psycho) should have been a match made in heaven. Unfortunately, the film falls hopelessly flat the more it unravels. Though Hunter supplies the first half of the film with effective tension, it never comes close to paying off. A severely lackluster climax will make audiences question why they bothered watching Smiley Face Killers in the first place.
GRADE: C-
Soul
A struggling jazz pianist has an out-of-body experience and then struggles to find his way back to reality so he can play a once-in-a-lifetime gig. Pixar’s latest animated effort is a life-affirming and joyous film that is filled with creativity and humor. Jamie Foxx and Tina Fey lead the vocal cast, providing humanity and heart to their well-defined and easily relatable characters.
Soul is a colorful and entertaining film that reminds us all to value what’s important in life without being overly simplistic or grossly sentimental about it. The musical score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross stands out as yet another impressive accomplishment by the endlessly talented and eclectic duo.
GRADE: A
Spenser Confidential
Director Peter Berg’s film is a fast, funny action/comedy that hits all the right notes without offering anything new to its genre. Mark Wahlberg and Winston Duke star as bickering roommates trying to solve a crime, and their playful chemistry keeps the film engaging and light in tone. Though it’s nothing astounding, the film gets the job done and is an entertaining effort.
GRADE: B
The Tax Collector
David Ayer returns to his roots with this brutal story about an L.A. gang tax collector (Bobby Soto) whose world is shaken when a local crime lord overthrows his boss. While the film’s story is a bit thin, it still manages to be a solid (though vicious) character drama. Excessively violent to the point of being unwatchable at times, Ayer seems to be exorcising himself of his more recent audience-friendly outings such as Suicide Squad and Bright. A virtually unrecognizable Shia LaBeouf offers excellent support as Soto’s loyal right-hand man.
GRADE: B
Tenet
Christopher Nolan’s latest is nothing short of a befuddling head-scratcher—at least on first viewing (which is all this writer has experienced to date). There are, however, some magnificent and wholly unique action sequences that sometimes make the film as exciting as anything Nolan’s done to date. It just would have been nice to know what the f*&$# was going on.
GRADE: B-
The Trial of the Chicago 7
A great ensemble cast (Eddie Redmayne, Sacha Baron Cohen, John Carroll Lynch, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Frank Langella, Michael Keaton, Mark Rylance, Joseph Gordon-Levitt) headlines this riveting historical courtroom drama. The dialogue is snappy, the pacing is tight, and the filmmaking is flawless. Told with heart, humor, and style, the film manages to make an important history lesson as entertaining as any escapist yarn (which is no small feat).
Writer/director Aaron Sorkin further proves himself as one of the only modern dramatists who can make fact every bit as enthralling as fiction.
GRADE: A
The True Adventures of Wolfboy
A thirteen-year-old boy (Jaeden Martell) with excessive hair growth all over his face and body takes a road trip to meet his long-lost mother in this thoughtful tale about the pain of being an outsider. The performances and filmmaking are solid, but nothing is ever explored deeply enough to let the characters’ reality sink in. As a result, it’s difficult for the audience to fully empathize with them. The film is well-intentioned but not engrossing, a meaningful but underwhelming effort.
GRADE: B-
The Turning
Director Floria Sigismondi (The Runaways) makes a return to feature films with this modern retelling of Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw. While she provides the film with a creepy tone and a muted color palette reminiscent of Tim Burton’s darker works, the film’s screenplay falls apart in its last act and fails to be completely coherent—and not in an intentionally ambiguous, David Lynch sort of way.
Sigismondi’s visual talents still manage to persevere, and the highly gifted cast (namely Mackenzie Davis, Brooklynn Prince, and Finn Wolfhard) salvages what could have been a complete mess with committed and believable performances.
GRADE: C
Underwater
This bottom-of-the-ocean monster flick is an exercise in tension, brevity (it only runs 95 minutes), and atmosphere. Though a b-movie by design, it uses a-level talents to elevate itself to something far more impressive. Kristen Stewart once again proves she can carry a movie without sparkling vampires; it’s just too bad nobody’s taking the time to notice.
GRADE: A-
Unhinged
Russell Crowe stars as a murderous, mentally unstable man who experiences a severe case of road rage after a driver (Caren Pistorius) honks her horn at him at an intersection. Brutal and unrelenting, the film plays like an intelligent slasher flick, something like a cross between The Hitcher and Falling Down. Though logic is oftentimes thrown out the window in favor of plot progression, the movie is believable enough to be modestly captivating for the duration of its 90-minute runtime.
GRADE: B
The Vast of Night
This ultra-low-budget science fiction drama is set in 1950s New Mexico and revolves around a mysterious radio transmission that could have been sent by aliens. Told in a series of masterfully roaming long takes, the film is a brilliant exercise in tension building. It keeps you on the edge of your seat for most of its 91-minute duration, but the story’s eventual destination isn’t nearly as fascinating as the journey getting there. A worthwhile though mildly disappointing effort, the film ultimately serves as a brilliant build-up to a disappointing pay-off.
GRADE: B
VFW
A great cast (Stephen Lang, William Sadler, Martin Kove, Fred Williamson, George Wendt, David Patrick Kelly) significantly elevates this low-budget action/horror flick about a group of veterans who defend their VFW post from a gang of zombified drug addicts. The suspense is plentiful, the action is well-executed, and the pacing is unrelenting. This is a solid, gruesomely entertaining genre effort.
GRADE: B+
Waiting for the Barbarians
A colonial magistrate (Mark Rylance) questions the brutal interrogation tactics of an army colonel (Johnny Deep) who has recently arrived at his frontier outpost. While there is nothing inherently wrong with this well-acted and beautifully photographed (by Christ Menges) film, it’s a bit too dramatically flat to fully involve its audience. Unfortunately, the film’s numerous attributes can’t fully save it from its sluggish pacing and lack of involving tension.
GRADE: B-
Wander
Aaron Eckhart stars as an ultra-paranoid conspiracy theorist/private investigator who is hired to investigate the death of a young immigrant woman. Director April Mullen excels at instilling an unsettling and chaotic sense of confusion in her audience that mirrors the protagonist’s fractured mindset. Wander asks quite a lot of its audience and does require patience, but it ultimately comes together and pays off in the end. Running at a brisk 94 minutes, the film could have slowed down its pacing to develop its characters and intentionally convoluted storyline a little bit more clearly.
Heather Graham, Tommy Lee Jones, and Raymond Cruz round out the excellent supporting cast. Eckhart delivers an intense and haunted portrayal of a delusional man whose reality may or may not be stranger than anything he could have imagined.
GRADE: A-
Wander Darkly
A young married couple (Sienna Miller and Diego Luna) is involved in a severe car accident, and the woman shortly thereafter experiences a surreal, stream-of-consciousness journey into the past, present, and future.
Wander Darkly requires its audience to surrender to its complex execution. Though it is sometimes a test of patience, it is an overall enveloping and meditative examination of life, love, and death. Miller and Luna are both excellent, and writer/director Tara Miele does an impressive job of balancing real and relatable characters with a sizable (though tasteful) amount of mind meddling.
GRADE: B+
The Way Back
Ben Affleck stars as an alcoholic former high school basketball star who is given a second chance at life when he is presented with the opportunity to coach his local high school team. Affleck’s committed and grounded performance elevates the formulaic but still effective material. It’s a movie-of-the-week premise, but one presented with expertise and sincerity.
GRADE: B+
We Can Be Heroes
Writer/director/cinematographer Robert Rodriguez’s latest family-friendly effort centers on the children of superheroes who have to save the world after their parents are kidnapped by alien forces.
The movie is overall snappy and fun, but it, unfortunately, doesn’t respect its audience’s intelligence enough to be something truly special. The humor is dumbed-down, the story is a bit of a jumble, and most of the kids give smiley-faced, unnatural performances that feel more like staged caricatures of television commercials than the behavior of actual children. Though Rodriguez offers enough innovation and pizazz to make the film entertainingly worthwhile, We Can Be Heroes still can’t help but choke on its own forced cuteness.
GRADE: C+
The Witches
Cowriter/director Robert Zemeckis’ updated take on the Roald Dahl classic is a joy from start to finish. Sure, it’s a remake (Dahl’s book was previously adapted by director Nicolas Roeg in 1990) that nobody was asking for, but it still manages to make the material its own by updating it with well-defined characters and impressive modern-day visual effects.
Anne Hathaway has infectious fun with her role as the Grand High Witch, but it’s Octavia Spencer’s lovable humanity and grounded screen presence that truly gives the film its heart. This is a fun, creepy film told with a playful tone that is balanced by sincere moments of warmth.
GRADE: A
The Wolf of Snow Hollow
This unique werewolf tale takes us to some unexpected places. Darkly funny and poignantly dramatic, the movie takes a number of tonal shifts that are sometimes a tad jagged but usually pay off. Writer/director Jim Cummings uses the small mountain town setting to the film’s advantage, creating a beautiful yet discomforting atmosphere that suits the film nicely. The late Robert Forster gives a great, bittersweet final performance as a man, quite fittingly, facing his own mortality.
GRADE: B+
Wonder Woman 1984
Gal Gadot reprises her role as everyone’s favorite Amazonian superhero in this sequel to 2017’s Wonder Woman. Set in the 1980s, the film serves as an astute though harmless satire of the decade’s “greed is good” mentality. The somewhat cluttered film falters with its rushed development of its villains, but the talented cast (namely Gadot, Chris Pine, Kristen Wiig, and Pedro Pascal) manages to rise above the script’s shortcomings by providing plenty of life and humor to their roles.
Director/co-writer Patty Jenkins spends more screen time exploring Wonder Woman’s character than she does her heroics. While this approach adds humanity to the spectacle, it weighs down the film’s first half and makes the second half’s action feel too brisk and uneven. There are still plenty of attributes going for Wonder Woman 1984, however, to make it a fun, funny, and heartfelt entry into the DCEU.
GRADE: B
You Should Have Left
Writer (based on Daniel Kehlmann’s novel)/director David Koepp and star Kevin Bacon reunite after their highly underrated 1999 supernatural thriller, Stir of Echoes. While this collaboration isn’t quite as effective, it’s still a top-notch haunted house story filled with ample amounts of tension.
First and foremost, however, You Should Have Left is a well-developed character drama that uses its genre story to provide insight into marriage, guilt, and aging. Bacon’s presence is as reliable and watchable as ever, and Amanda Seyfried provides excellent support as his much-younger and questionably motivated wife.
GRADE: B+
