Out in Theaters: ‘ROMAN J. ISRAEL, ESQ.’

November 21, 2017 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Carmen Ejogo, Colin Farrell, Dan Gilroy, Denzel Washington, Esq., Out in Theaters, Reviews, Roman J. Israel 1 Comment

Writer/director Dan Gilroy burned up the screen with his rocking debut Nightcrawler, a deeply unnerving study of a social alien, scumbag nightly news journalism and unchecked professional ambition featuring one of Jake Gyllenhaal’s very finest onscreen performances. After a few years of anticipation, Gilroy returns with Roman J. Israel, Esq. a character-study-cum-legal-noir with the ever-reliable Denzel Washington decked out in an outdated plum-colored suit and a frizzly afro. Obviously, I was as game as a Michael Douglas in a David Fincher movie to see what Gilroy would deliver next. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘COCO’

November 20, 2017 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Adrian Molina, Anthony Gonzalez, Benjamin Bratt, Coco, Gael Garcia Bernal, Lee Unkirk, Matthew Aldrich, Pixar, Review Leave a comment

Perhaps I am dead inside but I can’t scrub free the feeling that Coco hits all the right notes but still feels like the same old song. Pixar, the studio responsible for such masterpieces of modern animation as Wall-E, Toy Story, Up and Monsters Inc., appears more than ever to have sold out, peddling mediocre stories lathered in an admittedly marvelous coat of digital paint. We all knew this day was coming at some point, Disney’s acquisition of the once smallish, creatively independent studio renowned for delivering one stunner after another a warning sign of impending doom. I remember an age where I used to anticipate a new Pixar film just as much as a new Batman film. My how the times have changed. Pixar has quite simply become formulaic and Coco, while charming, loaded with delightful music and animated with the immaculate medium-pressing precision that Pixar is known for, just feels rote.

Out in Theaters: ’JUSTICE LEAGUE’

November 15, 2017 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Amy Adams, Ben Affleck, Ciarán Hinds, DCEU, Ezra Miller, Gal Gadot, Henry Cavill, Jason Momoa, Joss Whedon, Justice League, Out in Theaters, Ray Fisher, Reviews 1 Comment

For many DC comic fans, just the thought of a Justice League movie gets their panties all warmed up; finally seeing the Big Three (Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman) join forces with the Flash, Cyborg and Aquaman on the big screen in a live-action super-blockbuster enough to produce a seizure-inducing nerdgasm. Well prayers have been answered and after many years of waiting, we can finally stop wondering what a feature film Justice League might look like because it is here in all its ridiculous glory. And the result, well it ain’t too pretty. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘LAST FLAG FLYING’

November 14, 2017 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Bryan Cranston, Darryl Ponicsan, Last Flag Flying, Laurence Fishburne, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Richard Linklater, Steve Carell 1 Comment

You might not know by first looking at it but Last Flag Flying is actually a much, much, much belated sequel to the 1973 Hal Ashby film The Last Detail. In a way. That Oscar-nominated, Jack Nicholson-starring film followed two Navy Men who escort an offending enlisted man to military prison but decide to show him a good time along the way. The film was loosely based on the 1970 novel of the same name from Darryl Ponicsan and in 2005, Ponicsan produced a follow-up called, you guessed it, Last Flag Flying. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS’

November 9, 2017 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Agatha Christie, Alexandra Byrne, Daisy Ridley, Haris Zambarloukos, Johnny Depp, Josh Gad, Judi Dench, Kenneth Branagh, Michael Green, Michelle Pfeiffer, Murder on the Orient Express, Out in Theaters, Penélope Cruz, Reviews, Tom Bateman, Willem Dafoe 2 Comments

You can heave a sigh of relief everyone, Johnny Depp doesn’t make it far in Kenneth Branagh’s Murder on the Orient Express. An adaptation of the Agatha Christie novel of the same name, Murder quickly dispenses with the weaselly superstar, here playing a slimy criminal who ends up a pin cushion the very night the titular Orient Express departs. The attention then turns to the patrons of a first-class coach traversing the snowy countryside, each of whom may have reason to want Johnny Depp dead. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI’

November 8, 2017 by Matt Oakes Posted in Most Popular, Out in Theaters Tagged Abbie Cornish, Caleb Landry Jones, Darrell Britt-Gibson, Frances McDormand, John Hawke, Lucas Hedges, Martin McDonagh, Missouri, Peter Dinklage, Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Woody Harrelson 2 Comments

There are many words you can’t say on a billboard but in Martin McDonagh’s darkly comic and borderline brilliant Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri calling out the local sheriff for failing to bring to justice a rapist, arsonist and murderer is fair game. At least from a legal standpoint. This is the set-up for a crime saga unlike any other, McDonagh’s film a foul-mouthed mystery brimming with colorful characters, its jet-black tone and surprising emotionality capable of causing fits of laughter and bouts of urgent somberness in what is one of the best films of 2017. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘LADY BIRD’

November 7, 2017 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged A24, Beanie Feldstein, Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird, Laurie Metcalf, Lucas Hedges, Odeya Rush, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Saorsie Ronan, Timothée Chalamet 1 Comment

Indie darling Greta Gerwig breathes life into directorial “debut” (she co-directed Nights and Weekends in 2008) Lady Bird with passion and pathos. Gerwig’s strong freshman feature strikes a balance between the mumblecore sensibilities of frequent collaborators Joe Swanberg and Noah Baumbach while bringing a refreshingly anarchical female voice into the choir. Lady Bird as a character and film manages both tenderness and lawlessness; caught in the confuddling mix of teenage hormones and perceived oppressive parenting; rebelling against the grain, oft to her own detriment; Gerwig’s capable filmmaking expertly capturing that claustrophobic feeling of teenage angst and insurgency; Saorsie Ronan performing the hell out of the role. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘THOR: RAGNAROK’

November 1, 2017 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Cate Blanchett, Chris Hemsworth, Christopher Yost, Craig Kyle, Eric Pearson, Idris Elba, Jeff Goldblum, Mark Ruffalo, Out in Theaters, Taika Waititi, Tessa Thompson, Thor: Ragnarok, Tom Hiddleston 2 Comments

Candy-colored Thor: Ragnarok is a retro, dimension-hopping hoot. Rambunctious, joyous and just plain fun to watch, Ragnarok is shellacked with vintage Taika Waititi style, the critical darling director behind such rollicking Rotten Tomatoes-adored comedy-adventures as Hunt for the Wilderpeople, What We Do in the Shadows and Boy retaining his idiomatic filmmaking tactics even under the watchful eye of notoriously handsy Marvel producers. The best of the Thor films (and this coming from someone who actually admits to enjoying the previous two), Ragnarok employs Taika’s signature witty, irreverent approach to comedy and his knack for building genuine camaraderie among squirelly outcasts to craft the funniest blockbuster of the year, one that doubles as a hell of an odd-couple intergalactic road trip, even if it still barely breaks the lather-rinse-repeat nature of the Marvel Cinematic Universe mold. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘MOST BEAUTIFUL ISLAND’

October 31, 2017 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Ana Asensio, Most Beautiful Island, Natasha Romanova, Out in Theaters, Reviews Leave a comment

Indelicate slow-burn thriller, Most Beautiful Island is a tragic immigrant story married to a Polanski-esque social horror film. Star, writer and director Ana Asensio filters the angst, hostility and debasement of the American immigrant experience through a seedy thriller film where pressure mounts impossibly minute by minute until it’s unleashed in a jaw-dropping finale, the less said about the better. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘SUBURBICON’

October 25, 2017 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Alexandre Desplat, Coen Brothers, George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Julianne Moore, Noah Jupe, Oscar Isaac, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Suburbicon 7 Comments

A Beaver Clever-era, suburbia-set take on the Fargo formula, Suburbicon manages to tack onto its strange plot plagiarism a tone deaf racial integration backdrop and a slew of characters unable to pass as either likable or interesting. It’s an oddly comfortless misfire from director George Clooney, one that seems promising on paper but never is able to click once the tape starts rolling. Snooze-inducing if stylish, Suburbicon takes a host of talent in front of and behind the camera and squanders it in on an effort that, while never outright stupid, is almost unbearably not as smart, clever or funny as it seems to think it is. Read More