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

Out in Theaters: ‘THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER’

October 24, 2017 by Matt Oakes Posted in Most Popular, Out in Theaters Tagged Barry Keoghan, Collin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Raffey Cassidy, Reviews, Sunny Suljic, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Yorgos Lanthimos 1 Comment

No one makes ‘em like Yorgos Lanthimos, the Greek auteur/comedic sadist responsible for such cinephelic gems as Dogtooth and The Lobster. Taking much of the same human-as-reporters-of-fact Wes Anderson forthrightness and filtering it through a lens of awkward depravity, The Killing of a Sacred Deer follows pace with The Lobster, wherein singles mingled forcibly lest they be hunted down by a strictly coupled off society. This is something even more dark, otherworldly and delirious where coupledom proves a debilitating battle of wits and parents have little loyalty. Read More

Talking With Sean Baker of ‘THE FLORIDA PROJECT’

October 19, 2017 by Matt Oakes Posted in Interviews Tagged Interviews, Sean Baker, Talking With..., The Florida Project 1 Comment

Sean Baker. A man so humble that when I inaccurately stated the number of films he’s made, he not only didn’t not turn up his nose at me, he actually ran to his hotel room to grab me copies of the films I had missed. So it probably comes as little surprise that this man, a 46-year old New Jersey native, would be behind a film as empathic and compassionate as The Florida Project. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘THE SNOWMAN’

October 19, 2017 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Charlotte Gainsbough, Hossein Amini, J.K. Simmons, Jo Nesbø, Michael Fassbender, Out in Theaters, Peter Straughan, Rebecca Ferguson, Reviews, Søren Sveistrup, The Snowman, Toby Jones, Tomas Alfredson 3 Comments

The Snowman, Tomas Alfredson’s (Let the Right One In) adaptation of Jo Nesbø’s Norwegian best-seller of the same name, is an icy cold movie. Frigid to the touch, there is no spark of life to be found in this desolate frozen tundra of a film nor is there anything resembling a mere flicker of intelligence. A detective joint that cannot stand up under the slightest bit of scrutiny, this mindless slog tries to follows in the footsteps of films like Seven or The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, what with its random explosions of grizzly violence and salty procedural backbone, though nothing of that sort ever comes to pass. Instead we’re victim to a mopey, faux-edgy, pseudo-gritty, sulking, snow-blasted post-mortem noir impersonating smarter, sexier, more engaging entries from the often beloved genre. To call it freezing cold garbage is only the icing on this frosty cake of shite. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘THE FLORIDA PROJECT’

October 17, 2017 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Bria Vinaite, Brooklyn Prince, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Sean Baker 4 Comments

The Florida Project, a.k.a. Someone Call Child Protection Service: The Movie, is a brusquely effecting, blisteringly real portrait of quiet, destitute tragedy, bursting with one of the most authentic child performances I’ve ever seen. A bristly, bruising display of white trash voyuerism that earnestly examines and dissects what occurs behind closed doors in this destitute swatch of Florida slums, Sean Baker’s film manages a stoic, unjudging, curtain-drawn-back quality that escapes most storytellers, even if the narrative propelling the story is often secondary to the characters operating within it.
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Out in Theaters: ‘HAPPY DEATH DAY’

October 11, 2017 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Christopher Landon, Happy Death Day, Horror, Israel Broussard, Jessica Rothe, Out in Theaters, Rachel Matthews, Reviews, Ruby Modine, Scott Lodbell 1 Comment

It’s only right that Happy Death Day, wherein a sorority girl is forced to live the day she is murdered over and over again, takes an entire scene to namecheck Groundhog Day. After all, this film from Christopher Landon (Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones), is a crude combination of that beloved Bill Murray satire, Tina Fey’s hit teen film Mean Girls and any of the various slasher films from 1974 onward, particularly Black Christmas. Read More