Handsome, Dull ‘DEATH ON THE NILE’ Paddles Towards Predictability

February 10, 2022 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Agatha Christie, Annette Bening, Armie Hammer, Death on the Nile, Emma Mackey, Gal Gadot, Kenneth Branagh, Letita Wright, Michael Green, Reviews, Russel Brand, Sophie Okonedo, Tom Bateman 1 Comment

Death on the Nile begins with the origin story of Hercule Poirot’s (Kenneth Branagh) ridiculous mustache. His face was half-blown off in WWI you see, this facial deformity informing his older self’s reclusive and fussy nature. The overly coiffed, quadruple-pronged mustache was a cover up all along. A way to throw people off the scent of his great trauma and deep-seated pain. The detective, it seems, is indeed human after all. Surmising why the world-famous detective became who he is proves the best material in this sequel to 2017’s Murder on the Orient Express, a murder mystery that is otherwise haunted by an almost total lack of mystery. Read More

Bone Dry Procedural ’THE REPORT’ Values Facts Over Emotion

November 12, 2019 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Adam Driver, Annette Bening, Corey Stoll, Jon Hamm, Michael C. Hall, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Scott Z. Burns, Tim Blake Nelson Leave a comment

From longtime Steven Soderberg collaborator and writer/director Scott Z. Burns, The Report is a well-researched and competently constructed journalistic procedural that lacks in human emotion. Very much in a similar vein as movies like Spotlight and All the President’s Men, but lacking their towering sense of immediacy and tension, Burns’ film values objectivity and nonpartisanship most highly, allowing little room for things like a heartbeat or even the cinematic thrills customary with similar dramatic procedurals. Read More

Out in Theaters: ’20TH CENTURY WOMEN’

January 18, 2017 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged 20th Century Women, Annette Bening, Billy Crudup, Elle Fanning, Greta Gerwig, Lucas Jade Zumann, Mike Mills, Out in Theaters, Reviews Leave a comment

Mike Mills’ 3rd feature film takes him to the tail end of the groovy seventies where a pubescent boy is raised by a freewheeling mother and two other women whose help she enlists. Though nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Comedy, 20th Century Women is a loose-lipped drama first and foremost; an exploration of youth and young manhood through the lens of budding feminism. That it hedges in a good lick of ha ha’s only sweetens the experience. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘RULES DON’T APPLY’

November 22, 2016 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Alden Ehrenreich, Annette Bening, Lily Collins, Matthew Broderick, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Rules Don’t Apply, Steve Coogan, Warren Beatty Leave a comment

Following an 18-year hiatus, Warren Beatty returns to the silver screen with free-wheeling throwback Rules Don’t Apply. Following the twilight years of American aviation and film baron Howard Hughes as he slowly descends into paranoia and madness, Rules Don’t Apply affixes the bones of an old-timey romantic comedy to an unconventional biopic making for a nostalgic glimpse into film making’s past that’ll have you asking “Why don’t they make ‘em like they used to?” Read More