All These Small Moments is a charming, well-acted New York City coming-of-age set against a family-in-crisis drama.
There’s something so charming and idealistic about movies set in New York City. There’s a different kind of energy that they give off. Something homey. All These Small Moments is no exception. It’s a testament to first-time director Melissa Miller Costanzo. The movie feels lived in — the central family’s cluttered Brooklyn brownstone feels real and intimate.
All These Small Moments follows the Sheffield family. Teenager Howie (Brendan Meyer) and his younger brother Simon (Sam McCarthy) have been noticing that their parents — Carla (Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club legend Molly Ringwald) and Tom (Spotlight’s Brian d’Arcy James) — have been sleeping separately.
Like any parents with the best intentions, they try to maintain an air of normalcy for their kids even though things clearly aren’t. As a coping mechanism, Howie has become infatuated with a woman — we eventually learn her name is Odessa (Jemima Kirke) — he sees every morning on the bus. One day, he ditches school to follow her. What he finds unsettles him — his father in a cafe with another woman.
Sam McCarthy, Brian d’Arcy James, Molly Ringwald, and Brendan Meyer in ALL THESE SMALL MOMENTS.
From there, the movie unfolds as a familiar coming-of-age story of a kid dealing with the typical teenage angst issues against his parents’ crumbling marriage. It’s never melodramatic, though. It has all the feelings we’ve come to love from a light-hearted New York City drama — all the sentimentality, cynical humor, and longing.
Miller Costanzo has a focused and classic style that makes the little moments in All These Small Moments work — the brothers sharing the bathroom sink, their parents arguing over asking a waiter for bread at a restaurant.
Like Lady Bird, the movie is built as a series of vignettes that follows the characters growing and changing. Each scene building on the last to complete a portrait.
Brendan Meyer in ALL THESE SMALL MOMENTS.
If anything, the movie’s biggest issue is that it’s too controlled. Unlike Lady Bird and other successful recent teen coming-of-age movies like The Edge of Seventeen and Eighth Grade, there are never those moments when you can feel real life happening on screen.
In particular, there are cut-ins to Carla and Tom in marriage counseling that ring a bit false and scenes between Howie and Lindsay (Harley Quinn Smith) — a classmate he verbally spars with often — are more whimsical than real.
All These Small Moments hits a lot of the beats you’d expect of a movie with this plot — the kids listening to their parents argue on the stairs, a young teen infatuated with an older woman — and some you don’t expect. Still, it’s a solid enough family and coming-of-age drama that shows a lot of promise for a new director.
Tessa Thompson and Lily James star in the crime thriller, Nia Dacosta’s film debut Little Woods.
Little Woods writer/director Nia Dacosta has had one hell of a breakout in the last few months — and her debut film hasn’t even been released yet. She made waves when it was announced that she would be directing a reboot — and “spiritual sequel” — of the 1992 horror classic Candyman. Oscar-winner Jordan Peele will be producing.
In April, her debut film Little Woods will be released in theaters by Neon.
Tessa Thompson — who has had a banner couple years with Thor: Ragnarok, Annihilation, Sorry to Bother You, Janelle Monae’s Dirty Computer, and Creed II — stars as Ollie, a woman who is on her last days of parole for running prescription drugs across the Canadian border.
The film also stars Lily James — a highlight in Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver — as Ollie’s estranged sister Deb.
Here’s the official synopsis:
Ollie (Tessa Thompson) is a reformed drug runner in an economically depressed small town in North Dakota, who was caught coming back from Canada with medicine for her terminally ill mother and has been toeing the line ever since. After her mother dies, Ollie’s sister Deb (Lily James) shows up on her doorstep with a hungry child and an unplanned pregnancy. Ollie can only see one viable option: quickly raise money to pay back the bank and hold onto their mother’s home, so Deb can raise her family safely away from her abusive ex. But to do that, she’ll need to return to the dangerous way of life she thought she’d left behind.
from Neon
Thompson has become one of the most consistent stars in Hollywood and is already in store for a packed 2019 — she’ll also appear in Men In Black: International, Avengers: End Game, and voice “Lady” in the live-action remake of Lady and the Tramp — and Little Woods finally gives her the chance to lead.
The film also stars Luke Kirby, James Badge Dale, and Lance Reddick.
From the post-apocalyptic to the not-so-distant future, here are the ten best sci-fi movies of the decade (so far)!
Sci-fi is one of the most interesting and innovative genres because it poses a specific challenge. How do you show tomorrow while commenting on today? At least, that’s what good sci-fi tries to do. Look at Alien and its sexual politics or Children of Men and its now eerily commentary on xenophobia. Though they’re both formally wildly different, they both challenge certain pitfalls of our society by adding or subtracting an element — adding the Alien and subtracting children.
However, in my opinion, we’ve tapped into a new potential for the genre. We have the ability to go places where we never thought we could go before — the tesseract in Interstellar or the wasteland in Mad Max: Fury Road. That’s why I thought it’d be the perfect time to countdown the best sci-fi movies of the decade.
For this list, I decided to mainly look at the sci-fi elements of the movie and how they affect into the narrative as a whole. So, just because it’s a great action movie, doesn’t mean it’s one of the best sci-fi movies. The other parameter I looked at was how its vision of tomorrow supported its commentary of today. Whether that’s thematically or technically. Here are the best sci-fi movies of the decade (so far)!
Coherence (2013)
What it’s about: Coherence follows a group of friends at a dinner party on the night a mysterious comet passes overhead. As the night goes on, increasingly unsettling and mind-bending events occur.
Why it’s great: Though the twists and turns in Coherence may pale in comparison to the big budgets of some of the other movies on this list, its virtue is its minimalism. It’s a small movie with big concepts. And it keeps itself grounded despite that.
Playing on the classic Twilight Zone episode “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street,” Coherence is as much about the mistrust and paranoia as it is about the mysterious cosmic event at its center. Boiled down, it’s a social experiment that is entertaining to watch, but you’d never want to be a part of.
Where to stream Coherence: Coherence is available to stream on Prime Video, Hulu, or Shudder.
Gravity (2013)
What it’s about: While circling above Earth doing a spacewalk, Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) and veteran astronaut Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) become untethered after the debris from a destroyed satellite strikes destroys their shuttle. Now freely floating through space, the pair must do whatever they can to survive and somehow get home.
Why it’s great: By the time the nearly 17-minute one-shot opening sequence of Gravity concludes, you barely have time to breathe again before the next thrill begins.
However, that’s not what makes it one of the best sci-fi movies of the decade. It’s almost impossible to describe the movie without using the word groundbreaking. That’s because Alfonso Cuarón gave us one of the most immersive trips into space to date.
Even though it is narratively simple, the pure craft involved is enough to elevate the movie. We’ve seen man survive at sea and on a desert island. It’s about time we saw a woman have a chance to show her strength.
Where to stream Gravity: Gravity is available to stream on IndieFlix. It is also available to rent or buy on Prime Video.
Snowpiercer (2013)
What it’s about: After a failed global-warming experiment kills off most life on the planet, an ever running train called “Snowpiercer” houses a mini-society that still has rich and poor — overseen by the second-in-command Mason (Tilda Swinton). However, an uprising is coming led by Chris Evans, Jamie Bell, Octavia Spencer, and John Hurt.
Why it’s great: Sure. Maybe a constantly moving bullet train around the world isn’t the most efficient form of preservation during a post-apocalyptic ice age. But that element of Bong Joon Ho’s Snowpiercer is simply the catalyst for the class struggle at the center of the film.
The mythic title train provides the perfect setting for the assault on the class system that suppresses those at the back of the train. However, the real standout is the whimsical and nearly surreal world that the movie takes place in. It’s the type of place where you’d want to adventure again.
The relationship between man and artificial intelligence has always been a point of interest in sci-fi. And while 2001: A Space Odyssey pretty much reached the pinnacle of the discussion of the subject, Spike Jones revived it with his humanist take on AI. What if AI existed? And what if we fell in love with it? Jones’ vision of the future almost feels too close for comfort. Her is as much a tender love story as it is a meditation on the not so distant future. It’s the delicate balance act of those two genres that make it one of the best sci-fi movies of the decade.
While Her studies artificial intelligence from the perspective of the heart, Ex Machina tackles it from the brain. If man plays god, what does its creation think of itself? Of its creator? Those are the questions at the center of Ex Machina. At a high-level perspective, it’s a modern take on Shelley’s Frankenstein However, this time, the monster is more machine. The movie keeps its card close to its chest unfolding like a three-person play. However, digging deeper proves fruitful because the themes don’t just stop at man versus machine. It’s subtle in almost every way. That’s what makes it so brilliant.
Creating a follow-up to a film as technically dazzling and thematically rich as Ridley Scott’s 1982 classic Blade Runner seemed like a fool’s errand. That is until Denis Villeneuve (Arrival) stepped into the director’s chair. What makes the film one of the best sci-fi movies of the decade is it continued to explore the themes of humanity, while also delving into new directions, most interestingly involving Ryan Gosling‘s K. Though it has a nearly 3-hour running time, it’s endlessly engrossing as its mysterious plot reveals itself. What differentiates it from the original, though, is it has a strong emotional center that catches you off guard and brings warmth to an otherwise cold world.
Arrival (2016)
Jodie Foster’s character in Contact is a woman who knew she were good enough to do the job, but gender politics said she wasn’t. On the other side of the spectrum, Amy Adams’ linguist character in Arrival is a woman who feels in over her head, but is given the power she needs to succeed. It’s a subtle contrast for two movies that have a lot in common. But what pushes Arrival into the pantheon of great sci-fi movies is its scale juxtaposed against its own sentimentality. It’s an alien invasion drama that we’ve never seen before. Still, one of its most groundbreaking elements are the humanist ones. When faced with a common enemy, will we corporate with each other or close off? Is language what bonds us together or tear us apart? At the surface, those are the questions. But then, when you go deeper, they become even more existential. I won’t spoil those for you. Arrival is a movie that begs to be discovered — emotionally, scientifically, cinematically. And still, it never fully reveals itself all at once. Its mystery is its greatest asset. And Denis Villeneuve guards it with everything he’s got.
Why it’s great: When thinking about the top spot on this list, I really had to consider my guidelines. While I think the insane post-apocalyptic steampunk future that is Mad Max: Fury Road is one of the best movies of all time, I think its sci-fi elements are overshadowed by George Miller’s incredible action scenes and unforgettable filmmaking. That’s not to take away from the world that Miller created. It’s one of the greatest practices of world-building since Star Wars first blasted onto our screens.
His incredible attention to detail in all departments brought the world to life and immersed us from the first epic beats of Junkie XL’s iconic score. And though the world included souped up oil tankers and radiation infected war boys, it still felt like a future familiar to us.
Whether it’s the fact that the cars all used scraps you might find in a post-apocalyptic future or because thematically it’s actually more relevant than ever, Mad Max: Fury Road is just one of those movies you give yourself into.
Where to stream Mad Max: Fury Road: Now streaming on TNT or TBS with cable login. It is available to rent or buy on Prime Video.
Interstellar (2013)
What it’s about: In the not-so-distant future, Earth is on its final legs as widespread famine and drought threaten the human race. After a mysterious wormhole appears in the far reaches of the solar system, a group of explorers (Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Wes Bentley, David Gyasi) must evaluate potential new homes for the planet.
Why it’s great: Just when you thought Inception was going to be Christopher Nolan’s sci-fi magnum opus, along comes Interstellar. Upon first viewing, it may seem like it buckles under the weight of its ambition. However, when you take a close look, the brilliance of its plot reveals itself.
The world is falling apart. So, as always, we look to the stars. It’s a simple enough premise. However, the concepts that Nolan explores are not only complex — they’re astrophysics, after all — but accurate. It’s an epic in every sense of the word. It’s a space adventure with a keen sense of its characters, their motivations, and an idea of what it would be like to be put into their position.
“It’s as grand as it is introspective and as grounded as it is existential,” as I said in my review. Nolan doesn’t water down the science as Gravity does. Instead, he embraces it. It’s something shockingly rare in the genre today.
Interstellar is something we’ve never seen before and presented in a way that fully takes advantage of everything filmmaking has to offer. However, it doesn’t forget that we exist. That at the center of great sci-fi is humans. That’s what makes it the best sci-fi movie of the decade.
Raw is a body horror movie like no other with its dark tone that allows for moments of levity and profound themes
Note to self: never attend French veterinary school. If it’s anything like Julia Ducournau depicts in Raw, then I’m not sure how France has any veterinarians at all. That’s because the often bloody hazing and jaw-dropping foray into cannibalism — literally, my jaw dropped at points — are filmed unflinchingly and almost too convincingly to get past.
However, the brutality of the visuals in the film is offset by the surprisingly profound subtext of the film’s coming-of-age narrative. Raw will shock and surprise you in the way you expect, but also there is truly no preparation for the experience that follows when you begin the movie.
Shot with a certain sense of surrealism in its world, Raw follows first-year veterinary student Justine (Garance Marillier — she’s quite a revelation) as she navigates the truly mad world of hazing that the prestigious school (the one her parents attended) holds so dear — even the teachers turn a cheek. Some of the hazing rituals include kidnapping students in the middle of the night, dumping blood on them like it’s the prom in Carrie, and making them eat raw rabbit liver.
Garance Marillier in RAW.
That last one is particularly a problem for Justine considering she and her family — Mother (Joana Preiss), Father (Laurent Lucas), and older sister Alexia (Ella Rumpf), who is also a student at the school and part of the later years who are carrying out the hazing — are vegetarians. However, Alexia forces her to eat it.
This opens her up to the craving of raw meat — she’s later seen devouring raw chicken — and eventually cannibalism. One horrifying Brazilian wax gone wrong later and Justine is quickly spiraling out of control as she attempts to fill her appetite.
What makes Raw so unique from other body horror movies is its symbolic root in a coming-of-age story. It portrays a woman coming into her sexuality in a way we’ve certainly never seen before — we rarely see sexual awakening from the female perspective and because of the… well, cannibalism. In one scene we see Justine dancing in front of the mirror uncomfortable to a song that has the line, “I like to bang the dead.” We all go through our awkward phases.
Garance Marillier in RAW.
Throughout the lean running time of Raw, we watch Justine blossom into her feminity as her taste for flesh also blossoms. However, if you strip away the horror elements of the movie, you still have a compelling character study of a girl learning about herself set against the backdrop of the insanity of French veterinary schools.
Ducournau finds humor in even the most horrifying scenes in the movie and beauty in the overall bleak location. It’s a virtue in her directing. She makes the most of every beat of this movie. That is also thanks to Marillier’s strong performance. And thankfully for us, though I think there’s a pretty clear interpretation that works for me, it doesn’t mean that there aren’t other ways to view Raw.
Even taken at face value, it’s an incredibly compelling horror movie that feels fresh in a way that many horror movies in this Golden Age have felt. It’ll surprise you, make you laugh, and make you cringe in all the best ways. And in the final moments, it’ll make a grab for your mind and stay with you long after it cuts to black.
Beyond the Night is an engrossing thriller filled with strong characters and an intruging central mystery that keeps you guessing.
Beyond the Night is a dark slow-burning supernatural thriller set in a small coal-mining town in rural Pennsylvania. It’s the perfect setting for the movie’s mystery to be set against. The gray, frozen landscape adds to the tense atmosphere as does the fact that seemingly everyone and their grandma owns a gun — this is an important note.
A lot of the movie reminded me of Jeff Nichols’ Midnight Special— down to the 80s-soaked synth score and the story of a father doing everything in his power to protect his son who is displaying supernatural abilities.
However, the movie is more grounded than it sounds. Ray (Zane Holtz — quite good here) is an army man who returns to Philadelphia after his wife is killed in a car accident leaving him to take care of their son Lawrence (Azhy Robertson) — who is marked with a port-wine stain over the left side of his face.
Ray isn’t equipped to take care of Lawrence. Granted, Lawrence has his behavioral quirks to go along with his birthmark — he often sings random notes to himself and lashes out at precisely the wrong moments.
Chance Kelly in BEYOND THE NIGHT.
Ray often losses his patients with Lawrence and becomes frustrated with him. However, he has his moments as a father. At one point, a woman in a store sees Lawrence and says to her daughter, “don’t look at it, baby girl.” Like any parent, Ray takes a tire iron to their windshield. Not exactly parent of the year material, but Lawrence certainly appreciates it.
The father and son move to Ray’s hometown in rural Pennsylvania where they both deal with their grief with the support of Ray’s sister and town deputy Caroline (The Invitation’s Tammy Blanchard — fantastic as always).
To complicate matters, Lawrence begins to exhibit even stranger behavior than usual — staring at random people and things — and eventually causes a stir when he mentions the name July Rain to a woman at his mother’s funeral reception, which causes the woman to storm out.
Ray learns that July is a 15-year-old girl who went missing years prior and whose case — despite Caroline’s and Sheriff Hirsch’s (Skipp Sudduth) best efforts. He is convinced that his son must have heard the name from someone else. But then, Lawrence begins to recite information he should not know. Confused and fearful — July’s father was local redneck thug Bernie (Chance Kelly) — Ray and Caroline team up with child psychologist Dr. Sheryl Bomont (Enid Graham) to unravel the mystery.
Director and writer Jason Noto drew inspiration from Denis Villeneuve’s (Arrival) films Prisoners and Enemy. And that is obvious. Beyond the Night is a slow unraveling mystery that gives you the pieces to solve it throughout. And while it’s not as smart as those films — I found that the movie gives you too much — it’s a wholly effective and well-directed thriller.
Tammy Blanchard in BEYOND THE NIGHT.
A lot of that comes from the well-drawn characters — particularly the supporting cast. Blanchard’s Caroline is torn between duty to her brother and duty to her job, which leads to an interesting internal conflict.
Neal Huff portrays the town’s pastor whose storyline deals with faith and all the complexities that come with it. Not to mention Chance Kelly’s menacing performance as a local gangster who is terrifying, but given moments of humanity specifically around his daughter.
I think there are some mistakes as can be expected from a debut. The plot doesn’t always flow well and sometimes some information is unclear. But the style is there. Noto gets his point across well enough. If anything, I wish the lean 98-minute running-time was expanded so we could explore the characters and story more.
Beyond the Night’s greatest virtue is its characters. And the father-son relationship at its core is a major driver of that. Ray’s growth as a father throughout is the main propulsive point of the film. While the mystery is what makes the movie interesting, that relationship is what makes it engrossing.
Beyond the Night is now playing in limited release.
Dumplin’ is the cinematic equivalent of comfort food. It’s warm, filling, satisfying, and exactly what you’d expect, but that’s why it works.
Dumplin’ fills a feel-good movie shaped void in 2018. And while it doesn’t completely subvert the formula it applies it incredibly well to this touching coming-of-age story of self-love directed by Anne Fletcher—best known for directing the 2009 romantic-comedy The Proposal.
Based on the Julie Murphy novel of the same name, Dumplin’ follows Willowdean “Will” Dickson (Danielle MacDonald), the daughter of 1991 Miss Teen Bluebonnet and current director of the pageant Rosie Dickson (Jennifer Aniston), as she navigates life in her mother’s shadow.
While her mom is a mini-celebrity in their small Texas town, people are shocked to find that the overweight and unglamorous Will is Rosie’s daughter. However, Will finds strength from her late aunt Lucy—she instilled confidence in Will through their shared love of Dolly Parton (her music is a big reason why the movie works)—and her best friend Ellen (Lady Bird’s Odeya Rush—quite good here).
After being suspended for defending a fellow overweight girl named Millie (Maddie Baillio), Will decides to sign-up for the Miss Teen Bluebonnet Pageant as both an act of defiance against her mom who was absent from her upbringing and in support of her aunt Lucy, who wanted to try out when she was 16 but didn’t.
The first act is the kind of breezy setup that makes these kinds of movies so enjoyable to watch. Every character is carefully etched from the aloof Rosie and the enthusiastic Millie to the edgy feminist Hannah (Bex Taylor-Klaus)—she also joins the pageant in protest—to the steadfast Will.
Danielle Macdonald in Netflix’s Dumplin’
However, it also diverts from the formula a bit. Will’s romantic storyline with her love interest Bo (Luke Benward) reaches a climactic point early on in the movie as does her relationship with Ellen. Plus, the movie focuses primarily on the dynamics between Rosie and Will—who is called Dumplin’ by her mother much to her dismay—and Will’s inner struggle towards self-love.
It’s fitting that a lot of the growth in the character of Will comes from her interactions with a group of drag queens—Rhea Ranged (Harold Perrineau) and RuPaul’s Drag Race alum Ginger Minj—since so much about the art form comes from self-love.
However, the second act of the film meanders a bit and the final act, while completely uplifting and satisfying—reverts to the formula that we know. But that’s okay.
Dumplin’ is cinematic comfort food. It’s warm, filling, satisfying, and exactly what you expect. Here and there it surprises you—particuarly the strong performances from Aniston and Macdonald, who is having a great year between this and Bird Box—but overall it works because you know the story and can call its shots.
Netflix is becoming a powerhouse in these types of movies. Just this year they had To All the Boys I’ve Loved Beforeand Set it Upas examples of entertaining crowd-pleasing fare. Dumplin’ is yet another sequenced and southern fried feather in its cap.
Jake Gyllenhaal plays an art critic that is haunted by an artist’s work (literally) in the trailer for Dan Gilroy’s Velvet Buzzsaw.
Velvet Buzzsaw reunites Jake Gyllenhaal with his Nightcrawler director Dan Gilroy and co-star Rene Russo. Here’s the plot description:
Velvet Buzzsaw is a thriller set in the contemporary art world scene of Los Angeles, where big money artists and mega-collectors pay a high price when art collides with commerce.
Netflix
I was a huge fan of Nightcrawler. It was one of my favorite movies of 2015 and features Gyllenhaal’s best performance — he was egregiously snubbed at the Oscars (still mad).
While that movie was essentially a neo-noir crime thriller, Velvet Buzzsaw looks like it’s delving a bit into horror. It makes sense considering there were a lot of horror elements in Nightcrawler — Lou Bloom, Gyllenhaal’s character, was truly terrifying at points.
Gyllenhaal thrives when he’s playing characters falling into madness/obsession — Nightcrawler, Zodiac, Prisoners — which bodes well for the movie.
It also helps that he’s joined by a stacked supporting cast including Daveed Diggs, Stranger Things’ Natalia Dyer, Bird Box‘s John Malkovich, and the current reigning queen of horror Toni Collette — following up her stunning performance in last year’s Hereditary.
Velvet Buzzsaw has a lot going for it.
It will be released on Netflix on February 1st. It will have its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.
Avengers: Infinity War had some of the most impressive visual effects of the year. Here’s a behind-the-scenes video of how it came to life.
Avengers: Infinity War, with a budget of around $316–400 million, is one of the most expensive movies ever produced. It’s obvious that a large portion of that budget went to CGI considering the epic proportions of the movie.
From creating Thanos’ destroyed planet of Titan to the open vistas of Wakanda, the talented visual effects artists from Industrial Light & Magic—founded by George Lucas to work on Star Wars—had their work cut out for them.
In the video above, go behind the scenes of the visual effects behind Infinity War and see how the artists created the battle of Wakanda. The video covers everything from the Hulkbuster suit to War Machine’s missiles and the wide field of play to Thanos’ spaceships crashing to Earth.
It’s an incredible feat of visual effects that is going to push the film medium even further. Infinity War is almost certain to be nominated for the Oscar for Best Visual Effects—check out all our Oscar predictions here—and it definitely deserves it.
Check out the video above to see how these groundbreaking visual effects brought Avengers: Infinity War to life!
Mary Queen of Scots is a solid well-made historical drama with powerhouse performances by Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie
Mary Queen of Scots is an exemplary example of how a historical drama can feel modern and have modern themes without sacrificing the story its based on. SaoirseRonan—following up her career-high performance in LadyBird—is a powerhouse as the titular famed young queen with high ambitions.
So much of the power of the film comes from the performances, specifically Ronan and Margot Robbie, who plays Mary’s rival Queen Elizabeth of England, and Jack Lowden—most recently seen in the underrated Calibre or 2017’s Dunkirk—who is a revelation as Mary’s second husband Lord Darnley.
When Mary Queen of Scots focuses on the interactions between these players it soars. It’s no wonder considering the film’s director Josie Rourke has a decade and a half of experience directing stage plays, which is what the movie often feels like—a stage play.
It’s also apparent in the striking staging of many of the scenes. The film’s opening introduction to the two queens at the center of the film is so powerful. As Mary—introduced as she’s being walked to her execution—and Elizabeth appear on screen, we watch them walk from behind through a sea of men separating as they pass. It’s marvelous.
Margot Robbie in Mary Queen of Scots. Courtesy of Focus Features.
The film begins with Mary returning to Scotland after her husband King Francis II of France dies leaving her widowed. With a claim to both the thrones of Scotland and England, she quickly begins maneuvers to strengthen her position in Scotland and secure her place as the successor to Queen Elizabeth.
Mary has the council of her illegitimate half-brother James, Earl of Moray (James McArdle) and the Earl of Bothwell (Martin Compston) guiding her through the politics, however, Mary clearly wants to be the one making the decisions. A main theme through the film is the two queens struggling to get men to look past their gender and allow them to rule as if they were kings. Queen Elizabeth even says at one point, “I choose to be a man.”
As the political intrigue continues, Queen Elizabeth—represented by her ambassador played by Adrian Lester and counseled by her lover Robert Dudley (Joe Alwyn)—slowly begins to become jealous of Mary’s youth, beauty, intelligence, and ability to produce an heir.
The slow descent that Queen Elizabeth experience is incredibly captured by Robbie who is especially convincing as someone who is developing an inferiority complex to a seemingly invincible rival. On the other hand, Ronan’s steely confidence as Mary—her motivation is sometimes terrifying—is juxtaposed with moments where she is losing a handle of it all, particularly when Lord Darnley comes into the picture.
The political intrigue is what makes the movie enjoyable to watch like an episode of Game ofThrones. Though, since it has less than two hours to tell an epic of a story House of Cards creator Beau Willimon‘s screenplay sometimes feels overstuffed. It also doesn’t give room for the audience to discover the character’s motivations or inner workings. Rather it dictates them.
Jack Lowden and Saoirse Ronan in Mary Queen of Scots. Courtesy of Focus Features.
Still, there are some stunning sequences that are captivating to watch thanks to Rourke’s strong direction and John Mathieson’s naturally lit cinematography. A battle sequence midway through the film—we watch as Mary on a cliff high above her rivals looks down knowing the physically and metaphorically has the higher ground—is chilling as is Mary’s execution scene—spoiler alert for history.
Though Mary Queen of Scots is obviously a historical drama it feels updated. Many of the characters and background actors are actors of color and one character is even updated to being a queer character—Mary’s confidant David Rizzio (Ismael Cruz Córdova). It proves that there is no excuse to not have diversity in a film.
Oddly though, Mary Queen of Scots feels less than the sum of its parts. There are rousing scenes mostly thanks to Rourke’s direction and Ronan and Robbie’s powerhouse performances—Lowden, Alwyn, and Lester deserve some credit on this front, as well. And the costume design by Oscar-winner Alexandra Byrne deserves to be in the Oscar conversation. However, the movie sometimes feels cold and disconnected.
Still, its feminist themes around women trying to succeed in a world stacked against them and dominated by men is particularly poignant and one of its successes. Mary Queen of Scots may not be perfect, but it has so many elements that make it a solid historical drama. The meeting scene between Mary and Elizabeth is worth the price of admission alone.
Mary Queen of Scots will be released in theaters on December 12th.
Coherence is a twisting, thrilling, low budget sci-fi that shows that sometimes less is more when it comes to the genre.
As CGI and technology get more advanced, the stories and twists and turns of sci-fi movies get more epic in scope and complicated in plot. However, once in a while a movie comes along that proves less is more. Take Upstream Color or Ex Machina. They are small movies with big ideas. And while Coherence doesn’t quite reach the heights of either of those movies, it gets close. Just like the comet that sets off this entire mess. But before we get to that, we are introduced to eight friends having a dinner party.
Now, the last time I watched a movie about friends having a dinner party, it didn’t end well. But what made that movie — Karyn Kusama’s The Invitation — so great is that it held its cards close to its chest for as long as possible. Delving deeply into the plot will be a disservice to you. So, I’m going to tread lightly and warn you that no matter what, don’t watch the trailer. The main topic of conversation at this dinner party — hosted at Lee (Lorene Scafaria) and Mike’s (Nicholas Brendon) house — is a comet that is due to pass over the earth that very night. Em (Emily Baldoni) educates the group about the Tunguska Event — an actual occurrence — and various other comets that caused odd events in history. It sets an eerie tone in the evening. It doesn’t stop Em from feeling awkwardness over the presence of Laurie (Lauren Maher), a woman her boyfriend Kevin (Maury Sterling) dated or Beth (Elizabeth Gracen) from complaining about the negative feng shui of the space. However, when the lights go out and cell phones stop working, so do all rules of what they once knew to be true.
While the entire neighborhood is shrouded in darkness, they notice that a few blocks down a single house still has electricity. Hugh (Hugo Armstrong) and Amir (Alex Manugian) volunteer to go to the house and see if they have a landline they can use. When they return, a little shaken up, they have a box with photos of all the guests at the dinner with a random number written on the back and a ping pong paddle. Even more mysterious, the numbers are written in Em’s handwriting.
Made for just $50,000 dollars and shot in five night, Coherenceis pretty much the exact opposite of any sci-fi blockbuster nowadays. Taking place over one night and in one house, it uses characters and big concepts to drive the story. And like any movie where seemingly impossible things happen to normal people, a huge part of the story is spent trying to grasp what is happening and let go of their former reality. What makes Coherence shine is the way the character interact with the situation they’re in. How would you react if everything you’ve ever known turns out to be a lie? Moviegoers not as open to the mind-twisting movies will latch on to this. For genre lovers, Coherence is a puzzle to solve that lays out clues not dissimilarly from Shane Caruth’s Primer. It’s almost as if it begs to be watched again and again to see what you missed along the way.
A frequent comparison has been made to The Twilight Zone episode “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street.” If you haven’t watched this episode, stop and watch it. It’s probably one of the most iconic episodes of the series and, to be frank, is just great television. What makes the episode so great is that it’s relatively simple in plot compared to much of the series. The lights go out on a street in Anywhere, USA and causes confusion, panic, and suspicion among the neighbors. However, in the end, it’s a social experiment. How do we react when something unexplained and extraordinary happens? Who do we trust? Who do we become? That’s what Coherence is concerned with. It’s one of the few human sci-fi movies.
In all, Coherence tells a story we’ve seen before, but it’s told in a way that makes you think and feel. That’s rare when it comes to sci-fi. Few movies in the genre lately have been able to do that. Despite minimal effects and taking place over a single night in a single setting, the movie is incredibly entertaining from beginning to end. And while the improvised dialogue hurts the movie as does one-dimensional characters — save for Nicholas Brendon’s Mike — the concept and plot are able to make up for it.
The Last Resort explores 1970s Miami Beach, when it was a mecca for Jewish retirees, through the photographs of Andy Sweet.
Before becoming the Miami Beach we all know, where Spring Breakers lost their inhibitions and where gay men found paradise in the 90s, the town was a mecca for senior citizens, predominantly Jewish, who called the small island home.
As one of the interviewees in documentary The Last Resort, which tracks the growth and decline of the population in the 70s, says, “it was a colorful town, full of colorful people, and it was all fun.”
Many of the citizens of Miami Beach at the time were once seasonal visitors from New York, who eventually fell in love with the warm weather, beautiful beaches, and the fact that it was a town filled with people like them. People with similar struggles and life experience could commiserate and feel safe.
The Last Resort, directed by Dennis Scholl and Kareem Tabsch, explores Miami Beach’s transition from a plantation to the South’s Atlantic City before eventually becoming a haven in the 1970s for these Jewish retirees—many of whom were Holocaust survivors.
The lives of the citizens were captured in vivid color by Andy Sweet and Gary Monroe, a couple of young and ambitious photographers who embarked on a project titled, “The Miami Beach Photographic Project,” which would go on to last 10 years.
What makes The Last Resort so successful in translating the energy Miami Beach in the 70s is truly in Andy Sweet’s magnificent work. The vibrant colors and framing of the subjects communicate so much life, especially juxtaposed against Monroe’s black and white photos.
The movie is made up of these images, which on their own are interesting enough to hold your attention for the lean 70-minute running time.
Through interviews with Jewish historians, Certain Women filmmaker and Miami Beach resident Kelly Reinhardt, Andy Sweet’s sister, and Gary Monroe, we piece together the rise and fall of Miami Beach as a sanctuary for these Jewish retirees as changing demographics pushed them out of the area—the movie explores this with heavy emotions.
The last part of the movie deals with Andy Sweet’s life, his eventual murder as a result of those changing demographics, and its effect on Monroe. I think this focus feels disparate from the beginning of the film. Both halves end up working, but it also feels as if we could have gotten more from each storyline.
Still, The Last Resort is an enjoyable walk through a fascinating time in history from the perspective of an incredibly talented photographer. It makes his fate all the more tragic.
The Last Resort will be released at Quad Cinemas and the Marlene Meyerson JCC in New York City on December 21st.
Cher pulled off an Oscar win for Best Actress over Glenn Close in 1988 for Moonstruck. This video explains how it happened.
Thirty years before Lady Gaga became an Oscar frontrunner for A Star is Born, Cher took home the Oscar for Best Actress for her performance in 1987 romantic comedy Moonstruck.
But how did a musician turned actress take home Oscar gold for her film debut? Well, this video by Be Kind Rewind answers that question.
Cher was up against a murderer’s row of veteran actresses including Oscar favorite Meryl Streep for Ironweed, Sally Kirkland for Anna, Holly Hunter for Broadcast News, and most famously, Glenn Close for Fatal Attraction.
Close was on her fourth nomination and highly favored to win—she’d go on to be nominated twice more without any wins (though that might change this year). However, a mix of “publicity, name recognition, and an actor’s relationship to the Academy” ended up swaying the race in her favor.
This race is particularly important considering Lady Gaga, another pop star turned actress, is in contention for her performance in A Star is Born. Can she pull it off like Cher did in 1988? Watch the video above and then head over to our predictions for Best Actress!
Better Watch Out is the kind of smart and witty horror movie that fans will love to watch and dissect
You’d better watch out. You’d better not cry. You’d better not shout, I’m telling you why… Because there are armed invaders attacking the home you’re babysitting in.
That’s the horrifying premise of Better Watch Out, an Australian horror movie that takes place in the American suburbs around Christmas time. However, this is no holly jolly Christmas movie. 17-year-old Ashley (Olivia DeJonge, quite good here) is babysitting 12-year-old Luke (Levi Miller), your typical preteen boy who is going through that awkward stage of puberty where his voice is a little lower but squeaks and is having sexual urges but is still seen as a kid.
However, that’s not stopping him from trying to seduce Ashley while she’s watching him. That storyline is already played for laughs as he tries and fails to prove that he’s more adult than she thinks. But then, a brick comes crashing through an upstairs window that reads, “U leave and U die.”
It’s difficult to talk about the rest of the movie because part of its success comes from the effectiveness of its twists and turns. So I’m going to warn you now. If you haven’t watched Better Watch Out, go on and watch it, then come back to this review. If you are a fan of psychological horror with an edge of wit to it, then this one is for you.
I’ll try and tread lightly, so you thrill seekers that want to risk reading the rest can do so generally spoiler free.
Better Watch Outreveals the movie it’s really trying to be in almost a split second. And it’s that change that will make or break this movie for audiences because it asks you to very quickly reevaluate your feelings toward characters without exactly earning it. For me, it was an incredibly effective twist that makes this movie a stunning watch.
For the rest of the running time, Better Watch Outplays like Home Alone mashed together with Funny Games. It may be one of the oddest descriptions of a film, but it is actually adept at explaining the mood and plot beats. At one point, the characters play a demented game of truth or dare that ends with one of the most twisted horror movie kills in recent memory, but director Chris Peckover doesn’t glorify the gore. It’s present, but he doesn’t linger on it.
In general, he doesn’t linger on the violent side of what is happening. Instead, the movie is a pretty sensible commentary on privilege, as one of the characters feels justified in their actions because they believe they deserve it. Halloween was a commentary on how our suburbs aren’t safe. Better Watch Outis an updated view on that topic that makes the danger a little closer to home.
Like The Cabin In the Woods, which stands as one of the best horror movies of the decade, Better Watch Outhas a razor wit to its storytelling. It has a surprisingly light mood considering the subject matter and plays well as a comedy, albeit the darkest of comedies, and a horror.
Although, its success as a horror and a comedy rely on your buy-in to the characters. And Miller and DeJonge make that easy with two beautifully realized performances. Miller, in particular, feels like a star in the making. Which might happen with A Wrinkle in Time on the way.
Better Watch Outis like a puzzle that horror fans get to dissect, which makes it a true joy to watch. Even better, it’s a movie that demands you react to it. You’ll laugh. You’ll yell at characters. You’ll cringe. It’s just another indication that we’re in a golden age of horror. But not only that. It’s a golden age of original horror. The kind that you never see coming. And trust me, you won’t see what Better Watch Out has in store coming.
Cold War is stunningly crafted black-and-white love story set in postwar Poland that lacks the emotional substance to make it truly great.
In Cold War, the war isn’t the only thing that’s cold. The film follows a two-decade-long romance between Wiktor (Tomasz Kot)—the music director of a folk music academy tasked with capturing the culture of the rural citizens of Communist-era post-war Poland by forming a dancing chorus of desperate rural kids to tour around the country—and a member of that chorus named Zula (Joanna Kulig).
However, director Paweł Pawlikowski—he won Poland the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film for his film Ida—doesn’t seem as interested in the emotions behind the romance as he is the aesthetics around it. The romance feels cold while the gorgeous crisp black and white cinematography makes the film feel alive.
It’s no wonder, though, why Pawilkowski makes the film breezy as it skips from plot point to plot point. The story is based off his parent’s real-life romance—the protagonists are named after his parents—that unfolded around the Berlin Wall.
Joanna Kulig in Cold War. Image courtesy of Amazon Studios.
The movie often feels like someone telling a story. But not a skilled storyteller like Rose in Titanic as she meticulously breaks down every feeling and every sense and emotion that came with her experience. No, Cold War feels as clinical as a story can come. It feels like a series of connected plot points that never bring the characters into focus enough for you to detect any emotions off of them.
I don’t think the movie actually wants to endear you to its characters. If it does, it is doing a terrible job as you learn nothing about either protagonist—not their motivations or their backgrounds or their vices or their desires. Instead, its approach to the story is communicating a sensation of fate and attraction. It doesn’t busy itself with the mechanics of love. Just the feeling.
In that aspect, Pawilkowski and his Ida cinematographer Łukasz Żal succeed. The movie’s intimate 4:3 aspect ratio coupled with the sharp hyperrealistic black and white cinematography gives off a nostalgic feeling. And the jarring transitions from one scene to another—often skipping years—add a layer of regret and melancholy to the film.
If anything, Cold War works better as a mood piece than it does as a story.
Joanna Kulig and Tomasz Kot in Cold War. Image courtesy of Amazon Studios.
Wiktor and Zula bounce from city to city over the years rekindling their love tryst. What ends up connecting them is music. You watch the landscape of music around them change over the years—from folk to jazz to rock n’ roll. That’s the one constant in their turbulent relationship.
Then, the movie comes to an abrupt stop. As cold as the relationship at its center. Are the characters different people from when we first met them? There’s no way to tell considering we know nothing about them. However, the sentiment of the ending is there. At least that you can derive.
There’s value in a film like Cold War. However, it’s a film I respect more than I actually enjoyed. The craft—from the cinematography and score to the sound mixing and production design—is impeccable. Some of the best of the year. Yet I found little to latch onto.
Outstanding Drama Series has turned into one of the most crowded categories at the Emmys with at least 10 series vying for a nomination.
Outstanding Drama Series reigning champ Game of Thrones is ineligible this year since their seventh season will be premiering outside the eligibility window. On top of that, Downton Abbey ended its run last year, which means they are also out of contention. That means two slots are going to be open based on last year’s lineup. However, with a plethora high profile series this season, expect a major shakeup in the category. I even think it’s possible that only one or two nominees return from last year.
Let’s start off with the locks. Or lock, I should say. That’s how volatile this category is going to be. Netflix’s The Crown received the kind of buzz and acclaim that points to a potential first season winner — like Homeland and Mad Men before it. More importantly, it has maintained that buzz until now. Which is impressive since it premiered in November of last year. Pundits have been looking for the series that is going to replace Game of Thrones as the juggernaut. Well, you found it.
After that, I can make an argument and counterargument for nearly every other potential nominee. I think the next most likely candidate is The Americans it’s a critically acclaimed show that has taken a lot of time to get into the Emmys spotlight. Last year it broke through with five major nominations including Drama Series, Actor (for Matthew Rhys), Actress (for Keri Russell), Writing, and Guest Actress (Margo Martindale has won the category twice in a row for the show and competes in Supporting Actress this year). I see no indication that it will miss out other than the fact that it is a crowded year with a lot of new contenders. And compared to last year’s crop, this year’s new contenders are coming out swinging.
Though Better Call Saul has been consistent in its nominations — it was nominated for six for each of its first two seasons — it surprisingly missed out on directing last year. Whether that’s because there was no clear contender like their first season — AMC has the bad habit of submitting multiple episodes in the category — or it’s an indication of waning support, I don’t know. But I think that this year the show either can continue to fade or increase its nomination load similarly to Breaking Bad. I think it’s going to be that latter, but it has a chance of missing out.
Now we get into dicey territory. There are a few new shows that have made a splash critically, culturally, and in early award shows. The most likely of those shows to break through is Stranger Things. Yes, it’s a genre show and one that is even odder than Game of Thrones, but there seems to be some real support for the show in the industry. After all, it shockingly upset The Crown for Best Ensemble at the SAG Awards. It’s also expected to nab at least two acting nominations as well as directing and writing nods — they only submitted the Pilot for writing and two episodes for directing. Plus, the winner of Best Ensemble went on to be nominated for the Emmy every year since the awards started except for one time — CSI won the SAG and was snubbed at the Emmys.
The Crown is the frontrunner for Outstanding Drama Series at the Emmys
This Is Us seemed like it was going to be a juggernaut earlier in the season, but critical favor waned in the later episodes. I still think that industry buzz is good — it’s a network show that actually has good ratings — and it should expect to pick up a few nominations. My pause comes from the fact that Empire was in a similar position. It premiered to huge ratings, but eventually slipped in critical favor later in the season. It eventually only received one nomination for Taraji P. Henson. I think that that acclaim for This Is Us is a little higher than Empire, but it could still take a similar route. For now, I think it’s in.
That leaves two spots and three nominees from last year to fit in. Mr. Robot made a splash at the Emmys last year with eight nominations and a win for Rami Malek. However, it seems like all the buzz has faded away. It’s rare for a Drama Series to have a one off nomination. That last time it happened was 2011 when Friday Night Lights made it in for its final season — so, it seems more like an exception than anything. But I just don’t feel like there’s anything pointing to it getting in again.
The most likely contender to take one of the two last spots is Homeland. It’s coming off a pretty buzzed about season — it takes place, for the first time, in New York — and after missing out for a couple years, it came back. It’s almost impossible for a show to return to a series race after being dropped off unless it’s in its final season. At this point, I think Homeland stays in the category until it ends. Plus, though there are many other new shows that are more buzzed about, it’s always smart to go with the stalwarts when it comes to the Emmys.
For this final spot, I think it comes down between two new shows — The Handmaid’s Tale and Westworld — and two veteran shows — The Leftovers and House of Cards. I’ve been waiting for the time when House of Cards would fall out of the race. It never seemed like it was going to win, which is never a good sign for its nomination chances the following year. Plus, with the political environment, we’re currently in, the show just doesn’t seem that dramatic. Kevin Spacey’s disastrous performance at the Tony Awards might have sealed the deal as well.
It might as well be a tossup between the final three contenders. The Handmaid’s Taleis especially relevant and is peak prestige television. The Leftoversis a critical darling that has wrapped up its run in the perfect way. Westworldhas the weight of HBO behind it and has been a constant force in the awards season thus far. I’m tossing a coin and landing on The Handmaid’s Tale. I think it’s little too late for The Leftovers and Westworld just seems to have dropped out from the conversation, though I have no doubt it’s going to be a technical juggernaut.
My predictions are going to change as the season moves along, so be sure to follow me on Twitter as I update my predictions!
Predictions:
The Americans
Better Call Saul
The Crown
The Handmaid’s Tale
Homeland
Stranger Things
This Is Us
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