Reviews (252)

  • A sedate, but stately house that is not on the market gets snatched up by an enterprising but fractious family of four. The younger child, a teenage daughter begins to feel that she is not alone and starts to believe in the supernatural. As it turns out, the film's perspective is predominantly from the vantage point of a spirit which occupies the house but finds unexpected purpose with this family. It's best to go in totally cold. If you haven't seen the trailer, even better.

    Performances are stellar all around. Callina Liang gives an excellent performance as the deeply troubled daughter who is at the center of the film's mysteries. Lucy Liu is ideal as her swamped, but caring mother. West Mulholland is equally good as her sketchy boyfriend. Without going into detail or spoilers, it's a film that will confound one's expectations and conventional notions of a haunted house thriller. This is one of most creative spins on that genre, executed with formidable skill by Soderbergh. The daughter in this film seems to have the closest connection with this spirit and her backstory reveals why. Enthusiastically recommended to those who are open-minded and not too daunted from a distance.
  • Robert Eggers has concocted a superior version of the iconic vampire story that rivals its predecessors. His remake is one that embraces Gothic horror and an eerie sense of dread. The quieter a scene is, the more fear you will experience. The film is an homage to the classic, with more reliance on shadows than gore. We see very little of Count Orlok in the beginning. He remains in the dark as a menacing presence, brought forth with great conviction by Skarsgard, who perfectly captures his percolating voice.

    Lily-Rose Depp is ideal as the object of Nosferatu's desire. She is crippled by his power yet wise to his ways. While the count haunts her dreams constantly (and others later on), she warns those close to her about the impending threat. Out of everyone in the film, she knows the count the most intimately and can predict his behavior. Nicholas Hoult is her husband who works hard to care for her but also travels to the vampire's castle with the intent of completing the sale of a home, little knowing that the count intends to claim his wife as his possession. Wilem Dafoe is no stranger to this material and is exceptional here as a discredited, but insightful physician who recognizes the world of vampires as real and evil and insists on society being equipped to defeat them. Simon McBurney is well-deployed as Hoult's employer who also turns out to be the count's slavish, but enthusiastic servant who works quietly to enable Nosferatu in any way possible.

    While this film could have benefited from some editing, it never loses its power and is gripping from start to finish, with a powerful and poignant conclusion. With lush cinematography and a foreboding soundtrack, it makes its mark as one of the best Gothic horror films in recent memory. Highly recommended.
  • Thirty years after the groundbreaking animation film "The Lion King" about Simba's coming-of-age story, Walt Disney Studios with director Barry Jenkins take us back to his father's story. Mufasa's path crosses with Taka, a lion cub of similar age as Mufasa, shortly after he gets separated from his parents. Taka's mother supports Taka's wish to embrace Mufasa as his brother and teaches him a lot of the hunting techniques and knowledge of the lionesses.

    The dynamic changes when a threat from a pride of white lions, who try to rule as the sole pride of lions. Taka's father makes Taka and Mufasa flee from the attackers, and on their way they meet another lonely lioness Sarabi with her hornbill Zazu and the young but wise mandrill Rafiki. Together they keep running away from the white lions while heading towards their destination of Milele the Pride Land. The background story of The Lion King is a story about brotherhood, friendship, love, self-doubt and betrayal. It also shows us that there is always hope even in darkest times, and something to fight for even when you seem not to fit in.

    The music and songs fit wonderfully into the story telling. We will always remember the original voice of Mufasa from the 1994 movie, James Earl Jones - Mufasa: The Lion King is dedicated to him. This movie is for everyone, no matter if you were already a fan of "The Lion King" a newbie to the story. Highly recommended.
  • A Hungarian-Jewish architect manages to narrowly escape to America from post-WWII Europe in the hopes of building a new life for his family. In his new country, his struggling career has some bumps and detours before he is taken under the wing of a watchful, prosperous industrialist in Pennsylvania, who admires his work and who ends up employing him to carry out part of his own vision.

    Adrien Brody gives one of his best performances ever as Laszlo Toth, the hard-working and determined immigrant who hopes to start a new chapter and rebuild his legacy, both literally and figuratively. But it is Guy Pearce who nearly steals the film with a ferocious and charismatic performance as the blue-blooded tycoon who gives Toth's work as an architect a second chance. He shifts from sympathy to vindictiveness with ease. Brody's protagonist is not a paragon of virtue, to be sure. He wrestles with drug addiction, sometimes doesn't respect the chain of command, teeters on the brink of madness and even turns on some of his closest friends in moments of high stress. In the end, he is sympathetic but complex.

    Director Brady Corbet provides a rich sense of historical context. The only criticism of the film is that it offers only a vague idea of what this pioneering architect did over the long term. Its focus is overwhelmingly on his first and most ambitious project for this mercurial employer and all the trouble that came with it. Nevertheless, it's one of the best epics in recent memory and enthusiastically recommended for the superb work all around.
  • Luca Guadagnino channels David Lynch in this bizarre, winding adaptation of Burroughs' novella. Although very faithful to its source material, this film's length, anachronistic soundtrack and uneven pacing will test one's patience. It's not until fairly late, that it all starts to resemble the director's entrancing craft.

    Daniel Craig is a puzzling choice for this protagonist and shockingly he pulls it off quite well. Whether in a state of banter or wonder or disgust, Craig is in top form here. His performance perfectly conveys the inner turmoil, isolation and loneliness that older gay men face. A complex man who is alternately fascinating and insufferable, Craig breathes life into him.

    The film's first chapter feels the longest. But just when you think it's going to be entombed in a claustrophobic melodrama, we get a new journey in the second chapter and unspeakable but beautiful terror in the third chapter. Although the film can be dry and prosaic in the beginning, I would still take Guadagnino even when he gets off-message over many other directors. In the end, this is a thought-provoking and haunting piece of cinema. Recommended to open-minded viewers.
  • Two teenage daughters in a strictly traditional Iranian family see their own classmates treated in an oppressive manner by the law. The film starts with their father obtaining a powerful position in the justice system where he has been a loyal employee for 20 years. His promotion in such a hated system makes him a target by revolutionary activists who are pushing back against Iran's oppressive courts. What follows is a family schism that threatens the very stability of their lives, especially after the father's gun mysteriously goes missing.

    Social media is the girls' true weapon against indoctrination and deception. In older generations, they would only have the slanted television news and their parents' religious browbeating to turn to, but their window into the outside world gives them the ammunition they need to question their upbringing and challenge oppressive authority.

    As westerners, we sometimes forget how fortunate we are. Watching a normal mishap escalate into such a diabolical family dispute is something that seems far more likely to take place in a society like Iran where women are still regarded with mistrust and men have the power to treat their entire family as mere defendants. While the film gives a voice to the oppressive father and the mother who is an obedient wife but who still loves her children, we never leave the daughters' perspective. They see a world in which they cannot be heard and their quiet rage finally gets sparked into fury. Masterfully directed and acted and not to be missed. Recommended to the highest degree.
  • Two extremely dissimilar cousins embark on a trip to Poland where they join a tour group exploring Jewish history including Holocaust landmarks as well as their own family's roots. Jesse Eisenberg is awkward and self-aware as the accomplished family man with a solid career. Kieran Culkin gives a much less subtle and in-your-face performance as his wastrel cousin with no filter. Culkin does all the shouting as an impossibly abrasive, hard-coping slacker. Viewers who might find Culkin too off-putting here and thereby regard him as a debit would be overlooking the same observations from others within the film itself. What makes these two performances real is that the cousins ultimately don't try to change one another, despite their massive differences.

    The film might seem inappropriately flippant and sardonic for a considerable stretch. Perhaps that was Eisenberg's intention, perhaps not. But there is a late point in the narrative when things suddenly get very quiet and very serious. At that point we suddenly forget all the banter and jousting that the two cousins have inflicted on their long-suffering fellow travelers. It clarifies and enunciates the film's purpose and makes the journey worthwhile. Up until then, the tragic past is often obscured by the two cousins' peculiar, but very human dynamic.

    Between Eisenberg's diffidence and Culkin's pyrotechnics, most people fall somewhere in the middle and would probably behave much more in sync with these surroundings. But the story of two oddballs is not about conventional instincts or decorum. It's a depiction of extremes and as such, it's well played. Strongly recommended.
  • John Chu's cinematic adaptation of the famous musical is a fascinating treat and a great introduction to this other side of one of the greatest fairytales ever. Was the wicked witch of the west, truly "wicked" or was she just misunderstood and never had any real friends until she needed them? It's a provocative, cinematic rendition that taps into race relations and offers cutting social commentary on the dangers of tribalism and prejudice.

    Cynthia Erivo is captivating and subtle in a role that gives us the witch's vantage point. The great wizard of Oz (played with interpersonal coldness by Jeff Goldblum) still commands the will and reverence of the Land of Oz, but he is not the great miracle worker that everyone growing up believed him to be. In this film, the great wizard is more a good salesman. Here, Oz is still mysterious but his goodness is more debatable.

    Ariana Grande is surprisingly effective as Galinda in a portrayal that seems to exemplify the pitfalls of popularity. She seemingly stands for all things "shallow" in this film. But her friendship with the witch grows in the beginning in fits and starts eventually blossoms into an unlikely alliance that makes the witch a welcome student in her class and better yet a magical prodigy who captures the attention of her teachers and those beyond the halls of her academy. Then and only then does the witch's story start to become known. This is a film will stay with you, with Erivo making her mark. Gladly recommended.
  • If you're looking for a psychological thriller that seemingly gets darker and more winding as it goes along, look no further. You've found it with this gripping film about two young female missionaries for the Latter-day Saints (Cloe East, impressionable; Sophie Thatcher, more street smart) who get more than they bargained for when they visit one of their potential converts, a friendly but reclusive older gentleman with a knack for discussing religious doctrine.

    Hugh Grant, with a wolfish grin reminiscent of Ted Bundy, is utterly creepy and compelling in a role that goes against type for him. It's one of his most committed performances as a sociopathic predator who deserves all the torments of hell. As expected, the two girls start to have divergent instincts in confronting his gamesmanship. The rising tension in this film is very tough on the psyche before it all regresses to conventionality.

    Questions of faith and belief are batted around throughout. The discourse is benign at first before lurching into the mental torment that Grant's villain thrives upon and it doesn't take long for him to start spouting his contempt for religion as a whole. Whatever your views on religion or whatever your faith or lack thereof, you'll find this ongoing debate to be conceptually enticing and philosophically provocative. But most viewers will likely put that rich and substantive aspect down as they find a rooting interest in this film. A film that will likely be remembered by those who have the courage to watch all the way through. Strongly recommended.
  • In 1980s Ireland, a coal merchant in a small town, chastened by his own childhood memories, wonders about a powerful convent in which young women seem to live a harsh existence. He observes and only slowly begins to question. While he endeavors to raise his own daughters independently, he has fears that the convent is abusive.

    Cillian Murphy brings a flawless subtlety and anguish to this role as an honest working man who doesn't turn a blind eye to his community. Emily Watson makes an impression as the head of the convent, who watches the young girls for even a hint of defiance. One memorable scene between Murphy and Watson conveys a menacing tension that brims with fear and resolve at the same time.

    Taut and deliberately paced, the film conveys the discovery of abuse and the desperation of its victims through Murphy's horrified eyes. At the same time, the film sidesteps proselytizing in favor of powerful realism and leaves it mark in the best way. Strongly recommended.
  • Ralph Fiennes gives another complex, painstaking performance as the dean of cardinals who presides over the conclave to elect a new pope with the passing of the old one. He must sidestep his own struggle with faith in the name of guiding the conclave to the best result possible. What follows is an elaborate chess game of shifting allegiances and revelations about the various candidates. Doctrinal grievances and racism occasionally percolate within the ranks. The old pope who just passed away knew of some grim truths within the Vatican that only just now come to light.

    This drama is a fascinating and insightful portrayal of the workings of papal elections. The more conservative wing of the conclave is led by a forceful and unapologetic Sergio Castellitto. The more progressive Stanley Tucci and the moderate John Lithgow vie for the support of those who want to keep the church tolerant and in line with changing societies. In the middle of all of this, Fiennes is the one who navigates. Some scenes burn with suspense, including one that actually evokes the feel of "No Country for Old Men". The film never ventures outside the Vatican, giving a realistic feel for how cloistered the process of the conclave is.

    Regardless of one's views on the Catholic Church, this is a gripping and pensive film and Berger keeps us guessing right until the end. An ending that might seem divisive to some, might strike others as thought-provoking. One of the year's best films and highly recommended.
  • In 1940, as the bombing of London starts to escalate, a young woman volunteers to work in a munitions factory as Britain works rapidly to defend itself. In the hopes of keeping her biracial son safe, she sends him off to a remote location. Her son, already marginalized by society's prejudices, resents his mother's decision and has other ideas. What follows is a separation between the mother and child against the horrific backdrop of the terror the citizens of London endured.

    Director Steve McQueen convincingly recreates the horrors of war in London during the early part of the conflict. Saoirse Ronan carries the film with a superb performance as the long-suffering single mother who endeavors to keep her son sheltered from the war. Supporting performances are strong as well. Benjamin Clementine is a British soldier who gives the best monologue of the whole film in a bomb shelter scene. Elliott Heffernan is compelling to watch as the son. Although the film perhaps could have used some editing, it's still a riveting and gripping wartime drama. Strongly recommended.
  • Sean Baker returns to his wheelhouse of exploring the dingy edges of society. This is a story of tormented love, a fiery look at how a young woman, scraping by as a sex worker in Brooklyn, sees her hopes and dreams become insanely real when she meets her prince charming, the son of a Russian oligarch. Their chemistry is instant and spellbinding. Her life changes dramatically as they get married.

    Mikey Madison is miraculous as the young woman whose fairy tale dream comes alive. But unlike Elizabeth Taylor in "Butterfield 8" or Elisabeth Shue in "Leaving Las Vegas", the female protagonist here never becomes the classic hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold. She remains tough as nails, chock full of rage and ready to throw her next punch until the very end. While she never becomes a savory person, her resolve never wanes. She knows how to stick up for herself and rejects with fury those who fail in this regard. It's one of the best performances of the year.

    Just when you think you know where this is going, it upends your expectations and proves to be a much more challenging film with a sobering reality at its core. Many have referred to this as partly a comedy. In all honesty, that's a bit of a stretch, notwithstanding a dark sense of humor. Fair warning, this film is pretty taxing on the psyche. You might be exhausted in the end. But it's a memorable film that will leave you in devastated awe. Recommended to the highest degree.
  • Saiorse Ronan is a biology graduate student whose partying and alcohol addiction has plunged her into career struggles ultimately leading her to take a break from her tumultuous life in London and returning to her roots in the Orkney Island north of Scotland. It is there where she starts to overcome her demons and begin to find her compass.

    Ronan carries this slightly meandering story, which although beautiful to watch, takes a while to get to the point. The backstory is deliberately weaved together. We get to see her family circumstances and a glimpse of the schism between her religion mother and alcoholic father. Her early ne'er do well antics test the patience of her various boyfriends. In flashbacks, we see her unstable and feckless existence in London contrasted with her growing discipline and focus once she has settled into her old surroundings. It's a well-rendered portrait of youth starting to mature and develop of a purpose in life. Solidly recommended.
  • It might take a while to process this film, because of its unapologetic strangeness and staunch refusal to be a predictable, mainstream storyline. Extremely well-acted and somewhat labyrinthine in its concept, this will not be for all tastes. Some might find it quite ridiculous. Others might be enthralled by the eccentric, even at times quixotic premise.

    Sebastian Stan is a woefully deformed actor whose career opportunities are few and far between. But cutting edge medical treatment suddenly presents the promise of a new life when his disfigured condition appears treatable. He can suddenly live freely and normally and can pursue an attractive woman who lives in his building and not incidentally showed an affinity for him prior to his transformation. Much to his surprise another actor surfaces, one with the same deformed condition that he successfully eradicated and his life gradually and inexplicably becomes more marginalized. A creepy karaoke scene, the most memorable scene in the whole film captures the protagonist's psychology perfectly. One thing this film understands perfectly is how being a handsome guy can actually be a strike against you with some women.

    Perhaps the best lesson to glean from this peculiar storyline is to appreciate those who appreciate you as you are. Any higher concepts this film intended to convey, it failed entirely. You will either find this whole premise thought-provoking or patently ridiculous. An allegory is supposed to stand for something, but it won't be as effective when it is too convincing or odd in itself. Recommended to open-minded viewers.
  • Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong give committed performances in this cinematic portrayal of Donald Trump's early career, from his stepping out of his father's shadow in taking on the ambitious endeavor of rebuilding and reshaping the Commodore Hotel to his early heydays in the 80s when his business empire started to venture into casinos.

    Stan does an impressive job of conveying the character arc of Trump where he goes from a confident but self-entitled daddy's boy in the 1970s into a more narcissistic and arrogant tycoon by the end. The film has a glum feel in the 70s that shifts into a sleeker but more demonic aura in the 80s. It's Jeremy Strong who steals the film with a stunningly complex turn as Roy Cohn, the ruthless but psychologically tortured prominent attorney, who takes Trump under his wing in the beginning.

    It's a decent overview of Trump's beginnings in adult life and by the end, his words and mannerisms sound a lot more familiar. The later stages of the film offer a glimpse into the grandiose persona who would come to view any kind of power as his due. Recommended to anyone who keeps an open mind.
  • A futuristic robot, fresh from the factory, gets lost in transit and finds itself marooned on an island full of wild life and must learn to live and interact with many different species of the animal kingdom. This wonder robot learns quickly but does not anticipate its most challenging task- raising a gosling that has hatched after being born in the robot's care.

    The robot turns out to be the gosling's truly versatile guardian in helping the young animal grow up and learn how to fly in time for the winter migration. The robot is also seemingly indestructible in dealing with predators and/or bullies in the wild and set its new child on a good path, all the while learning to step outside its program's rigid guidelines.

    Touching and endearing, this animation film is a pure joy to watch. It's a truly positive story of unconventional bonding that overcome the boundaries of tribes and species. It's a tale that espouses common ground and collaboration in the name of community and self-preservation. A visually lush and conceptually rich film, this is not to be missed. Highly recommended.
  • Try as I might, I simply couldn't stomach this disgusting ordeal in the end. Actually at one point or another, I desired those in the audience to talk in order to distract me- that is quite unusual. Many horror aficionados will applaud how audacious and unapologetically explicit the film's style is. But I have my limits and draw a demarcation line between that which is thought-provoking and filmmaking that turns into simple torture. This would be the latter, regrettably.

    It starts out intriguing and pulpy enough before nose-diving into nightmarish savagery. Demi Moore is a Hollywood superstar whose glamor and heyday has long faded into the past. She discovers a mysterious underground drug that enables her to return to her former beauty and relive the peak of her career. Dennis Quaid is quite good as the grotesque TV producer of her workout program that she does in the twilight of her career. Margaret Qualley is the younger version of Moore's starlet. Solid performances and flamboyant visuals draw us in before the film gives new meaning to heavy-handed depravity.

    The best that I can say for this film is that it will be tough to forget. Whether you're mesmerized or repulsed, this film will leave its footprint on your psyche. It's too extreme to recede from one's consciousness. You'll either be in awe or need a shower when you get home. But for the record, not recommended. Not at all.
  • A couple of young Belfast hoodlums, whose fugitive father is revered by the Irish Republicans find themselves an unlikely ally in a volunteer translator for law enforcement who's also a music teacher. As they get to know each other, they find a common cause in using rap music as an eloquent means to fight for the preservation of their Irish language, which has been marginalized by British rule in Northern Ireland.

    Profane and psychedelic, this film freely shifts between English and Gaelic. In both languages, the film is chock full of fierce national pride, unabashedly vulgar humor and commentary on the free-wheeling but devastatingly vocal nature of rap music. Michael Fassbender has a small but stirring role as the father whose influence and presence is always with the two young men even if he himself lives in the shadows. It might be the most incisive portrayal of life of Northern Ireland since the ceasefire. Gerry Adams feels more like an historical figure here than a mover and shaker of contemporary Northern Ireland. The generation that followed the troubles expresses its rage in more subtle but no less effective means. Grandly recommended.
  • Naomi Ackie is a cocktail waitress, living paycheck to paycheck who chances to meet a world-renowned Elon Musk-type business mogul (Channing Tatum, with menacing swagger to spare) when she sneaks into one of his private events. As fate would have it, they have instant chemistry and he invites her to his exclusive island oasis, where he and his inner circle live the life of Riley- or so it seems at first.

    Provocative, bristling performances dot this film throughout. Ackie displays star-making credentials as the heroine. Tatum gives his meatiest performance in years. Christian Slater comes out of the woodwork as one of Tatum's braggart friends. Haley Joel Osment (amiable and creepy) is the less abrasive reprobate of the group. Adria Arjona is alternately free-wheeling and skittish as the wild card among the female guests. She views any new woman on the island as competition, but her instincts are developed and she's no fool.

    First-time director Zoe Kravitz has an eye for detail and a penchant for frenetic pacing. This contemporary suspense mystery is likely to be polarizing, fanatically admired and reviled. It offers its share of social commentary on toxic masculinity, but with a devilish sense of humor (the song "Jungle Fever" is a witty and festive part of the soundtrack) and recurrent themes of class and exclusive clubs bubble up throughout. To describe more would be to reveal too much. It's a twisty adventure, that occasionally goes off the rails, but even if the film goes berserk at times, it doesn't dull its achievement. Highly recommended.
  • This modest, affecting film portrays the work of a convict in Sing Sing prison in creating a theater program in which the prisoners take the stage and take on roles ranging from Shakespeare to modern drama or comedy. It's based on true events and many of the actual prisoners who participated in this endeavor play themselves.

    Colman Domingo is his usual exemplary, soulful presence as the convict who makes the theater program a possibility and helps introduce many of his fellow inmates to the world of acting. Clarence Maclin matches Domingo with an absolutely granite performance as one such inmate who goes from menacing prison bully to empathetic confidant in the film's storyline. The actual "Divine G" whose story the film is based on, makes a brief appearance as well.

    Prison films are known for usually being a lot grittier and less nuanced than this. But this story is not without some of the same heartbreak and endurance that comes with a prison story. In the end, it's quite an inspiring tale and cause for optimism amid bleak surroundings. Highly recommended for those who enjoy excellent acting and an unconventional but uplifting slice of life.
  • Some reviews have said this film loses its compass and concludes poorly. They're looking at it backward. This film finishes quite strong and its gripping turn of events in the second half rescues it from oblivion. It's the early part that's tough getting through and it looks as though the creative premise might be squandered. But some inventive plot points get the film back on track.

    A working class dad takes his teenage daughter to the mega event of her dreams, a flamboyant concert by a Lady Gaga-esque pop star. As it turns out, he is a sadistic serial killer who is hunted by law enforcement, who've been tipped off that he'll be in attendance. Josh Hartnett gives a committed performance that elevates the sloppy screenplay and occasionally cartoonish dialogue (seems to be a pattern for Shyamalan). Hartnett is unsettling as a psychopath who shifts from goofball dad to the Incredible Hulk with appalling swiftness. The real wild card is Saleka Shyamalan who steals in the film in a vixenish, captivating performance as the starlet who turns out to play a more vital role than one would expect. Hayley Mills from "The Parent Trap" is cleverly cast here as an FBI profiler who's hot on the trail of her target.

    Implausibilities bubble up in the storyline but the pacing and tension picks up so much toward the end, that I felt inclined to forgive the occasional lapses in credibility. In terms of overall achievement, this film goes from potential Hitchcockian thriller to settling more for B-movie status, but with character and gritty effort. Recommended to those who can check their brains at the door and enjoy some wild-eyed craziness.
  • A young poet in diminished health and a British law student cross paths and become allies in a desperate attempt to escape New York in the wake of a devastating attack by savage aliens with super hearing ability and unstoppable speed. This film, which has the most unsettling opening in recent memory, tells the harrowing story of how the horrible devastation wrought by these creatures first started.

    Lupita Nyong'o is quite good as the protagonist, who watches New York get reduced to a deadly war zone in which the slightest noise means imminent, life-threatening danger. Joseph Quinn is her last hope as the unlikely hero who helps her navigate the ravaged city back to Harlem where she's originally from. Alex Wolff has a brief role as the very calm and patient social worker. And yes, Nyong'o has a cat in this film who is the closest thing to a protector you're going to find aside from a human amid the crawling, galloping beasts.

    This prequel doesn't try to be brilliant or groundbreaking but it has so much tension, humanity and in the end, swagger, that I feel pity for those who've chosen to pan it. You want good, old school filmmaking, that is here. Highly recommended to film buffs and horror fans alike.
  • This remake takes the premise of the 1996 film, which came out when social media did not yet exist and when the Internet was still barely a presence in people's lives and updates it like gangbusters. We have dueling ambitions between two contrasting personalities who closely watch and chase tornadoes. She has studied meteorology and is putting her best effort to catch and contain storms before they wreck their worst damage on the lives of thousands, including many people she knew growing up in Oklahoma. He's a free-spirited social media celebrity who's also tech savvy and knows how to follow and get the closest he can to the scariest tornadoes. Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell play well off each other, both giving off charisma and likeability.

    Some scenes pay homage to the original. Moviegoers will once again be reminded about the impact of a tornado on a cinema. A tornado has no regard or fear of eating up an oil refinery the same way it did an oil tanker back in the day. The supporting cast is as joyful and fearless as their predecessors. Back in the day, I loved and admired the achievement of the original, but this contemporary version has a more technology-driven spin and delves into the science behind tornadoes with more detail. The result is a film that's exciting and informative at the same. Enthusiastically recommended to those who love an action-packed blockbuster with heart and soul.
  • If you know Yorgos Lanthimos' uniquely clinical and off-kilter style of filmmaking, then here you will find him not only adhering to, but fortifying his trademark strangeness in producing three different stories of tortured and eccentric depravity. Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley and Hong Chau all flourish playing dissimilar characters in each tale, alternating between victim and perpetrator, between innocent bystander and co-conspirator, between normal person and degenerate.

    Watching this rich acting lineup shift between these contrasting personas is quite the experience, even if the film's length makes some chapter stand out more than others. Some symbolism lingers on. A broken tennis racquet fits right in with the prevailingly derelict milieu. Overall, it's surprisingly fast-paced, but the first tale is the least memorable, perhaps because it's overshadowed by two meatier, more vicious tales that follow. It was almost as if Lanthimos was just getting warmed up for his true descent into his archetypal cynicism and bitterness, in jet black form.

    While his past films were merely cold and brusque in their mindset, this time Lanthimos delves at times into cold-bloodedness. This time, squeamish viewers really do have to be warned to proceed with caution. What follows is a challenging and markedly less fancy blend of tragedy and comedy that we've seen from this director, but one that takes his harshness just one step further into the abyss. Recommended to devoted fans, but with everyone else, highly touch and go.
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