Ridley Scott offers a whirling, often witty account of the events leading up to the disco-era hired killing of Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver) by his estranged wife (Lady Gaga) when the fashion giant was rocking with debt and scandal. The cast is well-dressed, if not well-behaved.
Much to love in Lin-Manuel Miranda's adaptation of Jonathan Larson's semi-autobiographical musical tick, tick ... BOOM!, mostly Andrew Garfield's performance as the pre-Rent Larson, caught between creativity and stagnation. The Sunday diner tribute is a Broadway baby's delight.
For a film suffused with pain and trouble, Kenneth Branagh's loving tribute to his hometown -- Belfast, Northern Ireland -- brims with joy -- most of it reflected in and seen through the eyes of young Jude Hill, who plays Branagh's boyhood alter ego, Buddy, a child completely invested in life, in his family, the village that is raising him and a flaxen haired classmate for whom he endures the torture of maths. It's a beautifully constructed and emotionally impactful picture.
Prentice Penny's Uncorked, which stars Mamoudou Athie and Courtney B. Vance, gets so many things right that one can forgive some predictability in the story. The characters in this tale of a young man hoping to become a master sommelier feel real; the dialogue lean and authentic.
The vibrantly assured The Harder They Fall begs the question about the finesse Black British directors like Jeymes Samuel bring to bear on their film projects that many Black American directors seem to lack, even with material rooted in U.S. history. The film is a stylized treat.
Perhaps "serious" film performers love working with Wes Anderson because the exacting auteur makes movies, like The French Dispatch, that assemble dozens of A-listers for elaborate, painterly tableaux in serpentine stories that movie inexorably but not always predictably forward.
Jake Schreier's Thunderbolts* (the asterisk is part of the title) takes the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a refreshing direction, w...
