Category Archives: Drama

Life is but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more

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I, Tonya (2017) Movie Review

There is one word that describes every facet of the film I, Tonya. Energy. From the acting performances, to the editing, to the camera work, to the dialogue, to the framing device, to the soundtrack there is a constant and consistent energy. There is never a wasted or dull moment. It is a two-hour movie that breezes by.

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Beneath this energy, which is spear-headed by dark comedy, is a surprising amount of empathy that the film drums up around the figure of Tonya Harding (portrayed here by Margot Robbie). The highly publicized story of Harding plays out in the film in a Continue reading I, Tonya (2017) Movie Review →

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Call Me By Your Name (2017) Movie Review

Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name is a film that takes its time yet never wastes a moment. It may seem at first that it is slow to startup, but this humdrum beginning that meanders almost lazily through this formative summer of Elio’s (Timothee Chalamet) is used as a basis from which the film’s central relationship can form. From the point at which this relationship comes to be, the film becomes an intensely emotional and sensual experience.

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Certainly, this lengthy and deliberate film will lose some viewers. The simplicity of the plotting does not help in that regard. But beyond mere plot is a film that captures Continue reading Call Me By Your Name (2017) Movie Review →

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Molly’s Game (2017) Movie Review

Aaron Sorkin’s Molly’s Game is based on a true story; a true story told by a potentially unreliable narrator. Molly Bloom (Jessica Chastain), a one-time Olympic contender, is under indictment for running an illegal gambling ring. Technically, she’s guilty (she wrote a book on the subject when she was in need of some money). All the same, the story is much more complicated than guilt versus non-guilt.

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The story is complicated, but the movie makes it much more complicated than it needs to be. Sorkin jams into this 140-minute movie three storylines involving Continue reading Molly’s Game (2017) Movie Review →

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Darkest Hour (2017) Movie Review

The critical world has been abuzz over Gary Oldman’s Oscar-worthy performance in Darkest Hour. Sporting a physique more, dare I say, jowel-y, Oldman plays British Prime Minister Winston Churchill from his selection to his rallying of Parliament to support war efforts against Germany.

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Clearly, Oldman is at center stage in Darkest Hour. His performance is certainly transfixing; he embodies Churchill with a mix of grumbling brutish, beady-eyed fury, and unexpected compassion. He could win an Oscar for his role, and it would not be undeserved. But Continue reading Darkest Hour (2017) Movie Review →

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All the Money in the World (2017) Movie Review

The conversation surrounding Ridley Scott’s All the Money in the World has been louder than actual buzz for the movie has been. With the bold decision by Scott to replace Kevin Spacey but maintain the film’s original release date, re-shooting to put Christopher Plummer in the J.P. Getty role occurred over the course of mere weeks.

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While this turnaround is certainly impressive, and much can be said about this film being saved from studio abandonment, this conversation outside of the text of the film should not determine how one judges the text itself.

What is to be made of All the Money in the World, then? Continue reading All the Money in the World (2017) Movie Review →

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Bright (2017) Movie Review

So get this: it’s a buddy cop movie starring Will Smith. Yeah, sure, it reminds one of Bad Boys, only Smith’s partner Jakoby (Joel Edgerton) is an Orc. And Smith’s character, Ward, is racist against Orcs like the rest of the police force. In this universe, pretty much everyone is racist against Orcs, and Elves, and Fairies. At one point, Smith swings a broom at a Fairy, trying to kill it, and says: “Fairy lives don’t matter today.”

So, you know, the film’s subtle.

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Ward and Jakoby find themselves in the middle of a war between the police, various gangs, and some assassin Elves. It is a war over a misplaced wand, which, based on what people are willing to do for it, seems to have an equivalent power to Continue reading Bright (2017) Movie Review →

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The Disaster Artist (2017) Movie Review

James Franco’s The Disaster Artist could have been the extension of a joke, an acknowledgment of the irony that makes Tommy Wiseau’s historical miscalculation The Room such an audience favorite. That would have been the easy route, and it would have made for a less compelling film.
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Instead, The Disaster Artist takes an earnest approach. It aims to convince us that it is the drive of Wiseau’s vision which is truly Continue reading The Disaster Artist (2017) Movie Review →

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Beach Rats (2017) Movie Review

Eliza Hittman’s Beach Rats is sometimes subtly gorgeous, sometimes distinctly hard to watch. It is a brutally sensuous experience of teenage angst in sexual awakening.

Brooklynite Frankie (Harris Dickinson) repeatedly tells older men he meets online that he “doesn’t know what he likes.” He keeps this lifestyle hidden from his family, his drug-hungry friends, and his new girlfriend Simone (Madeline Weinstein). Frankie doesn’t know what he wants, but it is clear in his every facial expression that he wants something that he doesn’t have.

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Frankie’s life is comprised almost entirely of emotional repression. In the company of others, his face is stony and dissatisfied. Not only is he Continue reading Beach Rats (2017) Movie Review →

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Novitiate (2017) Movie Review

When Pope John XXIII created Vatican II, it shook the Catholic Church to its core. The Second Vatican Council  was a big deal at the time, being that it was the first reconvening of Roman Catholic officials for the sake of reform in over 100 years.

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In the wake of Vatican II, thousands of nuns left the Church given that, in an attempt to create a more open and inviting Church, the status of nuns was Continue reading Novitiate (2017) Movie Review →

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Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) Movie Review

In Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, a title so laborious and specific that it can’t help but get stuck in your head, Mildred Hayes (Frances McDormand) rents out three billboards (they haven’t been used in years, not since the highway went up) and plasters a notice up on them. Black on red. A question aimed at Police Chief Willoughby (Woody Harrelson) asking for justice for Mildred’s dead daughter.

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A confrontational pitch-black comedy about reactionary culture and life-altering emotional extremity, Three Billboards delivers one of the Continue reading Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) Movie Review →