We don’t see a lot of indie sci-fi on the big screen here, but this one, featuring Jay Duplass, is landing in Cary.
Glenn McDonald
Posted inFilm & Television
Can You Ever Forgive Me? Isn’t Sure Whether Its Subject’s a Con Artist or a Noble Striver
In her first big dramatic role, comic actor Melissa McCarthy makes the most of a muddled characterization of a real-life literary forger.
Posted inFilm & Television
The Happy Prince Is a Dark and Passionate Tribute to the Last Days of Oscar Wilde
Rupert Everett writes, directs, and stars in a wonderfully acted but sometimes clumsily told story of a great writer wrecked by a cruel culture.
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Robert Redford Goes Out with a Bang in Crime Caper The Old Man & the Gun
The film, said to be Redford’s last as an actor, opens Friday, Oct. 19.
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On the Upside, Crazy Rich Asians Is a Genuine Cultural Milestone. On the Downside, It’s … Not That Good?
CRAZY RICH ASIANS Opening Friday, August 17 The big-budget romantic comedy Crazy Rich Asians is an interesting specimen. As the first major studio film in twenty-five years to feature an all-Asian cast, it’s an important milestone in terms of cultural representation. The film manages to be a significant cinematic event, and maybe even an Important […]
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In Ant-Man and the Wasp, the Marvel Cinematic Universe Takes a Goofy, Low-Stakes Break from Existential Threats
ANT-MAN AND THE WASP Opening Friday, July 6 As a second-tier superhero movie with modest ambitions, Ant-Man and the Wasp works just fine for what it is. It’s the opposite of epic: a goofy, fun sci-fi ride with the spirit of old-school pulp fiction, the kind of adventure you might find in a beat-up copy […]
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Movie Review: At Least We Get Bening, Moss, and Ronan Mucking Around in Chekhovian Mischief in an Otherwise Standard The Seagull
The Seagull★★★ Now playingYou love her But she loves him And he loves somebody else You just can’t win —The J. Geils Band, “Love Stinks” It’s summertime on a nineteenth-century Russian country estate, and love triangles are colliding in a tangle of messy geometry. The aging stage actress Irina is visiting her lover Trigorin, a […]
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The Arty Horror of Hereditary Thrives on Real Anxieties, Hideous Images, and the Occasional Headless Cultist
HEREDITARY Opening Friday, June 8 Artful, twisted, and scary as hell, the indie horror film Hereditary is designed to mess you up. You won’t find the pleasant chills of the ghost story or the cathartic thrills of the slasher. Instead, the film trades in real human anxieties, hideously disturbing images, and the occasional headless cultist. […]
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If Rogue One Was a War Picture Set in the Star Wars Universe, then Solo Is a Space Western—a Pretty Good One, Too
Opening Friday, May 25 As corporate custodians of George Lucas’s space-opera vision, Disney executives have actually done an admirable job with the new batch of Star Wars movies. They’ve commissioned clever scripts, hired smart people, and developed some good films. Movie math is always tricky, but surely everyone can agree with the certainty that The […]
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If the First Deadpool Was a Halfhearted R-Rated Spider-Man, the Superior Sequel Is a Controlled Comic Detonation of the Superhero-Movie Template
DEADPOOL 2 Opening Friday, May 18 A sequel to the surprise 2016 blockbuster, Deadpool 2 is one of those rare follow-ups that improves upon the original, expanding its ideas instead of repeating them. If the first movie was a halfhearted R-rated Spider-Man (it was), then the new one is a controlled detonation of the superhero-movie […]