“The irony is, I raised money to make this film by flipping two houses,” Giorgio Angelini says, chuckling, about Owned: A Tale of Two Americas, his documentary about the ugly side of the American housing industry, which has its world premiere at Full Frame. A native of Houston, Angelini bought his first home in Durham […]
Neil Morris
Posted inFilm & Television
The Post Is Both a Master Class in Filmmaking and a Rousing Paean to the Free Press
THE POST Opening Friday, Jan. 12 Donald Trump recently threatened legal action against author Michael Wolff and his publisher to halt the release of a book chronicling the inner inanity of the president’s nascent administration. Steven Spielberg’s The Post covers a different decade, presidency, and controversy, but you don’t need to look hard to see […]
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Movie Review: I, Tonya Cribs Scorsese’s Tricks for a Uniquely American Tale of Crass Competition and Class Conflict
I, Tonya★★★★Now playing Director Craig Gillespie’s dark comedy about disgraced figure skater Tonya Harding liberally borrows Martin Scorsese’s filmmaking trademarks, starting with his penchant for kinetic biopics. There are slow-motion pans, fast dolly zooms, a period-appropriate rock soundtrack, and actors who break the fourth wall. Heck, the final shot is of the blood-stained mat in […]
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Movie Review: All the Money in the World Is Solid, but the Real Drama Lies in the Last-Minute Recasting of J. Paul Getty After Kevin Spacey’s Downfall
All the Money in the World★★★ Opening Monday, Dec. 25 There’s a really interesting movie around All the Money in the World, but it’s not the one being released on Christmas day. Instead, it’s the making-of retrospective I hope we’ll see someday, which will detail the Herculean task of recasting and reshooting the film’s lead […]
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The Average American Sees Five Thousand Movies in a Lifetime. Half of Them Come Out This Week.
When a movie comes along that doesn’t behave like any of the thousands of movies you’ve already seen, well, that’s cause for celebration. Such is the case with ‘Downsizing’ from director Alexander Payne.
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Molly’s Game Is a Thrill Ride in the High-Stakes World of Underground Poker
MOLLY’S GAME Opening Monday, Dec. 25 You either dig Aaron Sorkin’s distinctive voice or you don’t. The acclaimed screenwriter makes his directorial debut in Molly’s Game, and the removal of that creative check allows Sorkin to mainline his rapid-fire prose. The result is a heady high-wire act with dialogue that constantly twists and turns, triggering […]
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The Tonally Incoherent Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Hasn’t a Clue How to Manage Its Weighty Themes and Discordant Plot
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Opening Wednesday, Nov. 22 The Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri in question line a little-traveled byway called Drinkwater Road. In this forgotten place, Mildred Hayes (Frances McDormand) revives a fading tragedy. She spends five thousand dollars to turn the weathered signs into beacons shining on her daughter’s unsolved rape and […]
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Movie Review: Justice League’s Concoction of Snyder’s Bombast and Whedon’s Wit Actually Kind of Works
Justice League★★★½ Opening Friday, Nov. 17 Earlier this year, after the death of his daughter, Zack Snyder—the de facto patriarch of the DC Extended Universe—stepped away from post-production on Justice League, which brings together Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman with other classic DC Comics characters. Enter Joss Whedon, who directed both Avengers films. The result […]
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Movie Review: In Thor: Ragnarok, a Stodgy Franchise Springs to Life with Demigods Delightfully Out of Their Element
Thor: Ragnarok ★★★★ Opening Friday, Nov. 3 There’s a short sequence early in Thor: Ragnarok in which an Asgardian acting troupe plays out the events of 2013’s Thor: The Dark World. The scene is framed as a lark, from its dialogue to the cameos from famous actors playing Thor, Loki, and Odin, which I won’t […]
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In The Florida Project, the Writer-Director of Tangerine Keeps Chasing Sparks of Vitality on Society’s Margins
THE FLORIDA PROJECT Opening Friday, Oct. 27 The Florida Project, a fractured fairy tale by Tangerine writer-director Sean Baker, takes its title from the early name of Walt Disney’s Orlando theme park, but it isn’t about royalty residing in a grand castle or the bourgeoisie immediately surrounding it. Instead, it investigates the margins of the […]