[8] Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence star in this tale of two clinically depressed people (he’s diagnosed bipolar) who strike up an unusual relationship. She teaches him to dance with her for an upcoming competition in exchange for delivering letters to his ex-wife, who has a restraining order against him. While he obsesses over the ex, Lawrence begins to pine for Cooper. Everything comes to …
[7] Yorgos Lanthimos (The Lobster, Killing of a Sacred Deer) brings his off-kilter humor to this dark period-piece comedy about a poor but clever scullery maid (Emma Stone) who ingratiates herself to England’s ailing Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) with intentions of replacing the Queen’s longtime confidante and political proxy (Rachel Weisz). You can think of it as a quirky retelling of All About Eve. The …
[8] A curmudgeonly obsessive-compulsive (Jack Nicholson) falls for a charming waitress (Helen Hunt) and strikes up an unlikely friendship with a gay neighbor (Greg Kinnear) in As Good as It Gets, another comedy/drama hybrid from the sometimes brilliant mind of James L. Brooks (Terms of Endearment, Broadcast News). In lesser hands, this one could have turned out a tonal mess, but Brooks and the cast …
[8] A young German man (an award-worthy David Kross) has an affair with an older woman (Kate Winslet), only to discover many years after the affair ends that she was a guard at the Auschwitz concentration camp. After she is found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison, the man (later played by Ralph Fiennes) still can’t get her out of his mind. …
[8] Seven months after the rape and murder of her daughter, a grieving mother challenges her local police department to find the culprit when she advertises on three incendiary billboards. Frances McDormand (Fargo) headlines Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, which is being advertised as a comedy featuring fowl-mouthed McDormand chewing the scenery and ripping characters new assholes. And to be fair, that’s definitely part of this movie. …
[8] Kathy Bates delivers a spooky Oscar-winning performance in Rob Reiner’s film based on the novel by Stephen King. Screenwriter William Goldman builds a tremendous amount of tension and suspense with barely more than two characters and one room. The payoff isn’t as interesting as the build-up, but Misery is still a fun, scary ride. James Caan is great as the victimized writer, and deserves …
[5] Sandra Bullock won an Oscar for her performance in this film, and that’s pretty much the best reason to see this movie. I’m not sure if it was the best performance of the year, but she is certainly very good — surprisingly controlled and low-key. I have mixed feelings about the story, which is supposed to be the inspirational true story of a Republican/Christian …
[7] Ingrid Bergman won the first of her three Oscars for this psychological thriller from George Cukor. Bergman plays a woman increasingly traumatized by her husband, a thief who nearly succeeds in convincing her that she’s losing her mind. It’s easy to invest in a movie when someone’s being mean to Ingrid Bergman. I only wish that she were more empowered in the story’s third …
[6] Olivia de Havilland won her first Oscar for this sudsy soap opera about a woman who gives up her infant son and spends the rest of her life trying to reconnect with him. The melodrama may be an acquired taste, but no one can steal audience sympathy better than de Havilland. I went with it, happy ending and all. In a neat (and slightly …
[8] Charlize Theron stars as Aileen Wuornos, the infamous Florida prostitute who became a serial killer, in this film chronicling her last few months of freedom before being captured and executed in 2002. Writer/director Patty Jenkins doesn’t shy away from Wuornos’ crimes, but aims to paint a more complex portrait of the woman who committed them. Monster introduces us to Wuornos as she’s contemplating suicide, …
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