Tár (2022)

Tár (2022)

[8] [This review contains spoilers.] Cate Blanchett stars as a fictional celebrated conductor whose life begins to unravel after an alleged affair with a music student comes to light. Her character, Lydia Tár, breaks the glass ceiling in the rarified…
Don’t Look Up (2021)

Don’t Look Up (2021)

[7] In this satiric dark comedy from director Adam McKay (Vice, The Big Short), Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence star as astronomers trying to warn the planet of an extinction-level comet headed straight for Earth. Meryl Streep plays a Trump-like…
Notes on a Scandal (2006)

Notes on a Scandal (2006)

[7] Judi Dench plays a cranky old teacher who befriends a new, younger teacher played by Cate Blanchett. Blanchett quickly confides in the older woman and thinks she's made a new friend. But Dench's aims are more sinister than that.…
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019)

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019)

[6] Writer/director Dean DeBlois wraps up the How to Train Your Dragon trilogy with a mostly satisfying finale. In this third film, young Viking Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) and his comrades discover a second, rare Night Fury dragon -- and it's…
The Shipping News (2001)

The Shipping News (2001)

[6] Kevin Spacey stars in this Lasse Hallström film based on the Annie Proulx novel about a widower who moves with his young daughter to his ancestral home in Newfoundland to start a new life. Judi Dench plays Spacey's aunt who…
Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

[7] After a mediocre beginning and a truly shitty-ass sequel, Marvel has made the wise decision of scrapping the Thor character as originally conceived and giving him a personality make-over. And that's why it feels like Thor has been possessed by…
Hanna (2011)

Hanna (2011)

[7] Saoirse Ronan (The Lovely Bones) stars as a mysterious teenager raised in the wilderness by her ex-CIA father (Eric Bana) to be a lethal killing machine. Director Joe Wright steps out of his comfort zone (his previous films include…
The Missing (2003)

The Missing (2003)

[6] Ron Howard directs Cate Blanchett and Tommy Lee Jones in The Missing, an estranged father/daughter bonding flick by way of The Searchers. The story is set in motion after Blanchett's eldest daughter is kidnapped by an evil Apache mystic…
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

[5] This belated sequel gets by, for the most part, on good will and fond memories of the previous three installments. It's light on memorable action scenes and heavy on silliness (the CGI mokeys and gophers are really, really hard…
Carol (2015)

Carol (2015)

[8] Cate Blanchett headlines as the title character in this Todd Haynes (Safe, Far from Heaven) adaptation of a Patricia Highsmith novel. She's perfect in the role, functioning as the beguiling older woman who catches the curious fancy of a…