[7] Thirteen-year-old aspiring writer Briony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan) accuses her older sister’s lover of a crime he didn’t commit, effectively condemning him to years of prison and compulsory military service. The lovers (Keira Knightley and James McAvoy) stay connected through letter-writing, but the unfolding tragedies of World War II keep them ever apart. Years later, Briony wants to atone for the sin that tore her …
[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. After Dench catches Blanchett in an extra-marital affair with an underaged student, she uses the knowledge to emotionally manipulate Blanchett. As Blanchett enters crisis mode, …
[4] Queer cinema pioneer Gregg Araki (The Living End, Mysterious Skin) serves up a brightly colored teen sex comedy by way of Twin Peaks with a Dr. Strangelove finale. Like most of Araki’s films, there are nice scenes here and there, and a raw, primal quality to his storytelling that allows him to get away with lack of subtlety better than most filmmakers. But I’d …
[7] Angelina Jolie headlines in this pleasantly surprising revisionist version of Disney’s Sleeping Beauty. Jolie plays Maleficent, the dark fairy villain of the original fairytale. But in this new version of the story scripted by Linda Woolverton (Beauty and the Beast), she’s both the villain and the hero — and Jolie is fantastic in the role. You see Maleficent as the glorious creature she once …
[9] William Friedkin (The Exorcist, The French Connection) directs this darkly comic trailer trash ensemble piece about a family that conspires to hire a killer to whack their matriarch and collect her life insurance. Matthew McConaughey delivers a tense, frightening, carefully measured performance as the title character. He deserves an Oscar nomination if the Academy has the balls to recognize such sinister fare. Gina Gershon, …
Copyright © 2024 | Theme by MH Themes