The high-concept elevator pitch description for Christy Hall’s “Daddio” would probably be something along the lines of “‘Locke’ as a two-hander,” or maybe “‘Collateral’ without the killing,” though it’s better than either of those loglines might lead you to believe. The premise is a simple one: Dakota Johnson (never named on-camera) plays a young woman coming home to New York who takes a cab from JFK to her home in Hell’s Kitchen.

Continue reading ‘Daddio’ Review: Dakota Johnson & Sean Penn Shine in Christy Hall’s Schematic But Affecting Drama [TIFF] at The Playlist.

Time and again, we’ve seen that trying to smash the entirety of a life—especially that of a notable person—into the running time of a feature film is a fool’s errand, resulting in puddle-deep characterization, painfully expositional dialogue and narratives that offer little more than bullet points. But these movies win Oscars, so financiers see them as something resembling a low risk, and here we are. “Lee,” the narrative directorial debut of acclaimed cinematographer Ellen Kuras, stars Kate Winslet as WWII combat photographer Lee Miller, first seen snapping a picture during a firefight before getting knocked over by an explosion. 

READ MORE: Toronto International Film Festival 2023: 26 Must-See Films To Watch At TIFF

The title fades in among the clouds of smoke, and we cut ahead to 1977, where Miller is now a senior citizen and cantankerous interview subject.

Continue reading ‘Lee’ Review: Kate Winslet Gets Her Oscar Clips In Ellen Kuras’ Visually Immaculate, But Standard-Issue Biopic [TIFF] at The Playlist.

Top-billed Vicky Krieps dies in the opening frame of Viggo Mortensen’s “The Dead Don’t Hurt,” with a tear running down her cheek and her co-star/director keeping vigil at her bedside, which might prompt some confusion from the casual viewer; is this a Western zombie movie? It is not, but it’s a picture that takes some time to reveal its methodology and motives; the viewer’s patience is required but rewarded.  

READ MORE: Toronto International Film Festival 2023: 26 Must-See Films To Watch At TIFF

Mortensen’s bona fides as a distinctive Western director are established moments later in scenes of offhand, unflinching brutality.

Continue reading ‘The Dead Don’t Hurt’ Review: Writer/Director/Star Viggo Mortensen’s Contemplative Western Is A Dazzling Showcase For Vicky Krieps [TIFF] at The Playlist.

Anna Kendrick’s “Woman of the Hour” begins at a remote photo shoot in Wyoming circa 1977. The model finds herself talking about how she wound up living there, and as she does, she starts to cry. The photographer, the only other person there, tries to comfort her.

“Just keep talking, okay?” he pleads, tapping his heart. What a sensitive guy! So she tells him her sad story (between apologies for doing so), and then, at that moment of complete vulnerability, he puts his hand around her throat.

Continue reading ‘Woman Of The Hour’ Review: Anna Kendrick’s “Dating Game Killer” Drama Is An Impressive Directorial Debut [TIFF] at The Playlist.

Early in his new film “The Pigeon Tunnel,” Errol Morris creates one of the most vivid images of a career packed with them: a man in a suit walking through a meadow filled with mirrors. He’s always had a gift for finding specific and memorable visual metaphors for the stories he tells and the themes he’s drawn to; here, what’s noteworthy isn’t just the mirrors but the way the man keeps moving away from them.

Continue reading ‘The Pigeon Tunnel’ Review: Errol Morris’s Latest Works In A Familiar Style, But With New Thematic Concerns [Telluride] at The Playlist.

A few weeks back, trailer editor Andrew Hegele got Film Twitter in a tizzy with his rundown of the great contemporary American filmmakers—and how long it’s been since they’ve made a contemporary movie. Spielberg, Tarantino, Scorsese, Guillermo del Toro, the two Andersons (Wes and Paul Thomas); name after name, cinematic genius after cinematic genius, all turning out period pieces which, at best, say something about the present by saying something about the past.

Continue reading ‘Full Circle’ Review: Steven Soderbergh Orchestrates Terrific Suspension In A Multi-Layered, Intersecting Kidnapping Drama at The Playlist.

A great movie comedy is something of a miracle, a combination of circumstances, personnel, and timing that would seem impossible to replicate, even under the most ideal circumstances. (It’s why so many comedy sequels stink, but that’s for another time.) So first and foremost, the baffling thing about Chelsea Peretti’s “First Time Female Director” is that, once you set its title-embedded topicality aside, it’s basically a beat-for-beat remake of Christopher Guest’s “Waiting For Guffman.” Why risk the comparison—especially when you’ll come out looking so dire?

Continue reading ‘First Time Female Director’ Review: A Dire ‘Waiting For Guffman’-Esque Disappointment From Writer/Director/Star Chelsea Peretti [Tribeca] at The Playlist.

None of us were privy to the casting process for Alice Troughton’s “The Lesson,” but I sincerely hope, with my entire heart, that they opened a bottle of champagne after locking in Richard E. Grant. He plays J.M. Sinclair, a fabulously successful and comfortably wealthy British author, the kind of fellow who lives on a rambling estate and works out of a plush office surrounded by the great works of literature.

Continue reading ‘The Lesson’ Review: Alice Troughton’s Witty, Dark Comedy Provides A Welcome, Hearty Showcase For Richard E. Grant [Tribeca] at The Playlist.

Director Stephen Kijak does something disarmingly unexpected with the opening minutes of his biographical documentary “Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed.” He gives us the de rigueur rapid-fire “why he mattered” montage, of course; it’s all but written into law for films like this. But while most bio-docs make that their credit sequence (usually ending on a profound quote from the subject, and then a hard cut to title), this one puts it after the title and the real opening; the pre-title sequence here is a mini-fantasia, a very queer visualization of one of Hudson’s dreams, a vivid illustration of how he saw himself.

Continue reading ‘Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed’ Shines a Light On The Secret Life Of A Hollywood Icon [Tribeca] at The Playlist.

“Any controversial story one does, involving powerful people… Eventually you’re going to have to face the furnace and take the heat,” Dan Rather explains early in Frank Marshall’s bio-documentary “Rather.” “And unless you’re prepared to do that, then you’re going to have to get another line of work.” It’s an inspiring notion—and a pointed one, based on how Rather first made his reputation and then lost it. He’s now 91 years old, an elder statesman of American journalism and a jocular presence on social media, where his down-home wisdom and pointed criticism have earned him a new generation of fans.

Continue reading ‘Rather’ Is A Well-Crafted But Frustratingly Shallow Bio-Doc [Tribeca] at The Playlist.

“Isn’t it weird that I keep making my plots revolve around this?” Nicole Holofcener asks with a laugh. We’re talking about her new film “You Hurt My Feelings” (in theaters Friday), but we’re also talking about her very first feature, the wonderful “Walking and Talking,” in which a key moment of emotional turmoil occurs when a character accidentally overhears what another character really thinks of them. Now, in “You Hurt My Feelings,” the character is writer Beth (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), who has been struggling with her latest novel; she overhears her husband Don (Tobias Menzies) confessing to a friend that, despite his assurances to the contrary to Beth, he thinks the book is terrible.

Continue reading ‘You Hurt My Feelings’: Julia Louis-Dreyfus & Director Nicole Holofcener Talk Their Comedy About Overhearing Hard Truths [Interview] at The Playlist.

Lee Cronin’s “Evil Dead Rise” calls to mind those items we used to read before every “Die Hard” sequel, about how each had begun its life as a completely different story having nothing to do with “Die Hard” that was hastily re-written into another John McClane movie. That is not, as far as I know, the origin story of this “Evil Dead” sequel. But I wouldn’t be surprised to find it began its life as an entirely unrelated tale of a dysfunctional family fighting an evil force in a condemned apartment building before writers threw in a Book of the Dead and a chainsaw to help fill the opening weekend tills and keep the “Evil Dead” IP alive.

Continue reading ‘Evil Dead Rise’ Review: Lee Cronin’s Take On Sam Raimi’s Classic Horror Franchise Is A Witless Slog, Tangentially Related At Best [SXSW] at The Playlist.

Rachel Sennott is ideally cast in the leading role of Ally Pankiw’s “I Used to Be Funny” because this is a character who sort of can’t help but make you laugh, even without trying, even in tremendously difficult situations. Her name is Sam, and she’s a stand-up comedienne (“Like a comedian, but a girl!” she explains, cheerfully), and you see why. The bone-dry wit and killer-diller timing Sennott displayed in “Shiva Baby” and “Bodies Bodies Bodies” means that even her littlest throwaway lines and deliveries are giggle-worthy (“I’m gonna go lay down… in my towel” is not a funny line, but she gets a laugh with it), while her insults land like body blows (“I feel like his hair somehow got more incel-y”). 

Continue reading ‘I Used To Be Funny’ Review: Rachel Sennott Shines In A Narratively Tricky Seriocomic Drama [SXSW] at The Playlist.

Though it boasts a few clever ideas and exciting set pieces, Rodriguez's latest falters for the same reason his films usually do: a flimsy script.

Continue reading ‘Hypnotic’ Review: Robert Rodriguez & Ben Affleck Team For An ‘Inception’-Ish Nolan-Like Thriller [SXSW] at The Playlist.

The filmmaker's reunion with "Shiva" star Rachel Sennott is a much broader and sillier affair.

Continue reading ‘Bottoms’ Review: Emma Seligman’s Sophomore Feature Is No ‘Shiva Baby,’ But Still Delightfully Subversive [SXSW] at The Playlist.

The "New Girl" star tells a wildly goofy story with the right mixture of silliness and sweetness.

Continue reading ‘Self Reliance’ Review: Jake Johnson’s Directorial Debut Is A Suitable Vehicle For His Shaggy Comic Energy [SXSW] at The Playlist.

The "Pitch Perfect" actor takes on body image and mental illness in this sometime uncomfortable but often rewarding indie.

Continue reading ‘Parachute’ Review: Brittany Snow Makes a Fine Directorial Debut With A Candid & Nervous Romantic Drama [SXSW] at The Playlist.

Lisa Steen's odd-couple comedy/drama is slight but sweet, with yet another winning turn by "Guardians of the Galaxy" co-star Gillan.

Continue reading ‘Late Bloomers’ Review: Karen Gillan Is Hilarious And Heartbreaking In A Predictable But Enjoyable Dramedy [SXSW] at The Playlist.

The "Thoroughbreds" and "Bad Education" filmmaker's sci-fi/comedy finds him working on a larger canvas, but to lesser effect.

Continue reading ‘Landscape With Invisible Hand’ Review: An Ambitious But Unfortunate Failure From Filmmaker Cory Finley [Sundance] at The Playlist.

There was a time when it seemed like every movie trailer for every single comedy began with bouncy music and a voice-over artist explaining cheerfully, “[NAME OF PROTAGONIST] had it all!” But at the beginning of Nicole Holofcener’s “You Hurt My Feelings,” Beth (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) does, in fact, seem to have it all: she’s in a long-lasting marriage with a successful therapist, they have a great apartment on the Upper West Side, their 23-year-old son Eliot (Owen Teague) is writing his first play, she teaches writing at the New School, and she’s just finished her second book.

Continue reading ‘You Hurt My Feelings’ Review: Nicole Holofcener Is Back On Her Game In A Tender, Funny Julia Louis-Dreyfus Vehicle [Sundance] at The Playlist.

The "Once" and "Sing Street" filmmaker is back with another testimonial to the transformative power of popular music.

Continue reading ‘Flora And Son’ Review: Joseph Gordon-Levitt & Eve Hewson Make John Carney’s Familiar Musical Sing [Sundance] at The Playlist.

Actor-turned-filmmaker Alice Englert’s “Bad Behaviour” is a dirty bomb of a movie, and it almost seems intentionally devised to keep the viewer off-balance. What at first appears a rather obvious send-up of self-help culture turns into a take-no-prisoners assault on narrative expectations and norms, all the while painting a pointed portrait of a truly complicated protagonist, the kind of character whose motivations and intentions are so slippery, you can barely make up your mind about her before she gives you a reason to change it again.

Continue reading ‘Bad Behaviour’ Review: Jennifer Connelly Is Magnificent In Alice Englert’s Gleefully Cynical Feature Debut [Sundance] at The Playlist.

Richard Pryor used to do a bit on the differences between Black and white churches – one that was often revised and revisited by his many imitators in the decades that followed. But one thing he got particularly right, beyond the lameness of the hymns and the restrained quality of the ministers, is the eerie quiet of white churches, the way that the fires of hell and the sins of man can be described in tones barely more threatening than a hot dish recipe.

Continue reading ‘The Starling Girl’ Review: Eliza Scanlen Shines in This Deeply Felt Coming-Of-Age Drama [Sundance] at The Playlist.

On second thought, we may have let our collective nostalgia for erotic thrillers get a tad out of hand. Chloe Domont’s “Fair Play” seems, at least at the level of its inception, to be a thought exercise: what would it look like to make something like “Disclosure,” but from the perspective, and with sympathy towards, the Demi Moore character? That Barry Levinson adaptation of a Michael Crichton thriller has aged like a bottle of milk on a radiator, a baffling stew of corporate intrigue, shitty special effects, and spectacularly terrible sexual politics.

Continue reading ‘Fair Play; Review: Phoebe Dynevor and Alden Ehrenreich-Fronted Erotic Thriller Is A Series of Missed Opportunities [Sundance] at The Playlist.

“We can’t live in the past!” Rachel (Emilia Clarke) tells her husband Alvy (Chiwetel Ejiofor).  “Things are evolving!” She should know; she spends her days creating AI companions and coordinating automation (her latest big triumph appears to be a combination of virtual assistant, friend, and mood ring). But Alvy, as she puts it, “studies plants… and plant-like things,” taking horticulture students out to fig trees and saying things like, “The texture is completely different when it’s fresh from the tree.”

READ MORE: 25 Most Anticipated Films At The Sundance Film Festival

So it’s a real opposites-attract situation, the old-school luddite and the literal creator of artificiality, and there are therefore obvious disagreements over her rather unilateral decision to take advantage of her company’s offer to set her up at “The Womb Center” (“It is our hottest perk – we we just want to retain the best and brightest women”).

Continue reading ‘The Pod Generation’ Review; Emilia Clarke & Chiwetel Ejiofor Are Having A Baby In A Thoughtful But Flat Comedy/Drama [Sundance] at The Playlist.