All posts by BS

Sorry to Bother You (2018): The Crazy We Need

If you wanted a wild and provocative take on a range of today’s issues, musician turned director Boots Riley has something for you. Struggling for money in Oakland, California, Cassius “Cash” Green (Lakeith Stanfield; Get Out) finds a job as a telemarketer. After a rough start, he gets the advice to use his “white voice” to rack up more sales. This leads to phenomenal success and he gets promoted to being a “power caller” with significantly higher pay. The change in his social status leads to conflict with his friends and family and the continued success forces him into contact with the CEO of a morally questionable company (Armie Hammer; The Social Network).

The miraculous nature of Sorry to Bother You is the smorgasbord of wide-ranging, serious topics it somehow addresses, all in its typically radical style. There are almost too many to detail here and their abundance should make the film feel unfocused, but it doesn’t. Instead, these issues are presented, and addressed, as they come up in daily life. They appear in one moment and disappear the next as another issue comes into view. This casual nature is reflective of Cash’s own life. He is faced with countless issues every day due to his station in life and can only deal with them as needed before being faced with another.

The film is littered with controversial topics and addresses each one with panache.

The cast is up to challenge of Riley’s eccentric world with Stanfield and Hammer leading the team. Cash begins the film jaded by a limited life with a chip on his shoulder as he walks into the room. Initially, his defensive attitude can be grating, but during his rapid ascent Stanfield gives Cash the right blend of awe and eventually disgust at the decadence of the ultra-rich. And  when it comes to playing the ultra-rich, Hammer is perfectly cast as the head of a company that offers minimal food and lodging in exchange for a lifetime of servitude. He reeks of entitled, upper-class privilege and is the epitome of a millennial WASP. Although his actions may seem welcoming to Cash, his sinister motivation is cold, corporate greed and Hammer brings credibility even when his character’s ideas become outrageous.

There are a lot of labels that could be used to describe Riley’s take on the amalgamation of issues presented. His style is at times surrealist, satirical, and even farcical just to name a few, yet he manages to maintain a consistent perspective amidst the shifting tones. The through line in his style is an anarchic spirit. No matter how he does it, Riley is interested in assaulting the accepted norms of daily life and exposing them for their true perversion. Where a director like David Lynch (Blue Velvet) creates uncannily similar worlds to recast the normal as abnormal, Riley instead amplifies existing aspects to the extreme. The suppression of racial identity is shown as total conversion to the majority through Cash’s nasally Caucasian impression, the stupidity of mass entertainment is represented in a show based solely on people being physically abused, and the impact of internet meme culture is shown through a 10 second clip creating a widespread consumer products line. Just when it seems Riley has exhausted his sources, the third act introduces an element that takes the dehumanization of the working class to an absolutely bonkers level. Yet, within the film’s chambers of oddities, these outlandish details are acceptable and double as an indictment of our modern society. Riley takes an irreverent swing at today’s issues that, in an increasingly strange and unequal world, is just the kind of crazy we need.

4/5 stars.

Eighth Grade (2018): Modern Adolescence

The awkward period of adolescence is made infinitely worse when modern technology is involved. Kids growing up now have everything they do recorded and shared whether they like it or not. It becomes obvious that you are not in the cool crowd when everyone posts pictures of the party you weren’t even invited to. Stand-up comedian and musician Bo Burnham makes his directorial debut with a story that dives headfirst into this uncomfortable transition. Kayla (Elsie Fisher; McFarland, USA) is a thirteen year old girl about to graduate from eighth grade, but unhappy with her current life. She doesn’t have any friends and is viewed as “quiet” even though she feels she has a lot to offer. Outside of school, she creates YouTube videos with helpful life tips and lives with her single dad (Josh Hamilton).

The decision to use Kayla’s YouTube videos to narrate the film adds another layer of depth to her struggles unique to our current times. Kayla has to not only reconcile how she feels internally with how she interacts with kids at school, but also with her online persona. Here Burnham delves into the digital facade that so many create in order to feel accepted. Instead of buying a nicer car to “keep up with the Joneses”, children today post glamorous selfies. In one scene Kayla wakes up, elaborately applies her makeup, then returns to bed to take a photo with the subtitle “woke up like this…”. The constant pressure many young people face, particularly young women, now extends into their social media presence.

Kayla’s hyper-sensitivity around her dad is hilarious and relatable.

Each of her videos contrasts who she wants to be with who she actually is. As Kayla gives advice to others on her little-known channel, she reveals her own insecurities. Technology is often portrayed as dehumanizing, but Burnham is also aware of its intimate nature. Talking to a webcam, Kayla is uninhibited and her videos become personal confessions. Burnham deserves enormous credit for capturing this nuance and the therapeutic aspect of online content creation. Her videos can be viewed as an updated form of a personal diary. Even if it isn’t reflective of how she behaves in school, her channel represents her innermost thoughts and expresses them in a way only possible with modern technology.

Fisher is alternatively adorable and inexplicable as the self-conscious teen. Her rapid changes in mood and volatile reactions perfectly capture the confused emotions of her character. She’s faced with so many fears and seemingly impossible expectations that she can only express herself in outbursts at home and Hamilton is the quintessential father. He is supportive and well-meaning, but also has all the traits that would infuriate a teenage girl. He plays the father as dorky and simultaneously too intrusive and too removed from the tumultuous time in his daughter’s life. Yet, the film doesn’t just use him for laughs. When it’s time to deal with the issues at hand, Hamilton delivers a heartfelt monologue with the gentle warmth and honesty only a loving parent can. Burnham has turned the story of one awkward teenager into an affectionate and sincere look at modern adolescence that is both of its time and universal.

4/5 stars.

The Endless (2018): Cosmic Horror with Amateur Acting

After having escaped an isolated doomsday cult years earlier, two brothers, played by directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead (Spring), scrape by doing menial jobs and subsisting on ramen noodles. The younger brother yearns for the easygoing life he remembers from his childhood and wants to return. Reluctantly, the older sibling agrees on the condition that they only spend one day at the compound. As they reconnect with the cult, the brothers notice strange happenings and secretive behavior.

Rather than explore an expansive universe, Benson and Moorhead keep their sci-fi limited in scope. The supernatural elements are gradually introduced through small-scale interactions. A man disappearing just out of sight, birds circling overhead, and unusual columns protruding from the ground remind us that something isn’t right with the area. The cult members discuss an “ascension” with some higher power surrounding them that puts their motives under question.

The directors create enough uncanny events to keep viewers alert.

Despite a limited budget, the directors are able to use camera effects to communicate the sci-fi elements. The image frequently contorts and stretches as if being viewed on a funhouse mirror and simple effects like characters phasing in and out of view and subtle distortions of light are used to much greater impact than they likely cost. There are a few moments where the budget was clearly not enough to meet the needs of the story, but overall Benson and Moorhead accomplish a lot with their modest means.

They also bring an unexpected amount of humor to the film. In retrospect, the film would have benefitted from different casting, but as the lead actors Benson and Moorhead are often awkward and goofy in the way brothers used to heckling each other can be. They write side stories that also follow this tone. Characters that are faced with otherworldly problems are grounded by their lesser, unsophisticated issues and always played for laughs. The comedy seems unintentional at first, but it prevents the film from becoming morose and adds some welcome levity.

The film can be thought of as a 100-minute Twilight Zone episode. It carries the same contained intrigue and mystery. Benson and Moorhead attempt some larger themes about family and the importance of honesty with loved ones, but these are only somewhat successful and secondary to the horror and sci-fi. By opening with a quote from H.P. Lovecraft, the directors indicate they are interested in a very specific type of horror: cosmic horror or fear of the unknown. The forces that might be at play with the cult are larger than the leads and far beyond their comprehension. It’s this idea that there may be something else connected to the cult and that the columns might represent something inexplicable that creates suspense. The Endless doesn’t reach true terror and the sometimes amateurish lead performances can break immersion, but it’s central mystery has enough substance to sustain the runtime.

3/5 stars.

Three Identical Strangers (2018): Triplet Troubles

This is another movie where your enjoyment will be improved the less you know about the plot. At a basic level, it is the miraculous story of three men who discover that they are identical triplets separated at birth. From then on the film examines their lives post-discovery and the unexpected background of their peculiar situation.

As topics for investigative journalism go, there are few stories out there that are as immediately sensational as someone learning they are a triplet and director Tim Wardle is able to capture the feeling of their discovery. Through overlapping editing where the brothers’ recollections of their first meeting finish each other’s sentences, we feel their experience. In their breathless speech, they communicate the bewildering, almost euphoric moment where the impossible is slowly becoming possible.

The triplets have the immediate, goofy camaraderie of lifelong friends.

The brothers (Eddy, Bobby, and David) prove to be charismatic subjects for the film. There’s a lot of pleasure to be had in noticing their similarities, despite being brought up in different household environments, and their differences, despite being identical triplets. More than anything its their instantaneous connection that is felt. An aunt talks about how they were rolling around with each other on the floor at their first meeting because they were already comfortable with each other. As Bobby says, “I opened the door…and there I was”. It’s heartwarming to see how readily they embrace their newfound siblings and easily integrate into each other’s lives.

After the initial surprise wears off, the next question becomes: how did this happen? None of the parents knew they were adopting a triplet and some claimed they would have gladly adopted all three had they known. This is were the film starts its unexpected turns. The transition to a darker tone happens naturally as the film becomes an exploration of morality and the debate of nature vs. nurture. Comparing the three families, one was more affluent, one was middle-class, and the other was blue-collar, each with distinct parenting styles. The film looks at the possible effects of each household and how they (potentially) changed the personalities of the triplets. Wardle is not interested in taking a definitive stance and instead lets each member of the families express their own thoughts, allowing viewers to formulate their own opinions. As both a retelling of an unbelievable true story and a thought piece, Three Identical Strangers presents an equally thrilling and provocative narrative.

4/5 stars.

Best Films of 2017

2017 (long past now) was not a great year for films. Even acclaimed titles like The Post and Dunkirk, while well executed, seemed safe and  lacked something substantial or new to say. However, there were still a few standout films that are worth your time. Here are my favorite films of 2017.

10. The Foreigner

It’s always great to see Jackie Chan in a new movie, particularly one where he isn’t typecast. Chan plays a father with a military background living peacefully in London until his daughter, his only living family, is killed in an IRA bombing. He is crippled by the loss and demands to meet with a minister who has ties to the terrorist group (Pierce Brosnan; Goldeneye). Unable to get any information about his daughter’s killers, he personally threatens the minister until he finds the culprits. Chan’s performance is determined but also tender. His actions are fueled by his overwhelming grief and his need for justice for his innocent child. Even as he takes extreme measures, he still engenders compassion. And that is not to say that his acts are without criticism. Director Martin Campbell (Casino Royale) does an admirable job of contrasting Chan’s revenge with Brosnan’s web of deceptive bureaucracy and Chan shows that he can still fight off a gang of goons even in his 60s. The lead performances and intriguing plot turn what was at first-glance a Taken knockoff into an involving thriller.

Streaming options

9. The Levelling

They say “you can never go home again” and The Levelling presents a very good reason why – or perhaps a reason why you should never leave in the first place. Clover (Ellie Kendrick; Game of Thrones) is forced to return home to her family farm after learning of her brother’s suicide. She hasn’t been back or spoken to her father in years and is shocked to find how much has changed after floods damaged the area months earlier. These are small town farmers, curt with their words and reticent to discuss the issues Clover can sense, but not fully comprehend. First time director Hope Dickinson Leach creates the palpable misery of destitute farmers suffering from cruel twists of fate. Clover’s reconciliation with her father and her understanding of the world they live in come suddenly as their attempts at pragmatism give way to the raw emotion of mutual despair.

Streaming options

8. The Little Hours

Nobody from this cast makes sense in this setting at first. A killer lineup of comedians featuring Aubrey Plaza, Alison Brie, Kate Micucci, Dave Franco, and more speak in their regular American accents while the film maintains that they are in 14th century Italy. The women play nuns in a convent whose lives are disrupted when a young, attractive male (Franco) becomes their gardener.  These are the most profane nuns you’ll see for some time. The women curse like sailors and are belligerent towards their staff with Plaza leading the crazy crew. What could have been a typical sex comedy is elevated by juxtaposing the obscene language with the nuns’ innocence. Like a group of foul-mouthed 3rd graders, these nuns have had no real-life experiences and don’t fully understand what they are saying. The naivete from their sheltered lives makes the risqué situations they find themselves in hilarious as their blatant ineptitude creates a comical cycle of escalating chaos.

Streaming options

7. Detroit

Detroit addresses modern issues of police brutality and injustice during prosecution through recreating the Algiers Motel incident of 1967. The director/writer team of Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal (The Hurt Locker) continue their detail driven filmmaking as they nail the setting and Bigelow’s trademark documentary style shooting makes the actions onscreen immediate. Divided into three distinct acts with their own tone and pacing, the film never loses its immersive quality. It can be as enveloping, horrifying, and infuriating as it needs to be. Detroit lights a fire beneath anyone indifferent about today’s systemic problems by being relevant and, more importantly, inescapable as it submerges the viewer in injustice.

Streaming options

6. Band Aid

After jokingly picking up plastic instruments at a birthday party for a friend’s child, an increasingly bitter 30-something married couple makes the unlikely decision to start a band together, using their fights as inspiration for their songs. Writer-director-star Zoe Lister-Jones and Adam Polly lead the band with some help on the drums from their strange neighbor played by Fred Armisen. The songs may be amateurish, but the performances are enthusiastic and the lyrics are relatable. As the band develops, so does the central relationship. The music-as-couple’s-therapy conceit brings playfulness to the film and their quarreling adds humor to each of the songs. The gradual rekindling and reevaluation of their romance through rock and roll is a heartwarming transition.

Streaming options

5. I, Tonya

Tonya Harding, the infamous professional ice skater that was banned for allegedly organizing a hit on a competing athlete, was perhaps not the most obvious choice for a revisionist biopic. Craig Gillespie (Lars and the Real Girl) directs Harding’s story as a cross between The Big Short and Goodfellas with the confessionals and self-aware style of the former and the confident panache of the latter. The script, rather than completely siding with Harding, views her a product of her upbringing. Coming from a poor, broken, and both emotionally and physically abusive home life, Harding is portrayed as the victim of a sport and viewership that favored upper-class elegance. She is an almost tragic character whose lack of resources prevented her talent from receiving the respect she deserved. The film balances this with the larger than life supporting cast led by Allison Janney as Harding’s mother. Their ridiculous, but apparently true-to-life antics make the movie a boisterous and irreverent character study.

Streaming options

4. mother!

Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream) deserves some type of award. Not just for writing and directing this film, but for convincing a major studio to finance and distribute it in a wide release. Nothing about mother! screams mass appeal. This is the work of a filmmaker of extreme talent with the swaggering confidence and sufficient budget to attempt such a crazy endeavor. A woman (Jennifer Lawrence; The Hunger Games) lives in the countryside with her writer husband (Javier Bardem; No Country for Old Men) in idyllic peace until a fan knocks on their door. Before long the house descends into chaos as droves of unwanted guests commandeer her space, becoming increasingly rabid for her husband’s approval. Interpretations range from ecological damage to biblical stories to the insatiable ego of an artist but what remains constant is the sheer skill needed to pull something like this off. mother! a mesmerizing, dizzying, often frantic film that could only be made by a director with Aronofsky’s originality and mad ambition.

Streaming options

3. Brigsby Bear

It’s hard to think of a film that turns an unsettling premise into such a joy to watch. Without spoiling the setup (it’s better to not know before viewing), James (Kyle Mooney; Saturday Night Live) rejoins his family as an adult and is obsessed with Brigsby Bear, a TV show that only he has had access to. His parents encourage him to reintegrate with society, but fandom remains his highest priority. With no more episodes being developed, he decides to create a movie that will be Brigsby’s final chapter. Instead of ridiculing James’ unrealistic goals, the film takes every opportunity to support him. Characters band together around his infectious enthusiasm and childlike wonder. As James embarks on his journey, his naivete and confusion about the norms of society provide an endless source of humor. Mooney’s effervescent charm permeates every frame of the film. It’s a counterpoint to our cynical times that is bursting with genuine exuberance and unbridled optimism.

Streaming options

2. Lady Bird

Greta Gerwig (Damsels in Distress) could not have had a more auspicious debut than this. Her first film as a solo writer-director draws on her own experiences growing up in Sacramento and follows Lady Bird (Saoirse Ronan; Brooklyn) in her last year of high school. The fiercely independent daughter of an equally strong-willed mother (Laurie Metcalf), Lady Bird struggles to find her place in her hometown. She drifts through different social groups, boyfriends, and arguments with her mother. As a young woman trying to define herself, Ronan captures the conflicted, confused teenage experience and Gerwig is completely in tune with her difficulties. She separates her film from other teen stories by examining not only Lady Bird, but an entire home (including her mother, father, and brother) in transition. She views these characters as equally important and shows how each is simultaneously facing their own life altering challenges. Her ability to balance multiple plotlines and see the greater context of each character’s arc make this one of the best coming-of-age movies in recent memory.

Streaming options

1. A Quiet Passion

Despite being my top pick for last year, this may be the most idiosyncratic choice on this list. Terence Davies’ biopic on the life of Emily Dickinson will not be for everyone. It’s slow moving with the elaborate, often flowery dialogue of the period and makes no attempt to build to a traditional climax. Rather, the film presents Dickenson’s adult life in deeply sympathetic detail. Cynthia Nixon (Sex and the City) delivers a career defining, nuanced performance as the great poet.

Through her acting we see Dickinson’s razor-sharp wit, her struggles to establish herself in a patriarchal society, and the pain she suffers as she refuses to adhere to societal norms. The banter between the Dickinson siblings or the snide remarks between Emily and her rebellious friends are as funny as any comedy this year. Nixon is also able to capture the pain beneath Dickinson’s writing and sarcastic exterior. In the film’s intimate moments, we see the sacrifices she has made for her beliefs. Dickinson’s great loves, her family and her writing, take priority over her personal needs and her resignation to an incomplete life is heartbreaking. Even as she becomes bitter in her later years, her actions are forgivable as natural consequences of her difficult choices.

The film moves at its own unhurried pace. It floats by, driven by the natural passing of time rather than any contrived plot device and Davies does a remarkable job of recreating Dickinson’s life in a relatable way. His gentle directing eclipses the boundaries of time and location and presents a humanist, compassionate look at this icon of American literature.

Streaming options

Honorable Mentions:

First Reformed (2018): Crisis of Faith

After making movies starring Lindsay Lohan and Nicolas Cage, writer-director Paul Schrader (Affliction) has finally made something worthwhile again. Ethan Hawke (Before Midnight) plays Toller, a former military pastor now working at the eponymous small, but historic church after suffering a personal tragedy. His life centers around his work and the film opens with him embarking on a new experiment. He will write in a journal every day for a year, then burn the journal at the end. Toller is quickly established as a man suffering from unresolved emotional issues and his life becomes more complicated when Mary (Amanda Seyfried; Mean Girls), a patron, asks him to speak to her husband who has become distant and unhappy.

Schrader imbues the film’s severe tone into its visuals. Toller’s home is meager at best with minimum, unadorned furniture and no luxuries to speak of. The film is lit primarily by natural sources, presented in a 4:3 frame, and the action is set against an empty New England winter. These formal elements only serve to highlight the austere approach and Toller’s almost ascetic lifestyle.

For a small film with only a 105-minute runtime, Schrader manages to pack in several heavy themes. His topics range from depression to ecological preservation to capitalism in religion and, miraculously, the film never feels jumbled or didactic. Each of these themes is deeply intertwined with the others. They become natural discoveries as Toller descends further into the film’s central emotion: despair.

Hawke perfectly captures the unease of a man questioning the foundations of his beliefs.

You could call Toller’s problems a crisis of faith – as ironic as that may be. The film is filled with similar ironies. Toller counsels Mary husband despite the fact that he too is depressed. It’s the blind leading the blind and rather than alleviate her husband’s troubles, Toller finds himself absorbing his anxieties. He develops a protective relationship with Mary but continues in a vicious cycle of depression as the voiceover readings of his diary entries begin to sound like suicide notes from a tortured soul.

The modest life of Hawke’s character comes into sharp contrast against his boss, Pastor Jeffers, who manages the larger megachurch that owns First Reformed. He dresses sharply, has a gregarious personality, and doesn’t shy away from the financial realities of supporting a large congregation. As he accepts large donations from a chemicals company known for its environmental pollution, Toller becomes increasingly conflicted about his own duties as a man of God.

This is a film about the effects of living in a cold, unjust world. One with no answers and complicated morals. Toller’s attempt at a near-monastic way of life offers him no reprieve. His attempts to remain pure and true to what he believes is the will of God only leave him broken while those willing to compromise succeed. Schrader’s goal is not to depress or condemn, but rather to illuminate the hypocrisies we live in and the compromises we make to survive. In the film’s too-abrupt conclusion, he offers a possible coping method in this nihilistic world, yet even this is not a cure. First Reformed explores the misery that comes with being oversensitized to the world’s problems and the depths of dejection it may cause.

4/5 stars.

A Quiet Place (2018): Silent Anxiety

A dialogue-free movie is not what we think of for a wide release from a major studio, but Paramount has again (after mother! and Annihilation) released a surprisingly original film with indie or arthouse roots. Directed by John Krasinski (The Office) and written by him and indie horror filmmakers Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, A Quiet Place centers on a family living on a farm months after a catastrophe has happened. Monsters now roam the earth. They have hypersensitive hearing and come after any creature that makes a sound. This requires the father (Krasinski) and mother (Emily Blunt; Edge of Tomorrow) to raise their family in complete silence. The characters communicate in sign language because the slightest noise could bring an untimely end.

Sound editing and sound mixing are never the most anticipated awards at the Oscars, but A Quiet Place is easily this year’s frontrunner. The sound designers crafted nuance within the film’s limited noises. Rather than alternating between quiet and loud to create jump scares, as most horror movies do, the film showcases the gradations of silence. The sound designers understood the differences between complete silence, the muffled reverberations heard by the deaf daughter, and the gentle room tone heard by the characters as they carefully go about their routines. These act as audio settings for the film that clue the viewer into both the character we are focusing on and the particular dangers they face..

Krasinski is the survivalist father trying to protect his family in perilous times.

This is a script that wastes no time on exposition. No background information about the monsters is given. We don’t know where they came from, how they got there, or even what to call them and the film is no less for it. The key points are made immediately: they hear sounds and if they hear yours, it’s all over. The film’s focus is on the brief set of encounters the family has with the monsters. Each of these is cleverly foreshadowed. We see what objects will be used, but not how and what will be an issue, but not when. Instead of being surprised to learn that a character has a new obstacle in their path, we are trapped in fear, knowing what adversity awaits them but unable to do anything about it.

The film’s premise is ripe with tension. When any noise can spell disaster, every step is potentially deadly and the writers continually introduce creative ways to play with noise. These setups never feel contrived because the script links them to character traits. The daughter is deaf so she doesn’t realize when something is making noise which puts her in several precarious spots. The wife is pregnant which we know will not end in a silent birth. Krasinksi, whose previous films have been less than stellar, directs these scenes with slow, smooth tracking shots that match the cast’s own cautious movements. Each situation is replete with danger and there is a palpable sense of relief when death is narrowly avoided. Yet, these moments are only brief reprieves. Death is always one clumsy gesture away. With a script fraught with inventive set pieces and direction that creates unyielding suspense, A Quiet Place is the rare horror film that can sustain an inescapable anxiety and perpetual unease.

4/5 stars.

Tomb Raider (2018): An Agreeable Expedition

Being both a reboot and a video game adaptation doesn’t usually raise expectations for a movie. The first Tomb Raider films starred Angelina Jolie over a decade ago and performed well as far as video game movies go, but the newest iteration is an adaptation of the most recent video games. In 2013, the Tomb Raider games relaunched with a new Lara Croft, younger and unobjectified, and this film follows that story. Lara (Alicia Vikander; The Light Between Oceans) is living on her own as a bike courier in London after the disappearance of her father seven years earlier. When asked to meet with her lawyer regarding her family’s large estates, she discovers a message from her father about the true nature of his absence. He left for a remote island where he believed an ancient secret was buried. Determined to find him, Lara leaves England and faces the island’s natural dangers along with a competing organization led by Walter Goggins (The Hateful Eight).

With a smaller frame than Jolie, Vikander was not an obvious choice to play Lara. She has spent months training for the role and while her stature is still small, she has bulked up to the point that her fighting and, most importantly, her climbing is believable. Her Lara is an imperfect adventurer, stumbling occasionally and taking more than her fair share of hits, but she still preserves. Her determination, both as an actress or as the character, is what we see onscreen and it makes her a charismatic presence.

Vikander has to work with a script that doesn’t always portray Lara in the best light. In its attempts to show her youth and inexperience, the writing can make her seem petulant and, in some cases, downright dumb. She lives independent of her family’s wealth but is in debt and still refuses to sign the necessary paperwork to have the estate transfer to her, leaving the fate of their assets in question. Establishing Lara as a self-made adult is important but choosing independence to the point that it jeopardizes her family’s entire wealth is a ridiculous decision that undermines the sympathy the film is trying to elicit.

Vikander proves herself to be a tough, capable Lara.

The supporting cast is mostly capable, but Goggins as the villain is not. His acting career has featured many eccentric roles, but here he pulls back too far. His performance is more subdued than subtle and he often comes off as disinterested. He delivers threats at gunpoint with little credible danger and seems to space out in the middle of a line as if his thoughts were drifting elsewhere during production.

A weak human villain leaves the environment to become the real antagonist. The film pulls from several specific set pieces from the video game and renders them surprisingly well. The iconic river and waterfall scene is shown with impressive scale. The sheer number of precarious situations Lara finds herself in can stretch belief, but, as an action movie, director Roar Uthaug (The Wave) keeps the death defying stunts relatively grounded. The pain that Lara suffers allows each narrow escape to feel earned, not given.

The events that propel the action are fairly standard, but well executed. The missing father trope has been repeated time and time again and when Lara finally reaches the titular tomb, it sticks closely to the elaborate traps and crumbling architecture of any Indiana Jones movie. Uthaug’s main accomplishments have been creating action scenes that have scale and weight and moving the story along at a brisk pace. The film doesn’t break any molds, but the set pieces and Vikander’s committed performance make Tomb Raider an agreeable expedition.

3/5 stars.

Annihilation (2018): Slow, High-concept Sci-fi

Writer-director Alex Garland (Ex Machina) has carved out a niche for himself. With his newest film, he reconfirms his interest in smart science fiction. Making drastic changes to the best-selling novel by Jeff VanderMeer, the film follows Lena (Natalie Portman; Black Swan), a biologist and military veteran, who is taken to a government facility hiding a secret. A crashed meteorite has created a transformation known as Area X, or as the Shimmer for its glowing borders, and no one has ever returned from inside. She, along with four other women, are assigned to enter the uncharted zone and find its source before Area X expands to the rest of the country.

Garland strikes a unique balance between heady sci-fi and monster movie. Like a Tarkovsky film, the pacing is generally slow. In most cases, unnecessarily slow. There are repeated flashbacks that drag on without adding depth to Lena’s backstory, but there is also a blend of horror and action. The women of expedition team wield assault rifles and know how to use them with the script providing ample opportunities to do so. As they explore the wilderness, Garland follows the trappings of horror with near-death encounters and increasing paranoia that create sustained tension. Someone reports that there are two main theories why teams never return: something beyond the Shimmer kills them or they go crazy and kill themselves. Garland never provides an answer with each subsequent event seemingly flipping the odds in the other direction and thereby leaving the audience in suspense.

The action and horror elements help break up the slow pacing.

There is constant fear of the unknown within Area X, but also an unexpected beauty. Garland makes the environment lethal with dangerous, malformed creatures lurking around every corner. His methods are effective because the setting isn’t entirely alien. The flora and fauna are perversions of a natural setting and everything glows with a pallid, ethereal luminescence. Things feel close enough to normal that the differences become stark and disturbing. Animals resemble their traditional forms but are distorted in size, shape, or features. Flowers and fungi-like growths bloom throughout the landscape, but their initial beauty is complicated. The unnaturally colorful plants undulate as if they are feeding off the wildlife, almost carnivorously, and add to the mistrust surrounding every new encounter.

In VanderMeer’s original book, the title referred to a specific event, but Garland has a much higher concept in mind. In a revealing conversation, a character corrects Lena about the differences between self-destruction and suicide and exposes the heart of the film. Whether it’s the wildlife of Area X, cancer, or relationships, Garland is interested in the transformative, damaging, and regenerative consequences of self-destructive actions, but he isn’t explicit with his conclusions. The film’s ending is abstract and ambiguous to the point that it will frustrate viewers who tolerated the film’s slow rhythm in hopes of an explanation. The sequence itself is well executed and creates a genuine sense of wonder, but it will be divisive. Films don’t need clear or easy interpretations, they’re often better in ambiguity, but Annihilation leaves ideas open for discussion without providing enough resolution to make the long journey there worthwhile. Garland renders a deadly, corrupted environment with noble, high concept goals, but the needlessly slow pacing requires more from the narrative than it can provide.

3/5 stars.

The Party (2018): High-class Soap Opera

In honor of her newfound appointment as the Minister of Health, Janet (Kristin Scott Thomas; Only God Forgives), celebrates by hosting a party. She invites her closest friends including Patricia Clarkson, Bruno Ganz, and Cillian Murphy, along with her husband played by Timothy Spall. What starts off as an innocent night of dinner and drinks erupts into chaos as we learn more about the secrets beneath their posh appearance and the party becomes a night to remember.

The black and white cinematography is adequate, but nothing more. Too often movies without color are automatically praised for their visuals when in reality they are merely passable. Small-scale independent movies like The Party tend to be shot in black and white for practical reasons rather than artistic ones. The choice to remove color hides the flaws of cheap lighting and enables quicker setups which was likely a major factor in director Sally Potter’s decision. The look of the film doesn’t compare to great black and white cinematography seen in movies like The Third Man, but it may not need to. The aesthetic hides the film’s budget limitations and adds to its deliberately cultured appearance that will no doubt ingratiate it to its intended audience.

Ganz’s free spirit is a great contrast to the rest of the cast.

The dialogue and setup initially feel pretentious. The characters are professors, politicians, and other forms of self-professed intellectuals and the dialogue never lets you forget it. Potter’s script often feels overwritten with needlessly verbose language. The word choice and the pompous way lines are delivered can be highfalutin and grating when the characters are first introduced. Clarkson’s constant eyerolling and dismissive tone are particularly irritating as she judges others under her breath. This snobbish behavior creates a distancing effect that prevents the film from building traction early on. Eventually, the characters become relatable as the plot twists are introduced, but the pompous air makes the first half of this short 77-minute movie feel much longer than desired.

Potter’s film is essentially a chamber play. The story is confined to a few rooms in one setting and the action is dialogue-based which may have been better suited to the stage. The theatrics of the performances would have felt at home and the small scale would be more appropriate. Unlike last year’s Beatriz at Dinner, which had a similar setup, it doesn’t take advantage of its medium. On the big screen, the film struggles through its first half until the melodrama appears. As juicy details are revealed and the characters are forced out of their ivory towers, the film becomes immensely more interesting. Seeing the supposedly refined exteriors shatter when faced with decidedly low-class problems is a welcome, almost cathartic change. Each new piece of information increases the hysteria – and the humor – while Ganz’s new age healer interjects with his own unwanted hippy philosophies to the chagrin of the other partygoers trying to cope with their immediate issues. Potter shows a knack for creating social situations that quickly spiral out of control, it’s just a shame that it takes her so long to get there.

3/5 stars.