Writer-director David Michôd gives us Australian cops-and-robbers and three solid characterizations, James Frecheville as an almost catatonic callow youth (casting glances at a TV game show as paramedics administer to his unresponsive OD’d mother on the couch), Jacki Weaver, a bottle-blonde little dumpling of a woman, as the sugar-coated monstrous …
Johnny Depp disappears into the role of real-life gangster Whitey Bulger — receding hairline and icy blue eyes abetted by vocal fry and a sour sneer compounded from equal parts rodent and snake. But the real story here is FBI agent John Connolly (a beefy Joel Edgerton), who gets the …
As if one feature per lifetime on the dodo-headed topic of conversion therapy weren’t enough, make room for 2018’s second big screen crusade to make bank off of public-spirited homophobe Mike Pence’s pet project. The first thing the viewer notices is an overall aversion on the part of the characters …
Based on the best-selling book about the inspirational true story of the 1936 University of Washington rowing team that competed for gold at the Summer Olympics in Berlin. Directed by George Clooney, starring Joel Edgerton and Callum Turner.
Based on the best-selling book about the inspirational true story of the 1936 University of Washington rowing team that competed for gold at the Summer Olympics in Berlin. Directed by George Clooney, starring Joel Edgerton and Callum Turner.
Well, at least they got the biblical proportions right: the massive Egyptian monument industry, the vast peoples and vaster landscapes, and most importantly, the God-sized plagues and waves. Otherwise, Ridley Scott's take on the great contest between Moses and Pharoah is underwhelming and ill-conceived. First, the underwhelming: nearly everyone — …
For his directorial debut, Joel Edgerton weaves a subversive edge-of-your-seat suspenser that will knot stomachs tighter than a sack of White Castle hamburgers. Jason Bateman (assuredly cast against type as an arrogant Republican) and Rebecca Hall play a presumedly happily married couple who are hoping for a baby to make …
Director Baz Luhrmann finds a suitable subject for the riotous excess of his directorial style in the riotous excess of the Jazz Age. By the time the onscreen parties lurch to a halt, you may feel a little buzzed yourself. Unfortunately, there's still rather a lot of movie remaining at …
Amoral Australian crime drama, with a number of odd touches (e.g., the dyslexic hit man who sees letters and numerals in reverse: "YLNO FFATS"), perhaps a few oddities too many. Though her "greedy little tart" is a fickle, hard-to-figure character, Rachel Griffiths is powerfully present in all her scenes. Apart …
Writer-director Trey Edward Shults follows his debut sensation Krisha with a close-quarters horror thriller set in a post-pandemic world. Joel Edgerton plays the head of an isolated family whose carefully regulated order is upset when some thirsty wretches come knocking on their door. (Well, breaking into their home, actually, but …
Natalie Portman stars in Gavin O’Connor’s western about a woman who must seek former lover Joel Edgerton’s help in holding off a gang of baddies led by Ewan McGregor.
Painless gender-bender comedy about a staid old British shoemaking firm ("since 1895"), which, to survive in the brazen new world, seeks out a "niche market," namely women's shoes for men, under the counsel of a cabaret drag queen: "Look to the heel.... The sex is in the heel." (Quality craftsmanship …
This week’s dollop of Oscar-bait is a well intentioned account of the marriage and subsequent incarceration of an interracial couple in 1958 that led to the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn state laws prohibiting mixed marriage. With the fact-based outcome predetermined, it’s up to the storyteller to make the journey …
Paul Schrader’s 2017 film First Reformed gave us a solitary man who is keeping a journal; who deals with an intense and intimate crisis before learning that the real enemy is larger, more powerful, and less personal; and who just might find salvation via a compassionate woman. Then, 2021’s The …