Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Playing catch-up

Three new releases that didn't make deadline

The Hate U Give: Algee Smith and Amandla Stenberg just before he moment that forever changed their lives.
The Hate U Give: Algee Smith and Amandla Stenberg just before he moment that forever changed their lives.

This week, I’m playing catch-up with a string of recent and new releases that didn’t make deadline.

— Scott Marks

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)

Sponsored
Sponsored
Video:

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs trailer

It’s any portmanteau in a storm when Joel and Ethan Coen avail their services to Netflix for this six-part Western anthology. It’s okay to open by plagiarizing John Ford’s location of choice, Monument Valley, but even Pappy couldn’t convincingly insert a studio cutaway and make ‘em mesh. The brothers were wise to first get the worst out of the way: the opening segment, from which the film takes its title, finds Tim Blake Nelson pitching his good-natured cowboy sociopath as a cross between shaky-gun Don Knotts and Tom Berenger’s rhapsodic rustler. Why saddle their lead character with a name that wouldn’t be coined for at least a decade? (‘Twas Keaton who gave rise to the name.) With his ten-gallon pulled low so that the tips of his ears bow, Scruggs is one of the most annoying characters to come down the Pike since Roger Rabbit. The rest of the bits vary in quality, save for one standout: Tom Waits’ precise prospector could have sprung from the mind of Rod Serling.

The Hate U Give (2018)

Video:

The Hate U Give trailer

An African-American student from a working class neighborhood attends a predominantly all-white high school on the other side of the tracks. Starr (Amandla Stenberg) skillfully walks the tightrope between black and white culture until the day a routine traffic stop forces her to make a life-altering decision. Routine, that is, if you’re a white cop looking for some black kids to hassle. It ends with her best friend dead on the pavement, the victim of a trigger-happy officer’s bullet. Not the filmed lesson plan that I feared going in. Yes, it’s a good ten minutes too long and the climax (a loose gun falls in the hands of a toddler) follows in the footsteps of too many movies and television shows by insisting that the life of a child is more important than that of an adult. Still: if the film manages to transcend most of the cliches, we have Stenberg’s finely etched lead performance to thank. George Tillman Jr. directs.

Shoplifters (2018)

Video:

Shoplifters trailer

A hard-working family of five looks to shoplifting as a means of supplementing their paltry income. Upon returning home from a hard day’s pilfering, father and son “lift” the little girl they find rummaging through the trash outside their door. The idea was to feed her and send her packing to her parents. That all changes when granny discovers bruises and burn marks on the child’s body, whereupon she basically becomes part of the family. What will happen when the cops find out? Will they nail the negligent parents for their child’s disappearance? Or will the dynastic looters — these are, after all, well-intentioned petty thieves, not kidnappers — be held responsible? Hirokazu Kore-eda positions his resilient family in their cramped surroundings in a manner reminiscent of the moments of intimacy Vincente Minnelli afforded each member of the Smith family in Meet Me In St. Louis. Shoplifters was just this week given a stay of streaming execution at the Digital Gym. After that, it’s VOD.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Dating Sites For Little People: Best Platforms & Tips

The Hate U Give: Algee Smith and Amandla Stenberg just before he moment that forever changed their lives.
The Hate U Give: Algee Smith and Amandla Stenberg just before he moment that forever changed their lives.

This week, I’m playing catch-up with a string of recent and new releases that didn’t make deadline.

— Scott Marks

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)

Sponsored
Sponsored
Video:

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs trailer

It’s any portmanteau in a storm when Joel and Ethan Coen avail their services to Netflix for this six-part Western anthology. It’s okay to open by plagiarizing John Ford’s location of choice, Monument Valley, but even Pappy couldn’t convincingly insert a studio cutaway and make ‘em mesh. The brothers were wise to first get the worst out of the way: the opening segment, from which the film takes its title, finds Tim Blake Nelson pitching his good-natured cowboy sociopath as a cross between shaky-gun Don Knotts and Tom Berenger’s rhapsodic rustler. Why saddle their lead character with a name that wouldn’t be coined for at least a decade? (‘Twas Keaton who gave rise to the name.) With his ten-gallon pulled low so that the tips of his ears bow, Scruggs is one of the most annoying characters to come down the Pike since Roger Rabbit. The rest of the bits vary in quality, save for one standout: Tom Waits’ precise prospector could have sprung from the mind of Rod Serling.

The Hate U Give (2018)

Video:

The Hate U Give trailer

An African-American student from a working class neighborhood attends a predominantly all-white high school on the other side of the tracks. Starr (Amandla Stenberg) skillfully walks the tightrope between black and white culture until the day a routine traffic stop forces her to make a life-altering decision. Routine, that is, if you’re a white cop looking for some black kids to hassle. It ends with her best friend dead on the pavement, the victim of a trigger-happy officer’s bullet. Not the filmed lesson plan that I feared going in. Yes, it’s a good ten minutes too long and the climax (a loose gun falls in the hands of a toddler) follows in the footsteps of too many movies and television shows by insisting that the life of a child is more important than that of an adult. Still: if the film manages to transcend most of the cliches, we have Stenberg’s finely etched lead performance to thank. George Tillman Jr. directs.

Shoplifters (2018)

Video:

Shoplifters trailer

A hard-working family of five looks to shoplifting as a means of supplementing their paltry income. Upon returning home from a hard day’s pilfering, father and son “lift” the little girl they find rummaging through the trash outside their door. The idea was to feed her and send her packing to her parents. That all changes when granny discovers bruises and burn marks on the child’s body, whereupon she basically becomes part of the family. What will happen when the cops find out? Will they nail the negligent parents for their child’s disappearance? Or will the dynastic looters — these are, after all, well-intentioned petty thieves, not kidnappers — be held responsible? Hirokazu Kore-eda positions his resilient family in their cramped surroundings in a manner reminiscent of the moments of intimacy Vincente Minnelli afforded each member of the Smith family in Meet Me In St. Louis. Shoplifters was just this week given a stay of streaming execution at the Digital Gym. After that, it’s VOD.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Will L.A. Times crowd out San Diego U-T at Riverside printing plant?

Will Toni Atkins stand back from anti-SDG&E initiative?
Next Article

India Hawthorne is common in coastal gardens, Citrus trees are in full bloom

The vernal equinox is on March 19
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.