"Mangold indulges himself with this tale of American manhood... but he knows he can afford it," wrote San Diego Reader's Matthew Lickona. Reeves' beleaguered hitman on the run is swiftly becoming an icon, and it was his intense and committed performance just as much as Stahleski's sharp direction and staging that had critics applauding the third entry in the series. The tagline for Good Boys may have told us all we needed to know about the film: "From the guys who brought you Superbad, Neighbors, and Sausage Party," it trumpeted, and if you were familiar with those cinematic provocations, you knew right off the bat whether Good Boys would be your cup of tea (or perhaps can of cheap beer). The flick's message of female empowerment was not lost on critics, though it wasn't the only reason Larson was roundly commended for bringing a strong sense of pure fun and a healthy amount of swagger to her role.
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Led by his own interior-thought narration, Roy’s saga is at once awe-inspiring and poignant, intimate and majestic. Director Julia Hart’s sophomore feature (co-written with Jordan Horowitz) is an unconventional superhero saga about Ruth (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), who in a near future decimated by lack of rain, flees government agent Bill (Christopher Denham) while trying to control her extraordinary abilities, which manifest themselves as seismic seizures. Sex, envy and pyromania make for a riveting mystery in Lee Chang-dong’s masterfully crafted Murakami adaptation. At nearly four hours, the film imparts an overpowering sense of its characters’ despair, and the misfortune that befalls them whether they remain alone or try to engage with others – a despondency only amplified by its empathy. There are codes within codes within codes in Under the Silver Lake, David Robert Mitchell’s deliriously shambolic neo-noir about stoner sleuth Sam (Andrew Garfield, never better) traversing a Lynch-ian L.A. landscape in search of a mysterious missing beauty (Riley Keough).
The Mail on Sunday's Matthew Bond agreed, and summed it up best: "This is surely one of the most welcome surprises of the cinematic year, with Jonathan Levine's enjoyable film showing that unorthodox casting combinations can work and that there is still life in the romantic comedy.".
Read more. It's simply a joy to watch." Good Boys' young leads Jacob Tremblay (Doctor Sleep), Keith L. Williams (The Last Man on Earth), and Brady Noon (Boardwalk Empire) were roundly praised for their charming performances in a movie that served up a surprising amount of warmth alongside its crass comedic sensibility. Aspiring London filmmaker Julie (Honor Swinton Byrne) falls for older, cultured Anthony (Tom Burke), who has a habit of making every compliment sound self-serving. Greta Gerwig establishes herself as one of world cinema’s finest directors with Little Women, an adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s novel that’s bursting with effervescent life. Posted: 5 Mar 2019 4:59 pm. Praise for the ever-evolving animation and stellar voice cast (which includes Jay Baruchel, Cate Blanchett, Craig Ferguson, and the great F. Murray Abraham) abounded; on his Mad About Movies podcast, Kent Garrison brought out the big guns, calling the flick "a touching and fitting end to one of the very best animated franchises in film history." As mean, and quite a bit leaner, than its voracious animals, Crawl is an example of B-moviemaking done right. Reconfiguring noir’s fatalistic heart for our tangled modern condition, it’s a portrait of the surreal new bleakness, with everything part of a grander whole that offers no substance or solace – leaving only that eternal desire for truth, and togetherness.
Yet despite their familiarity, such building blocks prove the stuff of superior melodrama in the hands of Brazilian-German director Karim Aïnouz, whose adaptation of Martha Batalha’s 2016 novel pays heartbreaking tribute to the strength, solidarity and unjust suffering of two sisters – reckless young Guida (Julia Stockler) and older would-be pianist Euridice (Carol Duarte) – who are torn apart by their callous dad (António Fonseca), Euridice’s chauvinistic spouse (Gregorio), and their patriarchal Brazilian culture. But those observers most familiar with the MCU tended to be the most impressed, for a simple reason. "[His] vision translates a love for classic murder mysteries into a kaleidoscopic ensemble piece that twists and spins, using the structure and tropes of mystery — and comedy — to expose the endless ways humans justify being absolutely rotten to each other.
Romance and court intrigue are also part of this stunning package, yet far more exhilarating than the stock story is the director’s precisely choreographed wuxia combat, highlighted by Zhang’s signature slow-mo shot – in which his camera trails behind a running fighter’s blade as it scrapes against the ground, casting water skyward – and often carried out with the most badass umbrellas ever committed to film.
His is a conservative celebration of the old at the very moment that the new took over (not to mention a wish for a fusion of the two), and an air of wistfulness – and desire to fight obsolescence – permeates the action.
"By the time two hours are up, Wick is once again living up to the Latin in the title, desiring peace but preparing for war." A front-row seat for the moon landings? They should have known better: Pixar did it once again, fielding a fourth entry in the saga of Woody, Buzz, and the gang that's every bit as heartfelt, lovingly animated, and hilarious as the previous ones.