This Changes Everything
This Changes Everything comes from a good place. But, the points expressed in this documentary about gender inequality are sometimes muddled by the doc’s filmmaking.
Cate Blanchett
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
The How to Train Your Dragon series receives a fulfilling finale with The Hidden World, a sensational sequel that not only ties its saga back to the creation of legendary stories, but also features the best visuals DreamWorks Animation has ever produced.
The House with a Clock in Its Walls
There’s been a modest resurgence of oddball, family-friendly fantasies. We were reminded of it with Tim Burton’s Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, and now with Eli Roth’s The House with a Clock in Its Walls. While I’m more of a fan of how the former balanced all of its supernatural factors, I still really liked and admired Roth’s kooky flick about an uncle teaching his nephew the tricks of the trade to sorcery.
Manifesto
The craft of brilliant costume designers and make-up artists can transform the most recognizable actors into strangers. Such is the case for Manifesto, a one-woman-show featuring two-time Academy Award winner Cate Blanchett portraying 13 different roles. Of course, the production is also lucky to have one of the greatest living actors at the forefront. However, what Manifesto also displays is that sometimes the best artists overshoot their target.
Song to Song
By: Nick Ferwerda Song to Song is tough to summarize. Then again, I expect nothing less from Terrence Malick. The Oscar-nominated filmmaker is known to make, what can be considered, poetic films that consider plot as a secondary function. Honestly, I’m okay with that. It’s different and, every now and then, it’s refreshing.
Knight of Cups
Even long-time fans of Terrence Malick’s particular style of experimental filmmaking might find his latest effort Knight of Cups verging toward self-indulgence.
Carol
By: Mark Barber Carol is a difficult film to describe without context. I have occasionally found myself at odds with contemporary representations of queer identity, as it refuses to abandon elements of tragedy that have dominated for so long. As Vito Russo points out in his celebrated The Celluloid Closet, queer characters rarely receive a happy ending. Same-sex relationships were taboo for much of the 20th century, which was then reflected in their filmic representation….
Truth
By: Trevor Jeffery Truth is a factually interesting docudrama, with the unfortunate side effect of also being a huge downer – how can you chippily walk away from a film if its thesis is essentially “modern journalism is dead”? It’s 2004, just months before the American Presidential election, and Mary Mapes (Cate Blanchett) has got a story. And as a producer for CBS’s documentary/news series 60 Minutes, she’s got a platform. She’s uncovered that there…
The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden
By: Addison Wylie Documentarians Daniel Geller and Danya Goldfine have a fascinating story on their hands with The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden. It’s a real-life murder mystery that took place in the 1930’s within the secluded collection of islands located near Ecuador. In the late 20’s, a couple seeking independence and an escape from civilization took to Floreana to start a new life. Surrounded by tortoises and iguanas, Friedrich Ritter and Dore Strauch…