James Ferguson

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This movie took over an hour to get going and was so full of political intrigue that by the time the "widows" finally got around to pulling off their heist, I had pretty much lost interest. I don't know what Steve McQueen was trying to say here other than everyone is corrupt in Chicago and the only way to survive is to steal from the rich. Although Veronica wasn't exactly Robin Hood and her not-so-merry band of accomplices seem to serve no other purpose than to demographically represent the city. Elizabeth Debicki was an interesting choice for Alice. At 6-3, she towered over everyone. Of course, she was given the desultory sex scene, as she was so obviously the one viewers wanted to see naked, further diminishing her character to little more than a glamorous proxy. Michelle Rodriguez wore a permanent scowl. The only one who got anything resembling a complex role was Viola Davis. Everyone else was reduced to a cardboard cutout. A great waste of talent as far as I could see. When it finally came to the heist, it was over in a matter of minutes with the only casualty being the racist patriarch of the Mulligan political family. We all knew Jatemme would be waiting in the van. What followed was a comic chain of events that offered some retribution but not much. This is arguably Steve McQueen's worst outing. He seemed hopelessly lost with the overwrought script when it would have been better to shave this film down to 90 minutes and focus on the heist. Maybe then he could have made it a bit more plausible.

If you saw the Swedish original you will be very disappointed with this American remake as it trods virtually the same ground, trading pathos for bathos. You really felt for Ove. Otto not so much, especially the flashbacks, again taken virtually intact but losing any resonance. Young Otto, played by Hanks' son, is just a lumbering idiot who manages to strike it lucky with a beautiful girl. There's virtually no spark here. The neighborhood has been made into an appropriately Hollywood mixed race and gender set of characters to cover all the bases, although it treats the relationships like a colorblind version of Reagan's America. There are some charming scenes but for the most part this is embarrassing bathos. There's much more than could have been done with a story like this.

Visually compelling but ultimately empty space movie as Brad Pitt soars through the solar system in record time in search of his long lost father. It's one of those movies in the spirit of 2001 and Solaris but with an odd evangelical message reminiscent of the direction Ridley Scott went with Prometheus. James Gray uses space more as a means for his main character to confront his own empty soul. We also have the corporate dilemma of Brad being left in the dark on the finer points of his mission. Donald Sutherland plays the requisite old man who was the last friend of his father but he's not much help either. The near future looks three or four generations down the line but there is kind of a retro quality that makes it look like a science fiction movie that would have been made in the 80s. Unfortunately, Gray chooses not to elaborate too much. We rely on Brad's narration to get any meaning out of this space yarn. The slow pace is probably why this movie didn't do so well at the box office. Attempts to pump things up with a moon rover chase and a wild ape that comes out of nowhere didn't help. In the end, we don't learn anything more than what we surmised in the beginning leaving this viewer with an empty feeling.

There was a glimmer of hope in the beginning but this film so quickly falls apart that I found myself fast forwarding to avoid wasting too much time on it. Sad really as there was a decent story under all the useless twists and turns, spanning a year at least, when it would have been much wiser to pare the story down to the essentials and make a real thriller out of it. As it is, I Came By fails on almost every count.

I would give it 3 - 1/2 but don't have that option. I thought it was a good movie but that Sebastian Leilo wasn't really sure where to take the story. The theatrical start is belied by a very realistic telling, making me wonder if this was a true story, only to be brought back to a theatrical setting in the end. I think he should have stuck with the theatrical version, keeping it a dark theater like Dogville or Manderlay. I think the story would have had more resonance, especially given the fine performances throughout. It also seemed rather sparse. I think more could have been done to bring out the periphery characters rather than focus almost exclusively on Lib and Anna.

I can’t help but think that the entire premise for Benoit Blanc comes from an episode of The Office where Michael affected the accent of a Southern detective in solving a murder mystery game to take everyone’s mind off the bankruptcy of Dunder Mifflin. While Glass Onion is played largely for laughs, it has none of the humor of The Office. Most of the jokes fall flat and what little mystery there is over in 30 minutes. Too bad as it could have been fun with the great cast. I can’t believe Netflix paid nearly $500 mil for this “franchise!”

Granted it didn't start off very promising, but this movie slowly gained momentum and revealed a very powerful story. I wasn't sure how Mike Barker was going to bring two seemingly unrelated elements together but he did, and Mila Kunis delivered a solid performance. Events were a bit contrived. It probably would have helped to make this into a limited series as there was a lot to digest here and the film did have a television quality. We only get snippets of the trauma that Ani had kept hidden all these years only for it to finally reach a head on the eve of her wedding.

If you are looking for another feel good biopic of Marilyn, I suggest you look elsewhere. Andrew Dominick peels away the gloss to give the viewer a raw, exposed and very vulnerable Marilyn that will have you turning away at times due to the unrepentant nature of this film. We've all heard about her problems, her Daddy issues, the abuse she suffered throughout her life, but it is generally glossed because we still want to believe Marilyn rose above all that. Dominick makes it very clear she didn't. You can argue that Dominick goes too far, but he never loses sight of Marilyn's warmth, compassion and intelligence. The scenes that were particularly strong for me were those between her and Whitey, her personal make-up artist, and in Joyce Carol Oates' telling, the only one who seemed to understand and comfort her. To be honest I was never a big Marilyn fan but after watching this movie I felt a great deal more empathy for her. I knew that she was much loved behind the scenes. Truman Capote adored her and wrote Breakfast at Tiffany's specifically with her in mind. It was kind of odd that Dominick chose not to explore this angle, but then maybe Oates didn't either. Instead, we get some strong scenes with her and Arthur Miller, impeccably played by Adrien Brody. I was glad Dominick didn't spend too much time on DiMaggio. Instead, he spends a lot of time on her early relationship with the sons of Charlie Chaplin and Edward G. Robinson, which was apparently true to some extent, but probably not to the degree shown in this film. I suppose this was one of many of the author's conceits, like Marilyn's longing for "Daddy." It was kind of odd the way this fixation was turned in the film. Monroe expected to have her father waiting for her in her hotel suite after a premiere, only to have DiMaggio propose to her. Afterward, he kept referring to him as Daddy. Same with Miller. Both quite a bit older than her. Most importantly, the film holds together despite its long running time. Ana de Armis really comes to inhabit the body and soul of Marilyn. Some scenes are so uncanny that you really do see her as Marilyn. All the artifice breaks down. Ultimately, this was a film about how horribly she was exploited in Hollywood and was never able to realize her own true self.

I don't know what's worse, asking a 12-year old to play a psychopathic 9-year old orphan or a 33-year old dwarf. Add to that the Russian background and you cover the entire spectrum of cinematic evil. There really is no point in spoilers as you find out early on that Esther has serious problems. It's only a question how long it takes hubby to figure it out. This was such a poorly plotted horror movie that you wonder how it ever got past the editors. I'm amazed that there are actually YouTube videos explaining this movie, as it literally leaves nothing to the imagination. This movie languished for the better part of 13 years before getting picked up by Netflix in anticipation of a prequel that has now hit the movie theaters. Of course, we know how it turns out as they pretty much laid out Esther's sordid history in this movie. Judging from the trailer, the new movie is pretty much a rehash of the earlier film, maybe having worked out some of the many kinks. The only thing that makes Orphan watchable is Vera Farminga trying to convince everyone around her that Esther is evil, only to be written off as an abusive alcoholic. Her kids are too scared to corroborative her story, and her husband is utterly smitten by Esther's creepy charm, only to find out too late that hell hath no fury like a tiny woman scorned. This might have worked had it been a dark comedy, but everyone takes themselves much too seriously in this campy movie.