The emotional complexity of her work is stellar, and the way she travels through so many varying dramatic layers as she traverses through the narrative is even more so. Deutch is incredible, and even when Before I Fall comes perilously close to flying off the rails she continually keeps things watchable practically all by herself.

Peele’s ability to entertain and to edify, to produce laughter in the same instance that he slams his satirical points home with an unexpected sledgehammer, it’s all here and more. Get Out is a marvel of ingenuity and inspiration, a horror tale where the most frightening image is the mirror image of the audience realizing they’re the ones being so intimately examined.

In the end, Table 19 is a comedy I was glad I’d made the time for, and as blind dinner dates go this is one I’d go out with again a second time with few reservations whatsoever.

Logan isn’t just a great comic book movie, isn’t just a superb X-Men adventure, it’s a fantastic motion picture, period, and Mangold, Jackman and everyone else involved with its creation should be more than proud of what it is they’ve accomplished.

Amma Asante’s A United Kingdom is the filmmaker’s moving, intelligently authentic follow-up to her 2013 sensation Belle. Much like that superb motion picture, this one is crafted with precision and care, the filmmaker once again allowing her core actors, in this case Oyelowo and Pike, the freedom to move and evolve their respective characters in ways that feel entirely genuine.

It’s a La La Land world and all of the rest of the Best Picture contenders are likely to be fortunate just being part of it.

Verbinski’s Cure a Chillingly Unsettling Treatment Ambitious Wall Street stockbroker Lockhart (Dane DeHaan), on the verge of a major promotion, is given an unusual assignment by the executives currently in charge of his firm. It seems their CEO, Pembroke (Harry Groener), has lost touch with reality, sending a letter claiming he has no intention to […]

There are facets of The Great Wall to be adored, maybe even reveled in, there are just not enough of them to make sitting through all the turgidly offensive and grotesquely asinine bits worthwhile. The movie is a muddled monster mash that’s as disappointing as it is insignificant, and I imagine as far as Yimou is concerned he’ll think twice before accepting another paycheck from Hollywood anytime soon.

But when Ade’s opus works it admittedly does so with a level of precision and genius that’s mesmerizing, making Toni Erdmann a modern comedy of heartbreak, forgiveness and family deserving of multiple looks.