The Aeronauts Movie Review: Jaw-dropping mid-air flourishes keep the bumpy balloon together

“My, my, is the octane in this flight high or what?” is a question raised often throughout this at-altitude Felicity Jones—Eddie Redmayne reunion, not as husband-and-wife but as pilot-and-passenger (still with an affinity to solve life’s mysteries, though). But each…

Mickey and the Bear Movie Review: A familial strife that touches and brims with realness

A bevy of animals reside in Annabelle Attanasio’s debut feature. Anaconda, Montana is the setting. The high school’s sports team has a copperhead in its logo. Some dedicated close-ups of taxidermied fauna. And, of course, don’t forget the duo that makes…

‘Parasite’ squirms its way to greatness in 1st trailer

“It’s a very opportune gift.” A true statement for both members of the #BongHive and the Kim family at the heart of the 2019 Palme d’Or winner (a first for Korean cinema!). The Kims — patriarch Ki-taek (Bong’s regular Song…

Jonathan Movie Review: Ansel Elgort Carries So-So Sci-Fi on His Shoulders

A Baby Driver star goes Black Mirror in Jonathan, the sci-fi drama from co-writer-director Bill Oliver. Well, more accurately, the Ansel Elgort-topper approaches the twisted anthology, links arms with it in the moonlight and walks down some of the same paths…

Can You Ever Forgive Me? Movie Review: Melissa McCarthy delivers the best performance of her career

At the outset, Marielle Heller’s Can You Ever Forgive Me? wallows so deeply into the loneliness of down on her luck biographer Lee Israel (Melissa McCarthy) that you may feel the people around you in the theater disappear. We see…

‘White Boy Rick’ Movie Review: Prosaic, shallow telling of a striking life

As with James “Whitey” Bulger or the Kray twins, Richard Wershe Jr. has a crime-glazed life primed for the movies. In times when we, for argument’s sake let’s assume “we” means the majority, juggled homework, young love or existential crises…

The Escape Movie Review: Gemma Arterton Shines in a Familiar Tale of a Lost Woman

Since the days of Stella Dallas and Mildred Pierce, filmmakers have sought to explore the dichotomy of being a woman and a mother. Freedom and marriage are two terms that aren’t mutually exclusive, and an entire genre of features exists…