RAMON J. ISRAEL, ESQ.
allure of sex, violence and racially charged politics, and illustrates that racism wasn’t just a Southern problem. Mayflower Yankees were complicit, too. — Katie Walsh, Tribune Content Agency
THE MOUNTAIN BETWEEN US
PG-13, 110 minutes. Starts Friday at Lisbon. This survival romance seems straightforward enough — a couple of strangers are bonded forever when they endure a harrowing ordeal after their charter plane crashes on a mountain in Utah. It’s “Alive,” without the cannibalism, and a lot more romance. But as the film progresses, it becomes clear that the romantic fantasy tendencies hijack this otherwise interesting unconventional love story. — Katie Walsh, Tribune Content Agency
MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS
PG-13, 114 minutes. Niantic, Waterford, Stonington, Westbrook, Lisbon. Agatha Christie’s 1934 mystery novel “Murder on the Orient Express” was memorably adapted to film in 1974, with Albert Finney playing the fastidious Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. Now, Sir Kenneth Branagh slips into Poirot’s signature splendid mustache in a star-studded, big-budget remake, which he has also directed. The way he tears into the performance, with an elegant vigor, it seems as though Branagh has been waiting his whole life to age into the role of Poirot, clearly relishing the blend of quirky meticulousness — one could call it obsessive-compulsiveness — and cheeky humor. He runs away with the picture, both as star and director, with lavish production design and an intoxicating and dazzling display of cinematic style. The murder mystery set aboard a train from Istanbul to Calais is the kind of old-fashioned romp we don’t often see anymore, executed with a thoroughly modern sense of verve and rhythm. Poirot’s hoping for a vacation, but alas, that’s not to be. When he runs into an old pal in Istanbul, he secures passage aboard a luxury sleeper train, soon to become a crime scene. Through a series of dizzyingly complicated long shots, we’re introduced to all our main characters in the train station as they board, the characteristics and clues flying fast and furiously. As for the stars in “star-studded,” we’ve got well-regarded favorites — Michelle Pfeiffer as a cougarish husband hunter, Judi Dench as a Russian princess, Penelope Cruz as a severe missionary, Willem Dafoe as an Austrian professor and Johnny Depp appropriately cast as a dirt bag gangster and obvious villain. — Katie Walsh, Tribune Content Agency PG, 129 minutes. Westbrook, Lisbon. Writer/director Dan Gilroy had Oscar-winning actor Denzel Washington in mind when he was creating the script for “Roman J. Israel, Esq.” His instincts were right. Washington buries himself deep in the role of a savant lawyer who finds himself at a major junction in his life when his mentor dies. As Washington has done in every role he plays, it’s not just enough to act out the words on the script but he embodies the character to the nexus of total transformation. Generally, that kind of work has a profound positive affect on the project. But, “Roman J. Israel, Esq.” is an example of what happens when there is too much of a good thing. Washington’s portrayal so obliterates everyone else on the screen the film comes across less as an examination of a man trying to deal with the shifting quicksand of time and more as a vanity project for Washington. His performance is so intense, it is like trying to peer through the sun to get a glimpse of Venus on the other side. The role Washington attacks with such vigor is that of a lawyer with a brilliant and beautiful mind who is more comfortable pouring over law books than dealing with social situations. This is a man who eats peanut butter sandwiches for every meal. He’s found the perfect job working in a two-man law firm where he does all of the work in the office while the courtroom duties fall to his boss and mentor. When that mentor dies, Israel’s forced to leave the comfortable environment he has enjoyed for decades to search for other work. — Rick Bentley, Tribune Content Agency
THOR: RAGNAROK
1/2 PG-13, 135 minutes. Waterford, Stonington, Westbrook, Lisbon. Among the massive number of caped and cowled characters who make up the heroic stars in the Marvel Comics universe, Thor exists on the more somber end of the emotional scale. It makes sense; he’s the god of thunder and not the god of thunderous laughs. That somberness has been a foundation for bringing Thor (Chris Hemsworth) to the big screen in both “Thor” (2011) and “Thor: The Dark World” (2013). There were glimpses of humor — including an almost movie killing effort by Kat Dennings in the first film – but generally, surly has surpassed silly. That’s changed in a big way with “Thor: Ragnarok.” Thanks to the success of the comedy-heavy Marvel productions of “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “Deadpool” and the unbridled direction of Taika Waititi, “Thor: Ragnarok” is the funniest film in the Thor franchise and it’s funnier than most of the other comic book movies that have come from the studio. Mix in a stunning new villain in Hela, as portrayed with wicked abandoned by Oscar winner Cate Blanchett, and enough big action scenes to fill a half dozen movies and “Thor: Ragnarok” rocks. There’s no doubt this is a different movie from the opening scene where Thor is casually talking to a fellow prisoner who’s not a great conversationalist. This leads to a massive battle scene played out against the soul-pounding beat of Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song.” — Rick Bentley, Tribune Content Agency