Video Alert
WONDER WHEEL (Drama, PG-13, 101 m., 2017). Knowing what we know about Woody Allen, it’s impossible not to think his film about an aspiring playwright (Justin Timberlake) romancing both a married waitress (Kate Winslet) and her stepdaughter (Juno Temple) is a commentary about the Mia Farrow/Soon-Yi story. On its own merits, though, it would still be a dud, a sluggish, uninspired retread of so many earlier and much better Allen films. Rating: One and a half stars.
THOR: RAGNAROK (Action fantasy, PG-13, 130 m., 2017). There’s a LOT going on in the latest Marvel superhero movie and much of it is goofy and campy and marvelously self-referential. An outstanding cast including Chris Hemsworth, Cate Blanchett and Jeff Goldblum all came to play. Rating: Three and a half stars.
THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI (Dark comedy, R, 115 m., 2017). The story of a grieving mother (Frances McDormand) trying to shame the police chief (Woody Harrelson) into solving her daughter’s murder provides some of the strongest laughs and most poignant moments of heartbreak of any movie in recent memory. Somehow writer-director Martin McDonagh has taken the bleakest of subject matters and treated it seriously while also serving up one of the best dark comedies I’ve ever seen. Rating: Four stars.
COCO (Animated adventure, PG, 104 m., 2017). Disney-Pixar’s “Coco” is a bouncy and heart-tugging adventure told through the experiences of a 12-year-old boy (Anthony Gonzalez) who crosses over, while alive, from his village in Mexico to the Land of the Dead, an exciting metropolis populated by deceased humans. The visuals jump off the screen. Rating: Three and a half stars.
DARKEST HOUR (Historical biography, PG-13, 125 m., 2017). This look back at Winston Churchill’s leadership during the early days of World War II is filled with authentic touches, large and small. Most authentic of all is Gary Oldman’s performance as a flawed but deeply passionate man who summoned all of his courage, all of his oratory skills and all of his love for Britain at just the right moment. Rating: Three and a half stars.
MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS (Mystery, PG-13, 115 m., 2017). This adaptation of Agatha Christie’s classic murder mystery loses steam just when it should be gaining speed and racing to its putatively shocking conclusion. Director Kenneth Branagh, who stars as Hercule Poirot, places himself front and center, unfortunately relegating just about everyone else in the all-star cast to one or at most two defining personality traits. Rating: Two and a half stars.