The darkly divine ‘Vertigo’ The Good Dinosaur
A chance to see “Vertigo,” the Alfred Hitchcock film that’s had an unprecedented critical trajectory, is always an event, but the opportunity to see it in 70mm (as part of the American Cinematheque’s “Seeing the Big Picture: 70mm Favorites” series) is very special, indeed.
Dismissed on its original 1958 release, “Vertigo” has steadily risen in critical estimation to the point where it displaced “Citizen Kane” as the best motion picture of all time in Sight & Sound’s most recent poll of film critics worldwide.
“Vertigo’s” view of San Francisco might be the most elegantly spooky vision of an American city ever put on film. More than that, the movie showcases Hitchcock’s ability to take two of the biggest stars of his day, James Stewart and Kim Novak, and use them to create as dark and deeply personal a scenario as anything that’s currently appearing at the Sundance Film Festival.
Playing Sunday at the American Cinematheque’s Aero Theatre, 1328 Montana Ave., Santa Monica.
Movie recommendations from critic Kenneth Turan and other reviewers.
Anomalisa
Sad, beautiful, the wittiest film of the year; directors Duke Johnson and Charlie Kaufman, using stop-motion animation and working from a script Kaufman originally wrote and staged a decade ago, transform the comedy of quiet desperation into an occasion for serious pleasure. (Michael Phillips) R.
The Big Short
Adam McKay, with the help of Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling and Brad Pitt, has made a very funny film about a very serious situation, 2008’s global financial collapse. (Kenneth Turan) R.
Bridge of Spies
Steven Spielberg’s superior directing skills and fine acting from Tom Hanks and Mark Rylance do the trick in this espionage thriller about a successful insurance lawyer who has to defend a Soviet spy and then attempt to trade him to the Russians for one of ours. (Kenneth Turan) PG-13.
Brooklyn
Impeccably directed by John Crowley, feelingly adapted by Nick Hornby from Colm Tóibín’s fine novel and blessed with heart-stopping work from star Saoirse Ronan and the rest of the cast, “Brooklyn” is about love and heartache, loneliness and intimacy, what home means and how we achieve it. (Kenneth Turan) PG-13.
Carol
Impeccably acted by Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara as two women in love, with an exquisite look captured by cinematographer Ed Lachman, “Carol” has been made under the complete and total control of Todd Haynes, a director who always knows what he’s doing. (Kenneth Turan) R.
Creed
In the hands of director Ryan Coogler and star Michael B. Jordan, what is nominally a spinoff of the celebrated “Rocky” series plays like a spiritual remake of the 1976 film that retells the original story in the kind of involving way one would not have thought possible. With Oscar nominee Sylvester Stallone. (Kenneth Turan) PG-13.
It is antic and unexpected as well as homiletic, rife with subversive elements, wacky critters and some of the most beautiful landscapes ever seen in a computeranimated feature. (Kenneth Turan) PG.
Room
Brie Larson excels in a film able to give full weight to both sides of the emotional equation as it tells the story of a young woman imprisoned for years in a tiny shed and the young son who was born to her there and knows no other world. Directed by Lenny Abrahamson. (Kenneth Turan) R.
Son of Saul
This drama set in Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1944 is an immersive experience of the most disturbing kind, a look at a particular kind of hell. No matter how many Holocaust films you’ve seen, you’ve not seen one like this. (Kenneth Turan) R.
Spotlight
The saga of how the Boston Globe won a Pulitzer Prize in 2003 for uncovering sexual abuse by Catholic priests, the film is mightily impressive not only because of the importance of the story it tells but also because of how much effort and skill went into director Tom McCarthy’s bringing it to the screen. (Kenneth Turan) R.
Trumbo
The film paints an engaging portrait of a left-wing crusader toiling in one of Hollywood’s most shameful eras, managing to re-create both the glamour and the oppressive mood of post-World War II America. Bryan Cranston stars. (Rebecca Keegan) R.
Youth
Quixotic, idiosyncratic, effortlessly moving, this meditation on the wonders and complications of life unites director Paolo Sorrentino with stars Michael Caine, Harvey Keitel, Paul Dano and Jane Fonda. (Kenneth Turan) R.