A Seattle moviegoing lifestyle magazine
This caper starring June Squibb as a 93-year-old granny on a Cruise-inspired impossible mission to avenge her honor after being phone scammed & Fred Hechinger as underemployed Grandson of the Year might be the Most Sundance Movie of the fest: impeccably made, note-perfect, heartwarming comedy.
Directors Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson leverage the chemistry of a real-life family in crafting a drama about a working-class Chicago-area household. When we first meet the family in a principal’s office as they’re still reeling from the aftershocks of an unspecified trauma and the mounting stress of a looming lawsuit.
Richard Linklater serves up a very tasty slice of an incredibly loopy premise. Glen Powell gobbles it up and makes it work through the power of pure, unrelenting, leading man handsomeness. Nothing wrong with pairing a director who knows how to have a good time with an actor who’s ascending to movie star supernova. Here the daffy vaguely-true story meshes with an intensely charming performance into a delightful gumbo.
Into each generation a new Donnie Darko is born. With Lynchian threads as applied to post-millennial trans awakenings, grounded in a deep love for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and coming with its own slew of possible interpretations, Jane Schoenbrun’s eerie, visually entrancing, and sonically inventive cautionary love note to the nineties just might be it for the Zoomies.
Ten years after introducing Charlize Theron’s iconic Furiosa in Mad Max: Fury Road, George Miller once again revisits the post-apocalyptic Australia he created back in 1979. The latest entry fills in fifteen years of backstory for the title war rig driver-turned-liberator by way of five chapters of audacious set pieces. As fan service, it’s exceptional. As stunt coordination, it’s reliably jaw dropping spectacle. But in terms of storytelling, it’s about as essential as a Doof Warrior and a flame-throwing electric guitar on a desert-racing military convoy. Which is to say that even if you don’t absolutely need it, there’s nothing wrong with making sure that you’re having a good time.
Catching up with the rest of the week at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Two SIFF features with different approaches to portraying the transformative power of theater, be it in the carceral system or the prison of one’s own heart.
A trio of imperfect films that nevertheless give viewers entry into the past and present of unfamiliar parts of our world.
Capsule reviews from SIFF. Bob Trevino Likes it is the laugh, cry, and scream, heartbreaker hit of the festival.
Capsule reviews of two seaside SIFF films
