Perhaps buoyed by the success of Wicked as villain image rehab or the fact that kids who watch the Star Wars films in numerical order grow up liking Darth Vader, Disney has dipped into its intellectual property vaults to explore the long-burning question of whether that mean fashion designer lady who wanted to skin a bunch of Dalmatians for the purposes of making a coat was ever, at some point, not the embodiment of pure puppy-killing evil.
When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, a beautiful and terrible journey
That it is based on a book of the same name, which is in turn based on the author, Judith Kerr’s, early life and her family’s escape from Nazi Germany adds stark reality to this sweet, yet stirring film.
Noveltease Theatre takes The Odyssey from the page to the screen
In their own words, Noveltease says, “Odysseus’s misadventures on his journey home to Ithaca have often been told only through the hero’s perspective. This production weaves together narrative perspectives from Odysseus, Penelope, and the goddess Athena as it adapts from the translation by Emily Wilson — the first woman to translate The Odyssey.” It is almost certainly the sexiest adaptation of The Odyssey in the poem’s 2,800 year history.
Best go watch the original documentary, Dream Horse is a shallow take on a deeper real-life story
Every so often, there is the so-called “feel good” film of the year that comes out seemingly designed to hit a specific narrative note. Frequently called the type of “crowd pleasing” story that will “make you stand up and cheer” as well as a litany of other clichés, these films are a dime a dozen. Such is the case with Dream Horse, an often charming film that never makes the most of a rich story it is supposedly telling.
P!nk: All That I Know So Far sells you on the pop star’s next tour
Of all of the pop shows I’ve been to, Pink put on the best performance. Easily. It was a high energy experience that was part rock/pop show, and part Cirque du Soleil. None of the other pop stars would attempt the things on stage Pink made look easy.
Angelina Jolie carries Those Who Wish Me Dead on her back through the Montana wilderness
If I were to be asked for a single word to sum up Taylor Sheridan’s new movie Those Who Wish Me Dead, it would be “competent.” It’s a predictable action/thriller but it has three things going for it: acting, storytelling, and the gorgeous Montana scenery.
Drama and comedy collide in the new coming-of-age flick The Get Together
The Get Together is from a genre I love but don’t see all that often anymore: interlocking stories with different characters who are brought together only by chance being in the same place at the same time. In this instance, it’s a wild house party in Austin. And it belies a sweet, coming-of-age film along the way.
About Endlessness contemplates the great known
Late in Roy Andresson’s About Endlessness a man in a cafe watches in awe as snow falls gently outside a cafe window. A soft choral rendition of “Silent Night” accompanies the snowflakes, but no one seems to notice. He interrupts his fellow patrons’ quiet indifference to ask “Isn’t it fantastic?” To their quizzical responses he clarifies, “Everything”. Its as close a thesis statement as you’re going to get from this poetic contemplation of the mundane and profound that unfolds in dozens of short vignettes over seventy-four minutes.
Finding You delivers gorgeous Irish landscapes and a by-the-numbers romance
A middling late-teen rom-com with some really lovely landscape photography.
The Woman in the Window brings a literary sensation to the screen
A.J. Finn’s The Woman in the Window was a literary hit in 2018, one of those page-turners in the mold of the Girl on the Train and Gone Girl with unreliable narration and suspenseful twists. I never read it, but got the sense that a decent share of its sales were hate-readers who threw their copies of the book at the wall in frustration when certain plot points were revealed. After a long time in pandemic release purgatory, Joe Wright’s film adaptation finally drops this weekend. The main selling point is that you can find out what the love/hate for the novel was all about in the span of less than two hours instead of 448 pages.