Europe, the years immediately preceding World War 2. Laura (Natalie Portman, “Jackie”) and Kate (Lily-Rose Depp, “Yoga Hosers”) are sisters who have been trekking around the continent performing their psychic act; Laura is the host, and Kate the one who actually communicates with the spirits. They work hard and are good at what they do,…
Madness has been a hallmark in Darren Aronofsky’s films (“Black Swan”), and it might be at its most feverish hour here in his upcoming mother!. Fittingly for a (deliciously secretive) psychological horror-thriller, Paramount Pictures, at midnight, released a full-length trailer for it, which has everything to cause the senses to panic. As the violin whips…
The Gracefield Incident begins with a home movie — a man and his wife on their way to their second ultrasound appointment. Matt Donovan (Mathieu Ratthe) can barely contain his excitement as his wife, Jess (Kimberly Laferriere, “White Night”) chastises him, asking whether he plans to record everything. “It’s his journal!” Matt replies, insistent that…
Looks like the summer of 2017 is going to be another mixed bag of movies. For every well-received, attention-getting spectacle such as “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” or “Wonder Woman” we are gifted something rather flimsy and forgettable such as co-writer/director Johannes Roberts’ generic “divas in deep water dilemma” thriller 47 Meters Down. Contrived…
My Cousin Rachel is a smart and evocative exercise in wrongfooting. Right from the beginning — or possibly the end — Roger Michell’s adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s novel expresses doubt and ambiguity, as narrator/protagonist Philip (Sam Claflin, “Me Before You”) asks “Was she? Wasn’t she?” By the end of the film, any answered questions…
The premise of Good Mourning, Lucille sounds promising. A young woman searches for her twin sister’s killer by capturing on camera the actions of those closest to her. Makes you want to know more, doesn’t it? But that’s about where the intrigue ends in this somewhat hapless tale that’s weighed down by a weak cast…
Gridlock is a 20-minute tension-filled short built entirely from top to bottom on the hope that its twist ending can shock its audience. Everything filters through to that ending via a threadbare plot that sees a father lose his daughter in a traffic jam on a rural road surrounded by forest. The dad (Moe Dunford,…
