The Death of Stalin (2017)

Jack, Amy, Aaron, and I really liked this political farce, set in 1953, when the Russian despot croaks and his underlings ineptly jockey for power. The prodigious acting ensemble includes Steve Buscemi as Khrushchev, Jeffrey Tambor as Malenkov, Michael Palin as Molotov, and Simon Russell Beale as Beria (the first three were most recently blogged for The Boss Baby; The Accountant; and Monty Python Live (Mostly) One Down, Five to Go; and Beale, a British stage actor, is new to these pages, though he was in My Week with Marilyn and Into the Woods, among others). Also notable are Olga Kurylenko (mentioned in Quantum of Solace, not mentioned in Seven Psychopaths) as a dissident pianist, Paddy Considine (last in Pride) as a bumbling recording engineer, Andrea Riseborough (most recently in Battle of the Sexes) as Stalin's daughter Svetlana, and Rupert Friend (after I wrote about him in The Young Victoria he was in 57 episodes of Homeland) as drunken son Vasily Stalin.

Director/co-writer Armando Iannucci has made a career of political farces--after his Oscar nomination for writing In the Loop, which he also directed, he created the HBO series Veep which earned him several Emmy nominations and one win, and all three projects are hilarious, dark, profane, and cringy. The screenplay is also credited to David Schneider, Ian Martin, Peter Fellows (they have all worked with Iannucci on various things), and Fabien Nury--Nury wrote the graphic novel on which this is based and Thierry Robin illustrated it. The comic book writers claim "artistic license" in their inspiration by real events.

The classical score is composed by Christopher Willis (he scored all 58 episodes of Veep) and can be streamed from this link.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are averaging 95% and its audiences 80. Go see it.

Thoroughbreds (2017)

I loved this trippy, darkly comedic, psychological thriller about two girls, one more obviously damaged than the other, who form a friendship and start a "project." The title refers not only to a horse who figures prominently in the plot, but also to the fact that these teenagers are crazy rich and live in extreme luxury. Jack and I had been so blown away by the trailer a month or so ago that I made a note of the title and went to see it last Thursday when he was busy.

Olivia Cooke's (her first appearance in these pages was as the girl in Me and Earl and the Dying Girl) Amanda is the more damaged one--in the trailer it says "she feels nothing," whereas Anya Taylor-Joy's (new to me despite a handful of credits) Lily "...feels everything." They're terrific, as is Anton Yelchin (last blogged for Only Lovers Left Alive). His performance as their misguided acquaintance Tim, which is unlike anything else I've seen him do, underscores the tragedy of his accidental death at the age of 27 in June, 2016, when his Jeep rolled into him in his Studio City driveway. Paul Sparks (I've seen him in many projects, including Rachel Getting Married, Synechdoche, New York, Please Give, Afterschool, Mud, 56 episodes of Boardwalk Empire as the giggling Mickey Doyle, and 27 episodes of House of Cards as writer Thomas Yates, but hadn't mentioned him here yet) is terrifying as Lily's dreadful stepfather.

Cory Finley makes his feature debut as both director and writer with what he originally intended to be a stage play but fleshed it out into a screenplay.

Cellist Erik Friedlander also debuts with a soundtrack that is about as untraditional as possible, with ambient music, wordless vocals, and drum solos (there was a "featured percussionist" in the credits but it went by too quickly for me to note). The soundtrack album has been released and is available on spotify and the usual outlets.

Shot in Tewksbury and Cohasset, Massachusetts (northwest and southeast of Boston, respectively) and rated by Rotten Tomatoes' critics at 84% and its audiences at 71, this is well worth your while if you can manage a great deal of cringe. DVD and streaming release is estimated for June of 2018.

Faces Places (Visages, villages - 2017)

Merveilluex! Jack and I loved this documentary in which 89-year-old French filmmaker Agnès Varda teams up with her 33-year-old countryman, an artist known as JR, to take pictures of faces (visages), make huge paper prints, and paste them in places, or towns (villages) around France. The night before the Oscars this won Best Documentary at the Spirit Awards, then it lost the Oscar race to Icarus, which we also loved. We rented this one on iTunes right after the awards (it's also available on youtube and Amazon and via DVD on netflix) and didn't need to darken the room much, because it's almost all brightly lit and gorgeous, shot by seven different cinematographers.

Varda, a sprightly, elfin person with a Buster Brown haircut that's half white-half auburn (scroll down in the article to see her at a younger age with the same haircut), has been making movies for over 50 years. I think I saw One Sings, the Other Doesn't (L'une chante, l'autre pas - 1977), and probably didn't see Cleo from 9 to 5 (Cléo de 5 à 7 - 1962), Le Bonheur (1965), nor Vagabond (Sans toit ni loi - 1985), among her more famous work. Her daughter Rosalie Varda produced the movie and shared the Spirit award.

The music by Matthieu Chedid (new to me) hasn't been released in any format but you can get a taste from watching the trailer.

You don't need our recommendation. Its Rotten Tomatoes averages are 91% from audiences and a cool 100% from critics. Definitely put this in your queue. 

Game Night (2018)

We laughed a lot at this silly comedy-thriller about some competitive folks whose regular game night is hijacked by criminals. Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams are very funny and have good chemistry as the main couple and were last blogged for Zootopia and Doctor Strange, respectively. They are joined by Lamorne Morris (138 episodes of New Girl, all but the pilot, as Winston), Kylie Bunbury (we liked all ten episodes of Pitch, in which she was the lead, a female major league baseball pitcher), Billy Magnussen (his only other mention in the blog is for Into the Woods), Kyle Chandler (most recently in Carol), Jesse Plemons (last in Other People), and Sharon Horgan (I'm a big fan of hers--she created, starred, and wrote all three seasons of Catastrophe on Amazon with another coming up, maybe in April, and also created and wrote 20 episodes of Divorce on HBO).

John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein co-direct their second feature from a script by Mark Perez (his fourth).

The thriller aspect of the movie is accentuated by the tense music by Cliff Martinez (last scored Spring Breakers) which can be streamed from this youtube album.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences, averaging 82 and 84% respectively, like it, too. It's fun and diverting. Check it out after you see the more important and less widely distributed ones (or wait for its May 2018 release on disc and streaming). If you do see it, be sure to stay put for the post-credit scene.

The Party (2017)

Jack and I laughed long and hard at this cringe-fest of adults behaving badly at a British party, meant to celebrate the job promotion of the hostess, gone sideways. The sparkling script, full of up-to-date politics appropriate for both sides of the pond, is by the director Sally Potter (her only other appearance in these pages was for Ginger & Rosa). The first time I saw the trailer I thought it might be a Woody Allen movie--black and white film, neurotic people, fancy digs, snippets of jazz. But no. Another similarity to Woody is the brevity. This clocks in at only 71 minutes, which, considering its intensity, is just right. I whispered to Jack that it was like a bigger ensemble of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf and, in the press kit (download it from this link), Potter references that work at the end of page 2. The movie was shot in 14 days after one week of rehearsals. Oh, and everyone was paid the same, regardless of gender (or anything else). Finally.

The hostess Janet, played by Kristin Scott Thomas (last blogged for Darkest Hour), and her spectacularly drunk husband Bill (Timothy Spall, most recently in Denial) welcome five guests to their home. Patricia Clarkson (after I wrote about her in One Day she had an 8 episode series arc in House of Cards) is the funniest--smart, catty, mean, just no filter--as Janet's close friend April. They're joined by her husband Gottfried (Bruno Ganz, covered in Unknown), their friends Martha (Cherry Jones, profiled in I Saw the Light), Tom (Cillian Murphy, last in Dunkirk), and Jinny (Emily Mortimer, most recently in The Sense of an Ending). I cackled with glee as much at Tom's anxiety as I did at April's insults. Potter, Scott Thomas, and Clarkson have all won awards, though not in this country, for this movie. All seven actors have done quite a bit of stage work and this movie would work quite well on stage with its limited locations around one house.

There's no composer. Instead we have songs, some of which are listed on imdb, and some of them are available on this spotify playlist.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are currently averaging 84% and its audiences only 63. We loved it and want you to see it.

A Fantastic Woman (Una mujer fantástica - 2017)

I and a packed audience loved this Oscar winner (for Best Foreign Film) about a transgender Chilean woman coping with the death of her older boyfriend. The star, Daniela Vega (this is her second acting credit), is trans and sings opera--mezzo soprano--in real life and in the movie. The boyfriend and his surviving brother are played by Francisco Reyes and Luis Gnecco and both were in Neruda.

The script is mostly so restrained that when characters get emotional it's surprising. It was co-written by director Sebastián Lelio and Gonzalo Maza (they did the same on Gloria). The producers include Pablo Larraín (directed Neruda and Jackie) from Chile and Maren Ade (directed Toni Erdmann) from Germany.

The lovely cinematography is thanks to Benjamín Echazarreta (did the honors on Gloria) and you can stream the wonderful music by Matthew Herbert (new to me despite a number of credits) from this youtube playlist with commercials. The soundtrack, including two opera tracks sung by Vega, is also available for sale on Amazon and iTunes. Although another composer, Nani Garcia, is credited on imdb, the movie's press kit (I recommend waiting until after seeing the movie to read the press kit, as it has a few spoilers) and the soundtracks online leave him out. One of the pop songs in the movie is, appropriately, Aretha Franklin's cover of (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics, averaging 94%, are more in agreement with me and my opening night audience than RT's audiences at 82. I recommend this wholeheartedly.

Nostalgia (2018)

This languid ensemble piece, mostly about people's attachment to their old possessions, has some outstanding performances that pay off for those with patience, notably those of Ellen Burstyn, Jon Hamm, and Catherine Keener (last blogged for Wiener-Dog, Marjorie Prime, and Get Out, respectively). Jack called the movie "joyless" and he's not entirely wrong, though I chuckled, thinking of George Carlin's comedy routine about stuff.

Also contributing are John Ortiz (most recently in Going in Style), Bruce Dern (last in these pages for The Hateful Eight), Amber Tamblyn (after I profiled her in 127 Hours she was in Django Unchained, five episodes of Inside Amy Schumer, and more), Nick Offerman (last in The Little Hours), James Le Gros (his best work includes Drugstore Cowboy (1989), Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994), Living in Oblivion (1995) which is one of my all time favorites, The Myth of Fingerprints (1997), Lovely & Amazing (2001), and the 2011 the HBO mini-series Mildred Pierce), and a nice scene with Mikey Madison (she plays Pamela Adlon's eldest daughter in 20 episodes of Better Things) at the very end.

Director Mark Pellington (most recently helmed The Last Word) co-wrote the story with screenwriter Alex Ross Perry (new to me).

I'm glad to say that the haunting score by French composer Laurent Eyquem can be streamed from this youtube playlist.

Critics are hating on this one, averaging only 34% on Rotten Tomatoes, with no audience average published. We weren't sorry we saw it but did make a point of watching a few silly sit-coms later at home.

Black Panther (2018)

Jack and I agree with the public that this is a very good sci-fi action movie, wherein the king of a technologically advanced African nation struggles with bad guys. It's groundbreaking in its cultural representation of actors of color, including some bad ass women. The nation, Wakanda, is fictitious and, according to a map in the very first scene, is somewhere near Uganda

Chadwick Boseman (last blogged for the title role in Marshall) takes on the title role as King T'Challa/Black Panther, Lupita Nyong'o (most recently in Queen of Katwe) is his love interest Nakia, and Michael B. Jordan (last in these pages for Creed) is one of the main nemeses Killmonger, and I must add that the latter two have fantastic hairdos (his and hers). Kicking butt with Nakia are Danai Gurira (I failed to mention her feature debut in the excellent The Visitor and have not seen her other work) as General Okoye and Letitia Wright (new to me) as T'Challa's brainy sister Shuri. We also have Angela Bassett (most recently in Chi-Raq) as T'Challa's and Shuri's mother, Sterling K. Brown (also in Marshall) as N'Jobu in flashback, and Forest Whitaker (last in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) as Zuri. Alex Hibbert (the little boy named Little in Moonlight and six episodes of Showtime's The Chi) has a cameo at the end for a hot minute.

The two main white guys are Martin Freeman (most recently in these pages for Whiskey Tango Foxtrot), who supplies some of the comic relief, and Andy Serkis (last in Rise of the Planet of the Apes), who does not amuse as the smuggler Klaue (AKA Klaw) with the "arm cannon." Isaach De Bankolé (covered in Calvary) may or may not have any lines (I just don't remember) as the nattily dressed official with a big plate in his lower lip. There are well over a hundred in the cast, including Daniel Kaluuya (star of Get Out), so I can't go into them all.

Director Ryan Coogler (last helmed Creed) co-wrote the screenplay with Joe Robert Cole (two episodes of The People vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story in 2016 and one other I haven't seen).

Rachel Morrison, whom I neglected to mention shooting Sound of My Voice, Fruitvale Station, Cake, Dope, and Mudbound, made history as the first Oscar-nominated woman cinematographer for the latter, provides the images here, some of which are literally dark. Don't worry, it lightens up after a while. Like many action movies, this is probably better on a big screen. We did forgo the 3D screening but chose IMAX when we saw it last week.

The costumes, credited to Ruth Carter (also styled Chi-Raq), are spectacular. Here's a discussion of them and some more pictures.

Ludwig Göransson, who scored Coogler's Creed gives us an exciting soundtrack with lots of drums and other African influences and you can stream it for an hour (with commercials) from this youtube link.

Still averaging 97% from critics and 79 from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, this movie boasts the 5th best all time opening weekend and has grossed over $500 million in its third week of release.

Two things we look forward to in Marvel movies (I just learned that MCU means the Marvel Comics Universe) are Stan Lee's cameo (this time it's in the Korean casino) and the bonus scene at the very end (in addition, this time, to one towards the beginning of the credits). Don't miss them. The movie is two and a quarter hours long so plan your beverage intake accordingly.