Clint Eastwood’s 37th directorial effort, The Mule, has all the hallmarks of an Eastwood enterprise — unfussy direction, efficient but unhurried, moderately entertaining but nothing special — and is, like most of his work this century, loosely based on a true story. I say “loosely” because unlike the movie character, the real guy seems to […]

With Peter Jackson serving as executive producer, Mortal Engines should feel like more of an event — one with beautifully realized visual effects and the sort of high-fantasy spectacle we’ve come to expect from the filmmaker behind The Lord of the Rings. But the dystopian YA adaptation (a description that has become redundant) is hitting […]

Based on a 1990 novel by Richard Ford, Wildlife has a literary feel to it and comes across as a well-acted, well-produced drama for adults. Its protagonist is a kid, though: 14-year-old Joe Brinson (Ed Oxenbould), an only child who’s witnessing the unraveling of his family in Montana in 1960. Joe’s directionless father, Jerry (Jake Gyllenhaal), […]

Prolific Chilean filmmaker Sebastian Silva had five movies play at Sundance before Tyrel premiered there, including two in the same year (Magic Magic and Crystal Fairy and the Magical Cactus, 2013). He introduced a screening of Tyrel, which is about race relations, by saying, “It’s a movie that was specifically designed for Americans. So enjoy it … […]

You wouldn’t want to make them the staple of your cinematic diet, but movies where the main characters are all corrupt or vain are often satisfying because they let us enjoy the audacity of bad behavior without suffering the consequences of it. Never is that more true than when the people in question are politicians […]

It’s a family affair in Clara’s Ghost, written and directed by — am I reading this right? — “Bridey” Elliott? That seems like a typo. She’s the daughter of Chris Elliott and sister of Abby Elliott. Mom is Paula Niedert Elliott, who was a Late Night with David Letterman staffer when Chris worked there. The whole […]

Racism is solved one moron at a time in Green Book, a lighthearted, vaguely true story set in 1962, with bigoted Bronx-Italian meathead Tony “Lip” Vallelonga (Viggo Mortensen) hired as chauffeur and bodyguard for refined black concert pianist Dr. Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali) as he tours the racist Midwest and the RACIST-racist South. Forced to […]