Crisp Criticism - "Carol", "The 5th Wave", "Goosebumps", "The Forest"

by

Julien Faddoul

Carol ****

In 1952 New York, a toy store clerk and a married socialite, both female, form a romantic relationship. 

A superb film: Icy, contemplative, brilliantly written romance with an almost total lack of sentimentality. Its impeccable mix of lensing, mise-en-scène and performances creates a vivid web of dexterity rarely seen on screen. Virtually every shot and every gesture is so deeply felt as to be utterly penetrating.

d – Todd Haynes

w – Phyllis Nagy   (Based on the Novel by Patricia Highsmith)

ph – Edward Lachman

pd – Judy Becker

m – Carter Burwell

ed – Affonso Gonçalves

cos – Sandy Powell

p – Elizabeth Karlsen, Stephen Woolley, Christine Vachon

Cast: Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Sarah Paulson, Kyle Chandler, Jake Lacy, John Magaro, Cory Michael Smith, Kevin Crowley

The 5^th Wave

A 16-year-old tries to survive in a world devastated by the waves of an alien invasion that has already decimated the population and knocked mankind back to the Stone Age.

Another juvenile yet self-serious dystopian story in which a gutsy young girl has, despite her objections, the fate of the world on her shoulders. This one is duller than most.

d – J Blakeson

w – Susannah Grant, Akiva Goldsman, Jeff Pinkner   (Based on the Novel by Rick Yancey)

ph – Enrique Chediak

pd – Jon Billington

m – Henry Jackman

ed – Paul Rubell

cos – Sharen Davis

p – Tim Headington, Graham King, Tobey Maguire, Matthew Plouffe

Cast: Chloë Grace Moretz, Nick Robinson, Alex Roe, Liev Schreiber, Maika Monroe, Maggie Siff, Zackary Arthur, Talitha Bateman

Goosebumps *

A young kid teams up with the niece of young adult horror author R.L. Stine after the writer's imaginary demons are set free on the town of Greendale, Maryland.

A gracious film that is saturated in nostalgia, both for the mood of 1990’s adventure cinema and for those who were fans of the literature on which it is based. It is intermittingly amusing.

d – Rob Letterman

w – Darren Lemke, Scott Alexander, Larry Karaszewski   (Based on the Books by R.L. Stine)

ph – Javier Aguirresarobe

pd – Sean Haworth

m – Danny Elfman

ed – Jim May

cos – Judianna Makovsky

p – Deborah Forte, Neal H. Moritz

Cast: Jack Black, Dylan Minnette, Odeya Rush, Amy Ryan, Ryan Lee, Jillian Bell

The Forest

A young American woman is in search of her twin sister, who has mysteriously disappeared in the Aokigahara Forest in Japan.

Nonsensical and sloppy horror film; waste of time.

d – Jason Zada

w – Nick Antosca, Sarah Cornwell, Ben Ketai

ph – Mattias Troelstrup

pd – Kevin Phipps

m – Bear McCreary

ed – Jim Flynn

cos – Bojana Nikitovic

p – David S. Goyer, David Linde, Tory Metzger

Cast: Natalie Dormer, Taylor Kinney, Yukiyoshi Ozawa, Eoin Macken, Rina Takasaki, Kikuo Ichikawa, Noriko Sakura