Crisp Criticism - "I, Tonya", "Molly's Game", "The Commuter", "Maze Runner: The Death Cure"

by

Julien Faddoul

I, Tonya *

Competitive ice skater Tonya Harding rises amongst the ranks at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, before becoming infamous for a possible involved in sabotage.

The idea that Tonya Harding’s circumstantial position in pop-culture is heedful enough to warrant a statement about the inherent demoralization of America is more than a little odious. Like so many other proclamations on the American Dream, this feels the need to rip-off Scorsese with non-linear interjections of analysis, characters breaking the fourth-wall and non-stop referential music on the soundtrack. The whole feels very superficial with not much of interest outside of the performances.

d – Craig Gillespie

w – Steven Rogers

ph – Nicolas Karakatsanis

pd – Jade Healy

m – Peter Nashal

ed – Tatiana S. Riegel

cos – Jennifer Johnson

p – Tom Ackerley, Margot Robbie, Steven Rogers, Bryan Unkeless

Cast: Margot Robbie, Allison Janney, Sebastian Stan, Julianna Nicholson, Bobby Cannavale, Paul Walter Hauser

Molly’s Game **

The true story of Molly Bloom, an Olympic-class skier who ran the world's most exclusive high-stakes poker game and became an FBI target.

Another fairly uninteresting exhibition on America’s bastardized rich and powerful, which is given juice here by a writer/director who, in both capacities, doesn’t get in his own way, allowing his usual percussive dialogue (and his actors) to revel in the spicy commentary. A case of quantity supplanting quality, if you will.

wd – Aaron Sorkin   (Based on the Book by Molly Bloom)

ph – Charlotte Bruus Christensen

pd – David Wasco

m – Daniel Pemberton

ed – Alan Baumgarten, Elliot Graham, Josh Schaeffer

cos – Susan Lyall

p – Mark Gordon, Amy Pascal, Matt Jackson

Cast: Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba, Kevin Costner, Michael Cera, Jeremy Strong, Chris O'Dowd, Bill Camp, Brian D’Arcy James, Graham Greene

The Commuter

A businessman is caught up in a criminal conspiracy during his daily commute home.

The laziest so far of the Neeson/Collet-Serra thrillers, with a plot that is both ludicrous and predicable.

d – Jaume Collet-Serra

w – Byron Willinger, Philip de Blasi, Ryan Engle

ph – Paul Cameron

pd – Richard Bridgland

m – Roque Banos

ed – Nicolas De Toth

cos – Jill Taylor

p – Andrew Rona, Alex Heineman

Cast: Liam Neeson, Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Jonathan Banks, Elizabeth McGovern, Sam Neill, Andy Nyman, Dean Charles Chapman

Maze Runner: The Death Cure

Young hero Thomas embarks on a mission to find a cure for a deadly disease known as the "Flare".
Bloated and utterly dull young adult sequel, in which all roads lead to clichéville.

d – Wes Ball

w – T.S. Nowlin   (Based on the Novel by James Dashner)

ph – Gyula Pados

pd – Daniel T. Dorrance

m – John Paesano

ed – Paul Harb, Dan Zimmerman

cos – Sanja Milkovic Hays

p – Wes Ball, Joe Hartwick Jr

Cast: Dylan O'Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Nathalie Emmanuel, Giancarlo Esposito, Aidan Gillen, Walton Goggins, Ki Hong Lee, Barry Pepper, Will Poulter, Patricia Clarkson