by
Julien Faddoul
It Chapter Two
27 years after overcoming the malevolent supernatural entity Pennywise, the former members of the Losers’ Club, who have grown up and moved away from Derry, are brought back together by a devastating phone call.
Interminable, loud and altogether sluggish scarefest that relies on so many of the tired and trite motifs that I have railed against in the past, including the ersatz treatment of sexual marginalization to gain sympathy, a distracting use of computer graphics to age down its actors, a maddening misconception of what is scary with what is gross and a serialization of the narrative that adds nothing but length. Naturally, its opening weekend broke box-office records.
d – Andy Muschietti
w – Gary Dauberman (Based on the Novel by Stephen King)
ph – Checco Varese
pd – Paul D. Austerberry
m – Benjamin Wallfisch
ed – Jason Ballantine
cos – Luis Sequeira
p – Roy Lee, Dan Lin, Barbara Muschietti
Cast: James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain, Bill Hader, James Ransone, Jay Ryan, Isaiah Mustafa, Andy Bean, Bill Skarsgård, Xavier Dolan, Teach Grant, Jess Weixler, Will Beinbrink, Jaeden Martell, Sophia Lillis, Finn Wolfhard
Ready or Not *
A bride’s wedding night takes a sinister turn when her eccentric new in-laws force her to take part in a terrifying game.
Thin thriller with too much irrational behaviour required from its characters to be totally successful but benefits from some well-staged sequences.
d – Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett
w – Guy Busick, R. Christopher Murphy
ph – Brett Jutkiewicz
pd – Andrew M. Stearn
m – Brian Tyler
ed – Terel Gibson
cos – Avery Plewes
p – Bradley J. Fischer, William Sherak, James Vanderbilt, Tripp Vinson
Cast: Samara Weaving, Andie MacDowell, Mark O'Brien, Adam Brody, Henry Czerny, Nicky Guadagni, Melanie Scrofano, Kristian Bruun, Elyse Levesque
Where’d You Go, Bernadette *
When an architect-turned-recluse, living in Seattle, goes missing prior to a family trip to Antarctica, her 15-year-old daughter goes on a quest to find her.
Bizarre, awkwardly plotted and paced domestic family comedy on a woman whose mental illness is mistaken for arty eccentricity. Purportedly based on a best-selling novel (which I haven’t read), it relies almost entirely on Blanchett to give it any kind of gravitas.
d – Richard Linklater
w – Richard Linklater, Holly Gent, Vince Palmo (Based on the Novel by Maria Semple)
ph – Shane F. Kelly
pd – Bruce Curtis
m – Graham Reynolds
ed – Sandra Adair
cos – Kari Perkins
p – Megan Ellison, Nina Jacobson, Brad Simpson, Ginger Sledge
Cast: Cate Blanchett, Emma Nelson, Billy Crudup, Kristen Wiig, Judy Greer, Laurence Fishburne, Troian Bellisario, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson, James Urbaniak, Claudia Doumit, Kate Easton, Lana Young, Zoe Chao, Katelyn Statton, Richard Robichaux, Owen Buckenmaier, Joe Fishel, Megan Mullally, Steve Zahn, Kate Burton
Don’t Let Go *
After a man’s family dies in what appears to be a murder, he gets a phone call from one of the dead - his niece.
Dour, badly shot and acted murder mystery with an explanation that makes little sense.
d – Jacob Estes
w – Jacob Estes, Drew Daywalt
ph – Sharone Meir
pd – Celine Diano
m – Ethan Gold
ed – Billy Fox, Scott D. Hanson
cos – Nadine Haders
p – David Oyelowo, Jason Blum
Cast: Storm Reid, David Oyelowo, Byron Mann, Mykelti Williamson, Shinelle Azoroh, Alfred Molina, Brian Tyree Henry, Daniel R. Lawson, Omar Leyva
The 39 Steps ****
A murder suspects flees from London to Scotland to track down the real killers.
An utter masterpiece of time, space, comedy and atmosphere. All of Hitch's variables work together in supreme precision. Many of the ideas established here would continually resurface again in both his own work and other thrillers, including the metaphysical chase, the wrongly-accused man, the combative inevitable lovers and the parade of delicious character assets. All the elements of thriller cinema can be traced back to The 39 Steps.
d – Alfred Hitchcock
w – Charles Bennett, Ian Hay, Alma Reville (Based on the Novel by John Buchan)
ph – Bernard Knowles
ad – O. Werndorff, Albert Jullion
m – Hubert Bath, Jack Beaver, Louis Levy
ed – Derek Twist
p – Michael Balcon, Ivor Montagu
Cast: Robert Donat, Madeleine Carroll, Lucie Mannheim, Godfrey Tearle, Peggy Ashcroft, John Laurie, Helen Haye, Frank Cellier, Wylie Watson
Sabotage ***
The proprietor of a small London cinema is a dangerous foreign agent.
We all know this film's reputation as one of Hitch's darkest (and his own least favorite). I personally find it heartbreaking and agitating all at once. And as unattractive as it is, the technique is genius throughout. Sidney apparently swore to never work with Hitch again, which is a shame because I find her to be a perfect analogue to his shrewdness (that Disney/Who Killed Cock Robin? scene gets me every time).
d – Alfred Hitchcock
w – Charles Bennett, Ian Hay, Helen Simpson, Alma Reville (Based on the Novel by Joseph Conrad)
ph – Bernard Knowles
md – Louis Levy
ed – Charles Friend
p – Michael Balcon, Ivor Montagu
Cast: Sylvia Sidney, Oskar Homolka, Desmond Tester, John Loder, Joyce Barbour
The Lady Vanishes ****
En route back to England by train from Switzerland, an old lady disappears and two young people investigate.
The peak of Hitchcock’s early British period, with both he and his screenwriters generating a witty, exuberant comedy thriller while still being able to work in themes of policy appeasement, anti-isolationism, burdensome divorce proceedings and the discomfort that comes from language barriers. It's a superb, suspenseful, funny, meticulously detailed work of cinema.
d – Alfred Hitchcock
w – Sidney Gilliat Frank Launder (Based on the Novel by Ethel Lina White)
ph – Jack Cox
md – Louis Levy
ed – R.E. Dearing
p – Edward Black
Cast: Margaret Lockwood, Michael Redgrave, Paul Lukas, Dame May Whitty, Cecil Parker, Linden Travers, Naunton Wayne, Basil Radford, Mary Clare, Emile Boreo, Googie Withers, Sally Stewart, Catherine Lacey
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