Currently browsing the "Elisabeth Moss" tag.

Quickie Review: The Kitchen

The Kitchen. Just stay out of it.

As much as I’d like to support a film helmed by a woman (Andrea Berloff in her directorial debut) and led by a strong ensemble cast featuring a trio of talented women (Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish, Elisabeth Moss)… I can’t find any reason to recommend The Kitchen.

Quickie Review: US

US is most definitely a thinking person’s horror movie. That means, it helps to be a fan of the horror genre, to mitigate the horrors of having to watch the movie multiple times in order to catch all the nuances and subtext that writer/director Jordan Peele surely intends us to mull over for years to come. Despite all the raves for US, it’s important to keep its potential place in cinematic history in check. While I was certainly horrified and entertained by US, I liked Peele’s breakout hit Get Out more, because it managed to be shocking, provocative and entertaining without fitting into the classic mold of a horror movie (a genre that rarely appeals to me). Like Get Out, however, US benefits from a crazy-good acting ensemble. Most notable among them: Oscar-winner Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave, Black Panther) who may just see herself nominated in the best actress category if we’re still talking about US come November.

Review: The Square

Winner of the 2017 Cannes Film Festival’s Palme D’Or, The Square is a darkly funny satire set in the art world. Christian (Claes Bang) is the head curator at a prestigious Swedish modern art museum staging an exhibition calling for a trusting and compassionate society, who realizes how hard that actually is to accomplish. The film has less a story line than a series of tableaux one walks through ending up with an impression. It opens with an unseen artist building a square of brick right in from of the museum and laying a plaque in it saying,”The Square is a sanctuary of trust and caring. Within it we all share equal rights and obligations.” And everything that happens afterwards refers back to that statement, revealing modern society’s greatest failing.