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LEAVE NO TRACE: ONE OF THIS YEAR’S BEST

Film Leonard Maltin Movie Reviews
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Debra Granik is an exceptional filmmaker. Her output is small but each film is resolute and genuine. Her latest, Leave No Trace, maintains the high standards she set with Down to the Bone, which introduced us to Vera Farmiga, and Winter’s Bone, which served as a launch pad for Jennifer Lawrence. The known quantity in this harsh drama is Ben Foster, who gives a great performance as a shattered veteran who is raising his teenage daughter in the woods of the Pacific Northwest, hiding from “civilization.” He loves her but, if you will pardon the pun, he can no longer see the forest for the trees. A social worker makes a sincere effort to help them but Foster is beyond rational behavior and trusts no one—least of all a…

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SICARIO: DAY OF THE SOLDADO

Film In Theaters Leonard Maltin Movie Reviews
10603

Sicario sneaked up on moviegoers and critics alike in the latter part of 2015, earning excellent reviews and ultimately finding its audience online. This sequel reunites two of its stars (Josh Brolin and Benicio del Toro) and boasts a script by the original writer, Taylor Sheridan. But despite their best efforts, it falls far short of the earlier film. At first, Sicario: Day of the Soldado seems to have the grit and substance of the original but it soon becomes evident that the story isn’t going anywhere. It’s difficult to assign blame for this misfire. Is it the absence of a strong female protagonist like the one played by Emily Blunt, or Roger Deakins’ cinematography, or the late Johan Johannsson’s score? Sheridan has done first-rate work since that breakout…

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REMEMBERING HARLAN ELLISON

Leonard Maltin
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I will never, ever forget how I first met celebrated science-fiction author Harlan Ellison. I was attending a morning showing of James Cameron’s breakthrough movie The Terminator in 1984, and signing in with the publicist on duty. When Harlan heard me say my name he approached me and offered a friendly hello. Then he told me why he was there: he had heard from reliable sources that the movie had taken key story ideas from his past work, specifically an episode of The Outer Limits called “Demon with a Glass Hand.” The theater wasn’t crowded but we sat in separate rows, not far from each other. My experience watching this now-famous movie was punctuated by Harlan’s outbursts and expletives. (“Jesus Christ!” “I can’t believe it” and such.)…

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Tag

Contributors New Voices
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This post is a part of our New Voices Section. Written by Amarú Moses. How many of you all have a stupid yet amazing inside joke/game/thing that you and your friends still do ‘til this day. I know my friends and I have at least five different inside jokes in which people look at us like we are crazy. Yet, I feel like we have completely dropped the ball after watching the greatest real-life friends’ tradition played out in the new comedy Tag. These men put us all to shame, and do not be surprised if next May (or even sooner) you randomly see grown men and women playing tag in your local mall. Tag is based on a true story of lifelong friends who…

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You Were Never Really Here Explores Trauma and the Painful Ties It Binds

Contributors New Voices
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This post is a part of our New Voices Section. Written by Garrett Eberhardt. You Were Never Really Here follows Joe (Joaquin Phoenix), a veteran turned contract investigator/killer with a specialty in the tracking of missing girls. After taking a job involving Nina (Ekaterina Samsonov), the troublesome daughter of a New York State Senator, Joe becomes embroiled in a deep conspiracy that leaves him fighting shadowy figures while simultaneously fighting the shadows of his past. While the violence present in You Were Never Really Here has been the subject of much focus and debate, at its core, the film is about the effect of trauma, traumatic childhoods in particular. Interspersed within the main thread of the film are flashbacks of the trauma Joe suffered as…

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THE TALE

Contributors New Voices
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This post is a part of our New Voices Section. Written by Hannah Hoolihan. I was originally going to see The Tale during my quick trip to Sundance but was unable to attend. I patiently waited to see if it would be picked up for distribution. Luckily for me (and to everyone’s surprise) the film was acquired by HBO. This was on everyone’s mind during the festival, popping up in conversation amongst almost every movie-goer, so you can imagine my anticipation in seeing what all of the chatter was about. The Tale was written and directed by Jennifer Fox. She has frequented Sundance in the past with her documentaries, but this time her movie was featured in the U.S. Dramatic Competition. It’s a vulnerable memoir…

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There’s No Place Like Home: Disobedience (2017)

Contributors New Voices
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This post is a part of our New Voices Section. Written by CJ Sheu. Lesbian sexuality on the big screen can be a fraught endeavor. In an art form that has traditionally rendered the male gaze, it takes intentional distance from formal convention to keep the lens expressive of female desire. Sebastián Lelio’s Disobedience (2017), and the work of its cinematographer, Danny Cohen, does this wonderfully. There is some nudity, to be sure, but it’s neither prurient nor pointedly avoided, but rather treated indifferently by the camera, a side-note to what it’s really focused on: lustful attention. The sex scene is sexy, even kinky in its feminist appropriation of projecting bodily fluids, but even sexier is when, as they get dressed, photographer Ronit (Rachel Weisz) asks and…

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