“Lady Bird” (Comedy/Drama: 1 hour, 34 minutes)

Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Tracy Letts and Jordan Rodrigues

Director: Greta Gerwig

Rated: R (Profanity, drug usage, nudity, violence, thematic elements and sexuality)

Movie Review: “Lady Bird” is actress Greta Gerwig’s second film as a director following “Nights and Weekends” (2008), which she co-directed. She is also a writer having written screenplays and teleplays. She more than ably helms “Lady Bird,” an engaging coming-of-age melodrama.

Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson (Ronan) lives with her parents, Marion (Metcalf) and Larry (Letts), and her brother, Miguel (Rodrigues), in 2002 Sacramento, Calif.

Lady Bird desperately wants to leave Northern California for the East Coast. She feels life would better anywhere but where she lives. Lady Bird’s constant disagreements with her mother do not help her depressed state as a teen in angst. As Lady Bird’s senior year progresses, she learns much about people, places and herself.

“Lady Bird” is similar in nature to “Juno” (2007). In this sense, it feels familiar for a movie about teenagers maturing. The movies thrive on their interesting characters changing as they face situations of life. The cast in “Lady Bird” makes their roles appealing.

Saoirse Ronan is a superior actress. In 2008, she was nominated for an Oscar at age 13 for her turn in “Atonement” (Director Joe Wright, 2007). The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences nominated her again for “Brooklyn” (Director John Crowley, 2015). Ronan is uniquely gifted making her characters richly inviting. She is at her best again as Lady Bird. She makes the role captivating, emotive and thoroughly entertaining.

Metcalf is a warm embrace. She plays Ronan’s mother with zest. Her scenes with Ronan are some of the better scenes.

Letts is the calming father. He is the caring father. He offers an understanding friend for Lady Bird.

Others in the cast are exciting, too. Well-developed characters exist in this screenplay by Gerwig. They provide humor and some light dramatic moments that keep scenes appealing. As Lady Bird learns life’s lessons, audiences observe neat characters. Though some parts appear typical, their lives play out like a sweet tapestry.

Grade: B+ (Lady Bird soars.)

“The Man Who Invented Christmas” (Biography/Drama: 1 hour, 44 minutes)

Starring: Dan Stevens, Christopher Plummer and Jonathan Pryce

Director: Bharat Nalluri

Rated: PG (Violence, thematic elements and some mild language)

Movie Review: Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” is one of the most beloved tales. People tell the story every Christmas season around the world. This movie is about the tribulations Dickens encountered in publishing his story.

October 1843, British novelist Charles Dickens (Stevens) is not at the top of his game. He has had a few underperforming works. Facing a major case of writer’s block, circumstances inspire Dickens to create a Christmas story about the old and cold-hearted miser Ebenezer Scrooge (Plummer). 

Dickens struggles to get his tale written and printed in just a few weeks, but he has continual interruptions, especially by his father, John (Pryce). The author also wrestles with taxing memories from his childhood. Meanwhile, Dickens’ characters, including Scrooge, taunt him with their opinions. These instances become inspirations for writing.

Susan Coyne penned the screenplay adapted from Les Standiford’s revisionist book about Dickens. Thus, the screenplay is by a writer, writing about an author’s works about a novelist. Each author clearly inspired by the preceding one.

Coyne’s script is fascinating and is a thought-provoking piece about the ingenuity needed to create a good narrative. The process can be a lengthy one, and the screenplay puts forth the effort to create a good venture. As noted by the title, the movie attempts to show that Dickens’ story about Scrooge gave modern Christmas a soul, a sort of directive.

The cast, led by Dan Stevens, is engaging. Stevens is dynamic as Dickens. Plummer, an octogenarian, is superior as always. Pryce is cunning as Dickens’ father. The three men and several others are agreeably amusing.

The movie has a negative. Too many story elements collide. Interactions happen, many simultaneously. Granted these multiple elements are supposedly what inspires Dickens’ tale of Scrooge, the extras are superfluous sometimes. However, they are a minuscule distraction.

Director Bharat Nalluri (“Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day,” 2008) conducts the story, the cast, special effects and costumers in a creative manner that works. Together, these parts create an enjoyable movie. It thrives on the inspirational work on which it is created.

Grade: B (Dickens’ words still inspire.)

“Novitiate” (Drama: 2 hours, 3 minutes)

Starring: Margaret Qualley, Melissa Leo, Julianne Nicholson and Rebecca Dayan

Director: Margaret Betts

Rated: R (Profanity, nudity, sexuality and thematic elements)

Movie Review: “Novitiate” is the feature film directorial debut for Margaret Betts. She is the writer of the screenplay also. Betts creates a fascinating movie about feminism with a background of religion.

Sister Cathleen Harris (Qualley) is a 17-year-old. She trains to be Roman Catholic nun in 1964 during the era of Vatican II. She becomes a novitiate of Order of the Sisters of Blessed Rose at Our Lady of Blessed Sorrows, a conservative school.

Sister Cathleen struggles with her relationship with her mother, Nora Harris (Nicholson), faith, sexuality and the stern teachings of Reverend Mother Marie St. Clair (Leo). Still, Harris remains a devout Catholic.

Betts creates characters of great depth. The women are the foreground. Their background is the Roman Catholic Church as it undergoes radical changes under Vatican II to make Catholicism friendlier. Betts takes these changes within the church as the perfect setting to show how several nuns are also changing in the way they see their lives.

A cast of primarily women provides splendid drama. Melissa Leo and Margaret Qualley are standouts among the ensemble. 

An Academy Award recipient, Leo always appears different for her roles. She is the ultimate character actor — turned lead actress as in “Frozen River” (2008). 

Qualley is the lead character. She is phenomenal as a young postulant, a person applying for a religious order. She plays her role distinctively seductive.

Their story is riveting. Tension-filled interactions are at the heart of the movie. Betts does create tension among the nuns; she allows her characters to challenge their inner selves. That is the struggle, internal conflicts.

Grade: B+ (A worthy cast delivers.)

“The Killing of a Sacred Deer” (Horror: 2 hours, 1 minutes)

Starring: Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Raffey Cassidy, Sunny Suljic and Barry Keoghan

Director: Yorgos Lanthimos

Rated: R (Disturbing violent and sexual content, graphic nudity and profanity)

Movie Review: The psychological horror film is a modern adaptation of the ancient Greek play “Iphigenia at Aulis” by Euripides directed by Yorgos Lanthimos (“The Lobster,” 2016) and written by Lanthimos and Efthymis Filippou. While some moments are dubious or puzzling, the movie is cerebrally engaging and boasts nice turns from its cast. 

Dr. Steven Murphy (Farrell) is a handsome renowned cardiovascular surgeon. His wife is the beautiful ophthalmologist Dr. Anna Murphy (Kidman). With their two children, Kim (Cassidy) and Bob (Suljic), they are the idyllic suburban family. 

Enter Martin (Keoghan), a fatherless teen who Steven has befriended. Martin quickly becomes a secondary member of the family but the young man’s sinister intent slowly becomes evident as he incorporates himself into the family. Steven must confront a past medical transgression after Martin reveals his true motives.

Lanthimos creates a grand experience. He uses jarringly sharp music, beautiful visuals by cinematographer Thimios Bakatakis, written material that drowns itself in modern movie creativity. The screenplay is not your typical horror. It has the feel of Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining” (1980) but “The Killing of a Sacred Deer” plays like good drama, too. That is where its cast delivers.

Farrell is exceptional. He makes the best of his role and appears to relish in his character’s strengths and weaknesses. Kidman is intriguing with or without words. She emotes perfectly capturing the need requirements to make her character extensively captivating. Alicia Silverstone has a small part but it is effective, adding the needed tension of a pivotal scene. 

Younger actors of this cast join Farrell and Kidman. Cassidy, Suljic and Keoghan add to the movie’s creepiness. Keoghan (“Dunkirk,” 2017) is especially apt. He plays his role in an unpredictable manner that is eerily fascinating.

As a director, Lanthimos is an artist. He takes time to develop his script like Alfred Hitchcock and while delivering a creative venture that causes anxiety like a Stanley Kubrick photoplay. The combination is a slow process. His script with Filippou is perplexing occasionally but inspiring simultaneously.

Grade: B (Endearing storytelling for a psychological thriller.)