“Beautiful Boy” (Drama/Biography: 2 hours)

Starring: Steve Carell, Timothée Chalamet, Maura Tierney and Amy Ryan

Director: Felix van Groeningen

Rated: R (Profanity, drug use, and sexual content)

 

Movie Review: Based on the memoir “Beautiful Boy” by David Sheff and “Tweak” by Nicolas Sheff, “Beautiful Boy” is a potent drama about the effects drug addictions have on people and their families. It is a brutally assertive movie in respect to details about drug use. 

The cast is inspiringly superior as people constantly going through difficult moments continuously, yet the predictable repetition negates emotional impact.

The movie follows the life of Nic Sheff (Chalamet). A drug addict, his life is one of addiction, survival and recovery. His and his family’s lives dealing with Nic’s addiction, especially his father, David (Carell), transpire during many years. The family copes with each new relapse by Nic. 

Felix van Groeningen (“The Broken Circle Breakdown,” 2013) admires father-son stories according to his notes regarding this drama. In “Beautiful Boy,” although mothers are present, Van Groeningen creates a story where drugs injure a father-son relationship continuously but the familial duo maintains their fight to keep Nic alive.

Here, Carell and Chalamet offer fascinating performances. Yet the repetitive nature of Nic’s addiction becomes commonplace in a manner that smothers their performances. 

“Beautiful” offers a nice insight into the world of addiction. It is an engaging drama. It stays with one moments after observing it.

Grade: B+ (Beautifully informative.)

“The Grinch” (Animation/Comedy: 1 hour, 26 minutes)

Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Rashida Jones, Cameron Seely, Kenan Thompson and Angela Lansbury

Directors: Scott Mosier and Yarrow Cheney

Rated: PG (Crude humor)

Movie Review: “The Grinch” is Illumination’s second Dr. Seuss movie following 2012’s “The Lorax.” “The Grinch” is another adaptation about the green grouch’s anti-Christmas act. He is still mean, but this adaptation has heart, adding something new to the green man’s scene. 

The town of Whoville finds Whos filled with Christmas spirit. However, a cantankerous green Grinch (Benedict Cumberbatch) wants nothing to do with it. 

High on Mount Crumpit, Grinch devises a plan to stop the Christmas celebration. He will steal all that has to do with the day from Whoville and end his aggravation. On Christmas Eve, The Grinch steals presents, decorations, holiday food treats and any other yuletide abomination.

One of the best parts about the Christmas season is The Grinch story. He is much like a Scrooge allegory. The adaptation offers nothing new but a softer Grinch portrayal. Still, it is an enjoyable treat for families, especially children, will regard it as swell.

Grade: B- (Green and mean still deserves to be seen.)

“Overlord” (Science Fiction/War/Suspense: 1 hour, 50 minutes)

Starring: Jovan Adepo, Wyatt Russell, Mathilde Ollivier and Pilou Asbæk

Director: Julius Avery

Rated: R (Strong bloody violence, gore, strong language, and sexual content.)

 

Movie Review: This World War II-themed movie is a clever revisionist science-fiction treat. It turns war into a monster movie similar to those films of the 1950s. 

It strays with unrealistic bits, but it is absorbing enough to hold one’s attention with creative elements and engaging characters.

With only hours until D-Day, a team of American paratroopers drops into Nazi-occupied France for an important mission. They must destroy a radio transmitter atop a fortified church, so Allied Forces can invade June 6, 1944. 

The five Army personnel survive the mission and discover the Nazis are doing more than operating a transmitter tower. The base is a cover for a research laboratory. 

“Overlord” offers a new twist on World War II. It takes the war and adds an original twist in a manner that only superhero movies routinely do. It takes war adds science fiction much in the manner “Captain America: The First Avenger” (2011) did.

Director Julius Avery directs his second movie, following 2015’s “Son of a Gun.” He keeps the movie moving along at a nice pace. It has action and a mystery worth following.

The science becomes unrealistically revisionist history for the movie’s latter third. The super-soldier parallelism to “Captain America” is uncanny and goes too far. Plus, the rap music appears out of place for a period feature.

Otherwise, “Overlord” provides plenty of mystery and action to make an easy diversion. It is an intriguing war movie that offers plenty of creativity and strong characters acted by a skilled cast led by Adepo, Russell, Ollivier and Asbæk.

Grade: B- (Overdoes the sci-fi attributes, but it is a swell movie.)

“The Girl in the Spider’s Web” (Crime/Thriller: 1 hour, 55 minutes)

Starring: Claire Foy, Sverrir Gudnason, LaKeith Stanfield, Christopher Convery and Sylvia Hoeks

Director: Fede Álvarez

Rated: R (Violence, profanity and sexual content/nudity)

 

Movie Review: Lisbeth Salander became a cult figure in applauded the Millennium book series created by Stieg Larsson. Now, the character has become a watered-down James Bond-type character.

In Stockholm, Sweden, computer programmer Frans Balder (Stephen Merchant) hires vigilante hacker Lisbeth Salander to retrieve a program named Firefall. It is a program developed by the National Security Agency and capable of accessing the world’s nuclear codes. 

Once Lisbeth effectively retrieves Firefall from the NSA’s servers, Agent Edwin Needham (Stanfield) begins tracking her. Later, mercenaries working for a crime syndicate led by Lisbeth’s sister, Camilla Salander (Hoeks), steal the program. Lisbeth must work quickly with allies and Balder’s young son, August Balder (Convery), before her sister uses Firefall. 

Again, Lisbeth Salander is more like a secret agent character than the vigilante audiences have become accustomed. The movie, directed by Fede Álvarez (“Don’t Breathe,” 2016), appears very different from previous renditions. 

In the Millennium Series movies that started Noomi Rapace as “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” and the 2011 American film adaptation that starred Rooney Mara, Salander is different. She is more intellectual yet socially inept.

The movie focuses too much on plot twists and action scenes in an espionage movie manner. A certain loss of the core character is apparent with this spy-versus-spy theme.

Grade: C (The screenplay is a complicated web.)

“Can You Ever Forgive Me?” (Biography/Drama: 1 hour, 46 minutes)

Starring: Melissa McCarthy, Richard E. Grant and Dolly Wells

Director: Marielle Heller

Rated: R (Profanity, sexual references, and brief drug use)

 

Movie Review: Melissa McCarthy is clever as a writer who makes a living falsifying the letters of famous deceased people. 

McCarthy is usually in comedic roles, but she is at her dramatic best here along with Richard Grant. The biographical drama, an adaptation of Lee Israel’s 2008 confessional autobiography “Can You Ever Forgive Me?,” is intriguing and aptly directed by Marielle Heller.

Leonore “Lee” Carol Israel (McCarthy) is an American author, known for her profile of Katharine Hepburn, biographies of Tallulah Bankhead, Estee Lauder and others during the 1970s and 1980s. When faced with financial struggles, Israel turns to another type of writing, literary forgery.

Israel, a recluse and cat lover, starts forging the letters of famous people with the aid of friend Jack Hock (Grant). During approximately three years, Israel forged about 400 letters from famous deceased celebrities until the FBI investigation began. She is proud of the counterfeit letters, calling them some of her best work.

Israel died in 2014, but the story revives the scandal regarding her forgeries. The movie makes her interesting and gives one another, maybe sympathetic view of the writer.

McCarthy plays Israel well. She dumps her comedic side to play Israel in a dramatic manner. McCarthy makes her role tantalizing. It works to make Israel an engaging subject.

Although, the flaw of casting a comedian is that one keeps waiting for him or her to utter a comedic quip. When McCarthy curses another person, the moment appears less dramatic. Cinematic typecasting interferes. 

Richard Grant plays Jack Hock. Together, theirs is an interesting friendship. Grant plays the flamboyant Hock with a nice swagger that makes him one of the screenplay’s more energetic parts. Together, he and McCarthy form one of this year’s more captivating onscreen friendships. 

Marielle Heller is an able director. While her resume for movies is slim, she is an exceptional director. Check out “The Diary of a Teenage Girl” (2015) to see another good movie by her. She directs “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” with an exacting influence. The movie is appealing on multiple levels.

Grade: B+ (If you miss this, you will need to forgive yourself.)

*Playing in larger cities

“Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” (Fantasy: 2 hours, 14 minutes)

Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Dan Fogler, Ezra Miller, Jude Law and Johnny Depp

Director: David Yates

Rated: PG-13 (Violence and thematic elements)

 

Movie Review: “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” is the second feature from J.K. Rowling’s world of wizardry about a ‘magizoologist.’ It is the sequel to “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” (2016). 

Mystery swamps “The Crimes of Grindelwald.” It is not difficult to follow, but these characters, other than the two leading male actors from the 2016 movie are flat and lifeless. Producers are yet again drawing out what should be a shorter series to make money.

Forces of good, led by Professor Albus Dumbledore (Law), gather to thwart the plans of Gellert Grindelwald (Depp). The evil wizard wants pure-blood wizards to rule the world. 

Dumbledore recruits his former student, Newt Scamander (Redmayne), a magizoologist, to help. Scamander, Dumbledore and others must move quickly as Grindelwald’s campaign is growing.

The talented cast plays their roles well. They are intriguing. They inspire one as individuals, but the narrative in which they exist leaves much to the imagination. 

Director David Yates, who directed several “Harry Potter” movies, and the producers of this wizarding world do not realize that everything does not have to be in a movie for it to make sense.

The movie tries too hard to make every character pivotal. A reason exists as to why movies have leading roles. Some of the sub-stories are unneeded script material. Thus, the “Fantastic Beasts” series may be entertaining, but it is story-laden too.

Grade: C+ (It is magical but casts a weak spell.)

“A Private War” (Biography/Drama: 1 hour, 50 minutes)

Starring: Rosamund Pike, Jamie Dornan and Tom Hollander

Director: Matthew Heineman

Rated: R (Violence, disturbing imagery, profanity, sexuality and nudity)

 

Movie Review: Rosamund Pike is an exceptional actress. She inhabits this role, channeling Marie Catherine Colvin, one of the most awarded war correspondents. 

The movie is a biographical slice of Colvin’s life from 2001-12. It is a nice capture of her story, a private war to report the news.

Marie Colvin (Pike) is an American journalist working as a foreign-affairs correspondent for the British newspaper The Sunday Times. Despite relationship problems and getting injured, which costs her the sight of her left eye after an explosion, Colvin continues going to the front lines to report on wars wearing an eyepatch.

Matthew Heineman is the Oscar-nominated and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker responsible for the 2015 documentary feature “Cartel Land.” Heineman knows how to capture a person’s life effectively.

He makes Colvin’s life front and center in an effective manner. However, the scenes appear more interested in her in the field, showing how brave she is. The scenes work, yet they appear repetitive.

The movie’s best is Pike. She continually impresses as an actress. To confirm this, see her performances in “Gone Girl” (2014), “A United Kingdom” (2016), “Hostiles” (2017), “7 Days in Entebbe” (2018). No doubt, she will garner some attention during awards season.

Pike makes Colvin an intriguing study as she tries to get audiences to understand the correspondent’s motives. Interestingly, Pike as Colvin, is the movie’s best part, especially when she meets Muhammad Gaddafi (Raad Rawi). Pike is powerful and carries the movie when scenes become average.

Grade: B+ (Pike is mesmerizing playing a real-life journalist.)

“Instant Family” (Comedy: 1 hour, 59 minutes)

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Rose Byrne, Isabela Moner and Octavia Spencer

Director: Sean Anders

Rated: PG-13 (thematic elements, sexual material, language and some drug references)

 

Movie Review: “Instant Family is a nice release for those desiring a decent comedy. Usually, too many characters can be a clutter. In this case, roles are all funny. Each character brings a unique set of laughs. 

Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne are becoming regular casting for comedies. They play Pete and Elie Wagner. They are a couple with no children. One day they decide to adopt foster siblings: a 15-year-old Lizzy (Moner), accident-prone Juan (Gustavo Quiroz) and the spoiled youngest Lita (Julianna Gamiz). The Wagners find becoming parents of three is no easy task.

Sean Anders directs the comedy. He last directed “Daddy’s Home” (2015) and its sequel “Daddy’s Home Two” (2017). Anders is good at taking nominal comedic scripts and giving them an energetic boast. In the wrong hands, his movies would be mishaps. Anders finds a way to make them good cinematic moments.

Anders allows his cast to have fun. Often, they ad lib lines. The comedic quips work as deadpan humor. The actors appear to enjoy their roles, relishing their freedom.

In particular, the talented Octavia Spencer and stand-up comic Tig Notaro are both engaging. They play two social workers who orient potential parents through the foster-care process. Spencer and Notaro’s deadpan humor is spot on for laughs.

If you are looking for laughs, this family is the selection. “Instant Family” is a touching movie that delivers entertainment.

Grade: B (Instant gratification!)

“Widows” (Crime/Drama: 2 hours, 9 minutes)

Starring: Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki, Liam Neeson, Colin Farrell, and Robert Duvall

Director: Steve McQueen

Rated: R (Violence, profanity, sexual content and nudity)

 

Movie Review: Based on both television miniseries (1983 and 2002), “Widows” is a feature directed by the talented Steve McQueen (“12 Years a Slave,” 2013). 

McQueen and co-writer Gillian Flynn penned this script, it is riveting, but the scripters did not know what they wanted the movie to be. 

In contemporary Chicago during an election campaign, four different women are grieving their husbands’ deaths. Harry Rawlings (Neeson) and his team died during a botched heist, and they left their wives widows and indebted to Jamal Manning, a notorious crime boss and politician.

The widows, led by Veronica Rawlings (Davis), are determined to finish what their deceased husbands started.

Again, the screenplay is an eclectic mix of consolidated stories with a good, brilliant cast. Writers McQueen and Flynn create an entertaining movie, but the script tries to combine a miniseries into two hours. The movie is a heist movie, mixed with corrupt politics, prostitution and women’s empowerment. The themes compete.

Grade: C+ (The positive: the widows are single now.)

 

Adann-Kennn Alexxandar lives in Valdosta.