Landscape with Invisible Hand
Similar2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), A Clockwork Orange (1971), Annie Hall (1977), Blade Runner (1982),
Boys Don't Cry (1999) Contact (1997), East of Eden (1955), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Fried Green Tomatoes (1991),
Jackie Brown (1997) Manhattan (1979), Mars Attacks! (1996), Mary Poppins (1964), Predator (1987), Random Harvest (1942), Solaris (1972), Stalker (1979),
The Name of the Rose (1986) The Outsiders (1983), The Science of Sleep (2006), The Silent Partner (1978), The Thirteenth Floor (1999), To Die For (1995), War of the Worlds (2005),
Watch afterBarbie (2023) Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire (2023), The Equalizer 3 (2023),
StudioMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer,
Cory Finley is obsessed with money. His characters have nice things or want them. They live in beautiful houses or enviously plot to get them. Even in the year 2036, with aliens living on (or, more precisely, about two miles above) planet Earth, people still fret over money and try to make scads of it. That’s the state of things in his latest, Landscape with Invisible Hand. It’s a title with the same bespoke aestheticism as the stuffed ocelots and oversized chess pieces his characters own. It feels seemingly designed to scare off less curious viewers. While the film has an awful lot of plot, the undergirding is the same. As in his 2017 debut Thoroughbreds, his follow-up Bad Education, and even his episodes of the abysmal miniseries WeCrashed, the drama comes from the idea of what money does to the soul. Continue Reading →
Jules
SimilarA.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), Alien (1979), Aliens (1986), Mars Attacks! (1996), Predator (1987), Stalker (1979), War of the Worlds (2005),
In a media landscape with fewer and fewer options actually targeted toward adults (often tied to the death of the mid-budget movie), audiences take the scraps they're given and make the best of them. This is the space that Jules occupies, a sci-fi fairy tale about the specific loneliness of senior citizens who feel isolated, ignored, and afraid. It’s also a thin, often ham-fisted take on a tale that could have had real legs in more capable hands. Continue Reading →
The Starling Girl
SimilarA Real Young Girl (1976), Copying Beethoven (2006),
Jem Starling’s (Eliza Scanlen) wardrobe is too much for the Kentucky heat. Yet others say her bra is still too visible. She tries to praise the Lord through dance with attempts progressive yet accessible to her church. Still, her peers claim the music she picks is too aggressive. Her instructor, Misty (Jessamine Burgum), gently scolds her individuality in class. Meanwhile, at home, her family warns against not just sex but intimacy of any sort. Such is standard for a 17-year-old girl growing up a fundamentalist Christian. Body and soul are omnipresent in The Starling Girl, as much as they are mutually exclusive. Continue Reading →
Rye Lane
StudioBBC Film, BFI, Searchlight Pictures,
There’s been no shortage of pieces lately decrying the state of the romcom—is it on life support? Dead? In danger? If you’ve been lamenting the dearth of gems like You’ve Got Mail and Bridget Jones’s Diary, then Hulu has good news for you with its release of director Raine Allen-Miller’s feature debut: Rye Lane. It’s a quick and quippy romp through London’s Peckham neighborhood as two heartbroken twentysomethings bond over breakups and, far more deliciously, how to get back at their rotten exes. It’s a return to form that doesn’t feel stuck in the past. Rather, it’s a joyful reminder of why everyone loves a rom-com to begin with. Continue Reading →
The Accidental Getaway Driver
Divinity disappoints while The Accidental Getaway Driver surprises in this selection of genre offerings from the fest.
No amount of recasting could have possibly saved Eddie Alcazar's Divinity from its state of terminal confusion. That's a shame considering the number of the relatively famous names involved. They include, most mystifying of all, executive producer Steven Soderbergh.
A bewildering stew of sci-fi, social commentary, and general weirdness, the title refers to a drug developed by renowned scientist Sterling Perce (Scott Bakula) to prevent death. Ironically, he died before completing his work. Thankfully (?), his son Jaxxon (Stephen Dorff) solved the formula and sold it to the masses. It appears to do the job of forestalling death but with an unexpected side effect--the inability to reproduce. Continue Reading →
Alice, Darling
SimilarLost in Translation (2003), The Big Blue (1988), The Party (1980), The Party 2 (1982),
StarringWunmi Mosaku,
Alice, Darling may tout itself a psychological thriller in its marketing, but that leads audiences astray. This isn’t Repulsion or Mulholland Drive. Instead, it’s a startlingly accurate portrayal of domestic abuse. Continue Reading →
The Inspection
SimilarRope (1948),
Watch afterElemental (2023),
The Inspection, the narrative feature debut of writer-director Elegance Bratton, aims to be a fictionalized treatment of Bratton’s own real-life experiences as a young gay Black man attempting to turn his life around by, of all things, joining the Marines. As dramatic hooks go, that’s a compelling one, but the finished film seems strangely unwilling to grapple with it in any meaningful way. Instead, what could have been a unique, deeply personal narrative is eventually reduced to a well-meaning but largely undistinguished military melodrama that is ultimately too familiar for its own good. Continue Reading →