Red Sparrow
Francis Lawrence's "Red Sparrow" is just the type of spy film we deserve right now. Visually beguiling and arid in its emotions, the film takes no prisoners in the way it frankly dissects the viciousness of empty political vessels using mind and body to wage a cold war. Jennifer Lawrence- using her stardom to spin a female character both sexy and dangerous- is the draw here, but "Red Sparrow" largely succeeds because of its reluctance to play anything safe.... which was evident in the many guffaws and gasps experienced during my mature aged audience expecting a "Hunger Games"- esque escape. After the third of fourth brutal torture scene, all hope was zapped from the theater. I loved it even more, then.
Game Night
Better-than-average, smartly constructed comedy (thankfully relatively low on the raunch factor), with an engaging cast (especially Rachel McAdams) "Game Night" is also the coming out party for Jessie Plemmons. As soon as an actor like Plemmons gets tapped to play a quirky, unhinged character like the one here, you know he's arrived. Highly self-aware but imbued with an overarching honesty despite its wink-wink humor, "Game Night" excels at most everything it attempts.
Thoroughbreds
Praise must be given for the first two-thirds of Cory Finley's directorial debut "Thoroughbreds" as it maintains a level of formal brilliance and thematic speculation that sincerely keeps the viewer off balance. We watch as two high school friends reconnect after years of unfriendliness- perfectly played by Olivia Cook and Ana Taylor Joy- and hatch a plot that's as nihilistic and psychotic as the feelings pulsing beneath their glassy eyes. When those plot mechanisms kick in, the film loses a bit of its momentum, but "Thoroughbreds" is still a bold and unnerving exploration of the emptiness once exaggerated in so many Bret Easton Ellis novels of the 80's.
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