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      ‘There Is No “I” in Threesome’ Review: Monogamy Alternatives

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story‘There Is No “I” in Threesome’ Review: Monogamy AlternativesA director and his fiancée chronicle their yearlong open relationship in this documentary that offers a clever examination of perspective.Jan Oliver Lucks, right, with Zoe in the documentary “There Is No ‘I’ In Threesome.”Credit…HBO MaxFeb. 11, 2021, 7:00 a.m. ETThere Is No I in ThreesomeDirected by Jan Oliver LucksDocumentary1h 27mFind TicketsWhen you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.The documentary “There Is No ‘I’ in Threesome” (on HBO Max) begins with a couple stripping naked atop a high diving board. Giddy and clasping hands, they brace for the jump.The director Jan Oliver Lucks, who goes by Ollie, and his fiancée Zoe are taking the plunge into an open relationship. Living on opposite sides of New Zealand, the long-distance duo are free to date and sleep with other people for a year leading up to their wedding. Using iPhones, they will each record the experience: Ollie hopes the documentary will make them poster children for an enriching alternative to monogamy.[embedded content]Ollie and Zoe prove a sweet match, but as they coo and cuddle, they can be difficult to root for. Both are attention-seeking and excessively admiring of their project, and the home video of their hangouts tends toward indulgence. They may aim to present polyamory as tenable and fulfilling, but it comes off more as a risky experiment — particularly once Zoe’s fling with a theater director named Tom develops into a serious romance that strains her bond with Ollie.But as our central couple’s connection falters, the documentary evolves into an astute examination of perspective. Zoe captures her own footage of her time with Tom, yet we begin to see her affair through Ollie’s eyes. As the film’s director and narrator, Ollie controls the story, and he uses this role to showcase his jealousy and his hurt. His cleverness culminates in the documentary’s startling final act, where Ollie shows how the artifice of filmmaking can mirror the lies we tell ourselves about love.There Is No “I” in ThreesomeNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 28 minutes. Watch on HBO Max.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      ‘Breaking News in Yuba County’ Review: Lampooning Suburbia

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story‘Breaking News in Yuba County’ Review: Lampooning Suburbia“Awkwafina head-butts Wanda Sykes” could be a satisfactory one-sentence recap of this movie.Allison Janney in “Breaking News in Yuba County.”Credit…Anna Kooris/American International PicturesFeb. 11, 2021, 7:00 a.m. ETBreaking News in Yuba CountyDirected by Tate TaylorComedy, Crime, Drama, ThrillerR1h 36mFind TicketsWhen you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.In the 2020 comedy “Lazy Susan,” the superb actress Allison Janney strove mightily to make a credible character out of what, as written, was a glib, nasty caricature and the centerpiece of a facile lampoon of suburbia. Janney now stars in “Breaking News in Yuba County,” which gives one the sinking feeling that Janney actually likes starring in facile lampoons of suburbia.Here Janney plays Sue Buttons, a housewife who likes to spend her time watching daytime TV and repeating affirmations that were already stale joke material by the time they made “Stuart Saves His Family” (that was 1995). Her husband (Matthew Modine) is involved in money-laundering; when he meets with a farcical mishap, she sees an opportunity to find fame, all the while in ignorance of a big bag of money that she, in a sense, has inherited from her spouse.[embedded content]Early on, this Mississippi-shot story leans in the direction of a warm-weather “Fargo.” It is replete with big names playing nasty characters doing ugly things. “Awkwafina head-butts Wanda Sykes” could be a satisfactory one-sentence recap of the picture.Only there’s more, and it’s worse. People who believe that the “Fargo” creators Joel and Ethan Coen hold their characters in contempt ought to have a look at this. It’s how contempt is really done, only at a much lower level of wit and intelligence.One may wonder how Tate Taylor, who has overseen high-profile, conventional, ostensibly respectable Hollywood product like “The Girl on the Train” and “The Help,” came to direct this amoral, repellent bag of sick, a movie whose biggest ambition in life is to start a bidding war at a late 1990s Sundance Film Festival and then bomb at the box office. Call it water finding its own level, maybe.Breaking News in Yuba CountyRated R for “repellent” (actually language, violence, brief nudity). Running time: 1 hour 36 minutes. In theaters and available to rent or buy on Amazon, Vudu and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators. Please consult the guidelines outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before watching movies inside theaters.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      ‘Young Hearts’ Review: Movie Love by Algorithm

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story‘Young Hearts’ Review: Movie Love by AlgorithmThe brother and sister filmmakers Sarah Sherman and Zachary Ray Sherman deliver romance, unadorned.From left, Quinn Liebling and Anjini Taneja Azhar in “Young Hearts.”Credit…Blue Fox EntertainmentFeb. 11, 2021, 7:00 a.m. ETYoung HeartsDirected by Sarah Sherman, Zachary Ray ShermanDrama, Romance1h 35mFind TicketsWhen you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.The indie romance “Young Hearts,” by the sibling team of Sarah Sherman and Zachary Ray Sherman, feels like an algorithm-generated product of its time. A clear attempt to follow the subgenre of acne-baring teen films of recent years (“Eighth Grade,” “Lady Bird”), this one misses its landing.A mutual attraction develops between Harper (Anjini Taneja Azhar), 14, and her older brother’s best friend, Tilly (Quinn Liebling). Sarah Sherman supplies deliberately inelegant lines for Harper as she tries to flirt with Tilly on an autumnal walk home. “Leaves are, like, really cool,” she tells him.The film’s hand-held camerawork contributes to the amateur aesthetic. But what initially feels like a creative choice to capture adolescent authenticity quickly becomes painful. Imagine mumblecore with actual mumbling and no wit, even though those lo-fi auteurs, the Duplass brothers, are executive producers.[embedded content]When Harper and Tilly lose their innocence, they also (temporarily) lose the person closest to them: Harper’s brother Adam (Alex Jarmon), who doesn’t ship this couple, finds out about them during a music montage that undercuts the emotional impact. Identity-shaping details are glossed over, too. Harper, who was adopted by white American parents, was born in India and defines her feminism through that country’s strict laws limiting reproductive rights, but the political themes she raises feel slightly disconnected from the narrative arc.Although Harper and Tilly share a mutual first sexual encounter, their public reputations diverge (she is labeled the school harlot). The film’s premise itself is not original, but what is even more frustrating is the film’s timid handling of the story, opting for a grand finale monologue in which Harper throws out buzzwords like “racial tolerance” and “inclusivity” without their bearing any weight.Young HeartsNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 21 minutes. In theaters and available to rent or buy on Apple TV, Google Play and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators. Please consult the guidelines outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before watching movies inside theaters.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      ‘The Map of Tiny Perfect Things’ Review: Another Do-Over

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story‘The Map of Tiny Perfect Things’ Review: Another Do-OverThis film from Ian Samuels aspires to be “Groundhog Day” for teenagers.Kathryn Newton and Kyle Allen in “The Map of Tiny Perfect Things.”Credit…Dan Anderson/Amazon StudiosFeb. 11, 2021, 7:00 a.m. ETThe Map of Tiny Perfect ThingsDirected by Ian SamuelsFantasyPG-131h 38mFind TicketsWhen you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.Last year, “Palm Springs” proved that the time-loop conceit from “Groundhog Day” still had some laughs in it. “The Map of Tiny Perfect Things” shows it’s a perfectly fine pretext for teenage treacle.Adapted by Lev Grossman from his 2016 short story, the movie begins with its timeline already on repeat. Mark (Kyle Allen), a 17-year-old aspiring art student, has found that foreknowledge hasn’t gotten him any closer to a date. Then one day — or, technically, that day — he spots Margaret (Kathryn Newton), clearly out of place at the public pool he knows well. She’s stuck in the same loop. And better to loop together than loop alone.[embedded content]Mark has to memorize Margaret’s number to keep it in his iPhone once the day resets. But such logistics aren’t a big part of this film’s DNA. Margaret, who wants to work for NASA, is the rationalist of the pair (she helps Mark with his algebra). Mark, for his part, gets an unscientific whim that breaking the cycle requires cataloging “perfect” moments — a bird catching a fish, an expertly executed skateboard move — that the two would only notice with unlimited time. What defines a perfect moment? Again, asking is pointless.There’s more, and much to spoil, but the director, Ian Samuels, has clearly thought through this trite material in cinematic terms. In a fun sequence, shot in lengthy unbroken takes, Margaret and Mark show off their prescience and balletic grace in a record store and a restaurant kitchen. That the interlude is scored to the repetitions of Pachelbel’s Canon does not qualify as “Groundhog Day”-level wit. But if you have infinite time, it might do.The Map of Tiny Perfect ThingsRated PG-13. Teenagers unbound by time and space. Running time: 1 hour 39 minutes. Watch on Amazon.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      ‘The Mauritanian’ Review: A Tale of Truth-Seeking

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story‘The Mauritanian’ Review: A Tale of Truth-SeekingTahar Rahim and Jodie Foster star in this dogged, uninvolving drama based on the story of Mohamedou Ould Slahi.Tahar RahimJodie and Foster in “The Mauritanian.”Credit…Graham Bartholomew/STX FilmsFeb. 11, 2021, 7:00 a.m. ETThe MauritanianDirected by Kevin MacdonaldDrama, ThrillerR2h 9mFind TicketsWhen you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.The most enjoyable moments of the Guantánamo drama “The Mauritanian” occur during the end credits as the film’s real-life subject, Mohamedou Ould Slahi, listens to a Bob Dylan song. Laughing delightedly and singing along, he’s the picture of contentment — not of someone who just spent more than 14 years in an infamous American prison.That extraordinary resilience will, if you’re lucky, be your most vivid takeaway from this dogged and punishing tale of torture and truth-seeking. Trapped for the most part in featureless rooms, a stellar cast — including Jodie Foster, Benedict Cumberbatch and Shailene Woodley — deliver dull speeches and sift through redacted documents, brows furrowed and lips compressed. In parallel scenes, Slahi (an exceptional Tahar Rahim), arrested after the Sept. 11 attacks because of connections to Al Qaeda, endures the kind of abuse and deprivation that multiple movies and television shows have rendered all too familiar.[embedded content]Directed by Kevin Macdonald and based on Slahi’s 2015 memoir, the story focuses mainly on the efforts of the defense lawyer Nancy Hollander (Foster) to obtain a hearing for Slahi and, hopefully, his release. She’s more hindered than helped in this endeavor by a junior associate, Teri Duncan (Woodley), who’s written with a gullibility that borders on unprofessional.“We know that you’re innocent!” Teri blurts out during an interview with their client, undermining the movie’s emphasis on the universal right to due process. Flavorless characters and a blizzard of flashbacks further repel our involvement in a drama whose timing, to say the least, is unfortunate. After weathering almost five years of rolling political scandals, American audiences could be less than eager to be reminded of one more.The MauritanianRated R for torture, including sexual assault. Running time: 2 hours 9 minutes. In theaters. Please consult the guidelines outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before watching movies inside theaters.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      ‘Land’ Review: True Nature

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyCritic’s Pick‘Land’ Review: True NatureIn her feature directing debut, Robin Wright plays a woman who moves alone to the mountains.Robin Wright in “Land,” which she also directed.Credit…Daniel Power/Focus FeaturesFeb. 11, 2021, 7:00 a.m. ET”Land”NYT Critic’s PickDirected by Robin WrightDramaPG-131h 29mFind TicketsWhen you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.The beauty of the mountain regions of Alberta, Canada, is presented in modes both lush and piercingly sharp in Robin Wright’s feature directing debut, “Land.” Wright also plays the lead role, Edee, a grieving woman who wants to get away from the world.Many say they’d like to do that, but Edee means it. As she heads off to a mountaintop where she’s bought a minimally equipped cabin, she sees an incoming call on her iPhone. She throws the phone in a trash bin. At the cabin, she asks the man who’s handing it over to her to drive her rental car back down the mountain. “It’s not a good idea to be out here without a vehicle,” he warns. She does not heed him.[embedded content]“This isn’t working,” Edee admits to herself as hard winter sets in. We’ve seen flashbacks to her former life, so we’re now partially aware of her situation. Through impressionistic shots that seem part flashbacks, part wishful visions, we get glimpses of an existence that is no longer Edee’s. And we begin to understand that while she’s come to this location perhaps in part to relive scenes from that life, she may also be actively courting death.Suffering from exposure and dehydration, she’s found by a hunter, Miguel. With the help of his sister, a doctor, Miguel brings Edee back from the brink of death. The hunter is played by Demián Bichir, a great actor who very well may have the saddest eyes of anyone working in movies today. “Why are you helping me?” Edee asks. “You were in my path,” he says.As they get to know each other a little, Miguel recognizes the arrogance and egotism that have made Edee’s mourning a destructive thing. To her assertion, “I’m here in this place because I don’t want to be around people,” he responds, in a gentle voice, “Only a person who has never been hungry thinks starving is a good way to die.”Miguel reveals the losses in his own past, but it’s only at the movie’s very end that we learn how deep his injury, and indeed his self-injury, have gone. And what Edee’s been keeping hidden also comes fully to light. What’s left is reconciliation. If possible.Wright’s movie is ambitious (that location! that weather!), but not grandiose. Its storytelling economy helps make it credible and eventually moving. While “Land” sometimes leans too hard on conventional signifiers (the rootsy music score is predictably somber), it’s a distinctive, strong picture.LandRated PG-13 for themes and imagery. Running time: 1 hour 29 minutes. In theaters. Please consult the guidelines outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before watching movies inside theaters.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      ‘Cowboys’ Review: Abduction on Demand, by Horseback

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story‘Cowboys’ Review: Abduction on Demand, by HorsebackSteve Zahn excels as the father of a trans child in this Western-flavored family drama, “Cowboys,” from Anna Kerrigan.Steve Zahn and Sasha Knight in “Cowboys.”Credit…Samuel GoldwynFeb. 11, 2021, 7:00 a.m. ETCowboysDirected by Anna KerriganDrama1h 23mFind TicketsWhen you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.The crisis for the couple at the heart of “Cowboys” begins when their son, Joe (Sasha Knight), expresses his desire to transition.In this Western-influenced family drama, the father, Troy (Steve Zahn), is happy to acknowledge his son’s identity, but Troy’s scatterbrained sweetness makes it hard for his wife, Sally (Jillian Bell), to see his support as anything more than indulgence. At home, Sally enforces girliness, and she wins custody when she and Troy separate.[embedded content]Joe begs his father to take him away. In response, Troy steals his son from home, and leads him into the woods on horseback. The legal term for Troy’s actions is kidnapping, and Sally calls on the police to help her find her lost family.The conflicts at the heart of “Cowboys” are timely, coming in a moment when trans children and their rights are at the forefront of American political debate. But the writer and director Anna Kerrigan doesn’t sensationalize her story. Her characters don’t speak as if they were addressing the audience from a pulpit. Instead, she shows Troy, Sally and Joe communicating through their disagreements; she pays attention to what behaviors come out when they are under pressure. This sensitivity grants the film a mellow feel — the understated “Cowboys” lopes, never quite working up the excitement of a gallop.The observant nature of this character drama offers Zahn in particular the opportunity to expand into new territory. He hasn’t lost the spaciness that once made him a lovable comedic sidekick, but here fatherhood endows that same charm with pathos, even tragedy. He understands and supports his son, but he may not have the wherewithal to make decisions that will benefit them both.CowboysNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 23 minutes. On virtual cinemas and available to rent or buy on Apple TV, Google Play and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      ‘The World to Come’ Review: Cold Comfort

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyCritic’s Pick‘The World to Come’ Review: Cold ComfortKatherine Waterston and Vanessa Kirby play two women who share a gradually recognized love in upstate New York in 1856.Katherine Waterston and Vanessa Kirby in “The World to Come.”Credit…Vlad Cioplea/Bleecker StreetFeb. 11, 2021, 7:00 a.m. ETThe World to ComeNYT Critic’s PickDirected by Mona FastvoldDramaR1h 38mFind TicketsWhen you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.Though shot in Romania, “The World to Come,” directed by Mona Fastvold, conjures an almost artisanal feeling of life in rural upstate New York in 1856. Generically, it plays like a western — a romance in untamed territory where snowy landscapes foster isolation, not explorative possibilities. When her young daughter dies of diphtheria, Abigail (Katherine Waterston) does not anticipate “a better world to come.”Still, the shy Abigail’s life improves when she meets a new neighbor, Tallie (Vanessa Kirby), who becomes her brash and effusive foil. Abigail can’t decipher Tallie’s relationship with her husband, Finney (Christopher Abbott), whose outward civility masks an abusive streak. Abigail’s husband, Dyer (Casey Affleck), a farmer with a fondness for mechanical tools, initially seems like the less polished of the men.[embedded content]Despite pervasive voice-over supplied by Abigail’s writerly diary entries, “The World to Come” leaves much unsaid. When Tallie asks Abigail what she thinks about the two of them together, Abigail says she does not “know how to put it into words.” (The screenplay is by Ron Hansen, of “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,” and Jim Shepard, from a story by Shepard.)Waterston and Kirby are both superb at creating characters whose attraction must be shown to grow by degrees, without overt admission. Affleck and Abbott, too, navigate a tricky dynamic, playing men who perhaps lack an understanding of their own compassion or brutishness. The use of film stock, natural light, narrow compositions and an offbeat, clarinet-heavy score by Daniel Blumberg all contribute to the sense of a story dusted off from the past.The World to ComeRated R. Discreet sex; animal slaughter. Running time: 1 hour 38 minutes. In theaters. Please consult the guidelines outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before watching movies inside theaters.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More