This film works better if you assume that Robert Redford is, indeed, retiring from acting. If you do, you get the sense of wistfulness for an actor who has dominated movie screens for decades. Redford's kind, handsome face and voice resonate with the audience even as he treads on familiar beats. It's an odd story, the kind I'm surprised Clint Eastwood hadn't gotten his hands on (about a bank robber whom tellers genuinely like and has been robbing banks nearly all of his life). Being based on real life, there are less twists than you'd hope for/expect, and the back-half where you 100% want him to get away with it but know he can't if this movie ever got made, is a bit of a drag, but Spacek & Redford have good chemistry, and with the knowledge that Redford won't make any more movies, there's enough nostalgia there to give you a good experience. (Ranking: 3/5 stars)
It must have sucked having to follow something as emotionally-draining as Avengers 3, but Ant-Man in theory works better as a standalone comic film, thanks in large part to the compelling main antics of Paul Rudd, our unlikely hero. The film doesn't have the same level of panache and focus, unfortunately, that the first film had (which is my second favorite of all of the Marvel Universe films after Winter Soldier), getting too bogged down in the Ghost villainy, which goes nowhere, and perhaps not realizing that the movie doesn't really need a villain since bringing back Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer), is more than enough plot. Still, Michael Douglas's work here is continually great and I love the chemistry between Rudd & Lilly. I just wish the film had trimmed about thirty minutes off of its runtime, avoiding expanding in too many directions. (Ranking: 2/5 stars)
Colette (dir. Wash Westmoreland)Keira Knightley's post-Pirates career has perhaps been one of the best I've ever seen out of an actress that could've so easily just been "the love interest" in a pair of 2003 movies. An adventurous artist, I can think of no better person to play the charming, provocative Colette in the early stages of her career when she was writing the Claudine books under her husband's name. Unfortunately the movie never really captures the bite that Knightley seems raring to give to this character, with the thick plot feeling thinly handled by Westmoreland, trying to fit traditional story beats into the life of an untraditional woman. Still, Knightley remains an actress I'm obsessed with, and will follow her pretty much anywhere. (Ranking: 2/5 stars)
A tiny little film that probably escaped mention with most people last year, I was intrigued by the film trailer of two young boys forced to flee the Nazis during World War II on foot, abandoned by their parents in hopes that they'd someday get to reunite. The movie is based on a true story, an extraordinary one that became a bestselling memoir in the early 1970's, and there are moments that live up to the potential I saw in the trailer. The cinematography is terrific, and I loved some of the side touches, particularly the brief interlude in the middle of the film when they're in Southern France, getting a respite from the war. However, the movie never captures the startling fear of the real-life journey, and the child actors responsible for the main characters feel adrift in the movie's direction. (Ranking: 2/5 stars)
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