KNIVES OUT: 4 ½ STARS
In 2017, Kenneth Branagh delivered a new version of Agatha Christie鈥檚 鈥淢urder on the Orient Express鈥 that was as big and bloated as a new crime dramedy, 鈥淜nives Out,鈥 is sleek and entertaining. Both feature large ensemble casts and twists galore, but director Rian Johnson manages to breathe life into the creaky whodunit genre.
The action takes place in a small up-state New York town on an estate one character says resembles a 鈥淐lue鈥 board. In the film鈥檚 opening minutes the dramatic theme song sets the stage for what鈥檚 to come鈥 murder most foul.
Marta (Ana de Armas), caregiver to Harlan Thrombrey (Christopher Plummer), the best-selling mystery writer of all time, is shocked to discover his dead body in his office. Throat slit, knife on the floor beside him, the local police Det. Elliot (Lakeith Stanfield) and Trooper Wagner (Noah Segan) think it is a suicide but a private investigator, the silver-tongued Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), disagrees and says so in an accent as thick as gumbo.
鈥淟adies and gentlemen,鈥 he says to the family, 鈥淚 would like to request that you all stay until the investigation is completed.鈥
The assembled family stick around, partially at Blanc鈥檚 request but mostly for the reading of the will. 鈥淲hat will that be like?鈥 asks Marta. 鈥淭hink of a community theatre production of the reading of a tax form,鈥 replies Blanc.
As the investigation unfolds everyone seems to have a motive for killing the old man, from his children the imperious Linda (Jamie Lee Curtis) and the hair-trigger tempered Walt (Michael Shannon) to various others, including the spoiled-rotten grandson Ransom (Chris Evans), devious son-in-law Richard (Don Johnson) and alt-right troll grandson Jacob (Jaeden Martell). These are people who believe they deserve to be rich and won鈥檛 hear any talk to the contrary.
The mystery has more layers than a Vidalia onion but Blanc unpeels it, one tier at a time leading up to the film鈥檚 climatic reveal.
鈥淜nives Out鈥 mixes pointed jabs at the 1 per cent -- Linda started her company with a modest one-million-dollar loan from her father鈥攚ith social commentary about class divisions in American life to form the backdrop of this engaging mystery. Add to that a collection of characters that would make Miss Marple suspicious and the game is afoot.
Leading the charge is Craig. As Benoit Blanc, the American Poirot, he rides the line between ridiculous and shrewd, chewing the scenery with an accent unheard since the days of Colonel Sanders television ads. His flowery language鈥"Physical evidence can tell a story with a forked tongue,鈥 he says鈥攇ives Craig a chance to show off his comedic side mixed with a physicality that suggests he can get the job done if need be. It鈥檚 a dramatic (maybe that鈥檚 not the word but you see what I mean) and welcome shift from his grim-faced 007 role.
What begins as a melodramatic comedy in the vein of 鈥淢urder by Death,鈥 gets a little darker as the true nature of the crime is presented, and then funnier again in its wild 鈥榥 woolly resolution. It鈥檚 an old-fashioned set-up but slowly echoes of modern-day issues of immigration, deportation and white entitlement are introduced to add edge to the story.
Director Johnson, he of 鈥淟ooper鈥 and 鈥淪tar Wars: The Last Jedi,鈥 is having fun here, finding a perfect rhythm in the unveiling of the story鈥檚 details. We always learn just enough to carry us through to the next twist and it is an enjoyable ride.
THE TWO POPES: 4 STARS
鈥淭he Two Popes鈥 is an odd couple buddy picture about a friendship that proves that sometimes opposites attract.
The fact-based story (i.e. Based on a true story) begins in 2005 with the papal conclave to name a new Pope. The two main candidates, Cardinal Ratzinger (Anthony Hopkins) from Germany and Argentina鈥檚 Cardinal Bergoglio (Jonathan Pryce) represent polar opposites in terms of approach. Ratzinger is an intellectual bound to tradition. 鈥淲henever I try and be myself people don鈥檛 seem to like me much,鈥 he says. Bergoglio is affable, a humble man who can be heard whistling 鈥淒ancing Queen鈥 in the halls. 鈥淚鈥檓 Argentinian,鈥 he says. 鈥淭ango and football are compulsory.鈥
A vote and a puff of white smoke later Ratzinger becomes Pope Benedict while Bergoglio returns to his home country to continue his grass roots ministry.
Cut to seven years later. Pope Benedict is embroiled in a child abuse scandal that sees one of his aides sent to jail and seeks the council of someone whose ideas he formerly rejected, his rival Bergoglio. The two men meet, talk doctrine and just when it seems like they will never find common ground Pope Benedict reveals why he summoned the Argentinian cardinal.
鈥淭he church needs change,鈥 he says, 鈥渁nd you could be that change.鈥
Because of health issues and controversy Pope Benedict wants to retire, to become the first Pope in 700 years to step down.
鈥淚 can no longer sit on the chair of St. Peter,鈥 he says. 鈥淚 cannot play this role anymore.鈥
History fills in the rest of the details, so no spoilers here.
While we will never know the exact nature of the real conversations between the two, 鈥淭he Two Popes鈥 finds a compelling dynamic between them. The film鈥檚 opening moments is a highly spirited recreation of the race between the two candidates.
It鈥檚 fast, crowded and showy but then, as we jump ahead in time, director Fernando Meirelles slows the pace down to focus attention on the conversations. The pleasure of 鈥淭he Two Popes鈥 is watching two very good actors create worlds with their monologues. The flashbacks, including an extended sequence that details Bergoglio鈥檚 regrets over the decisions he made during his country鈥檚 Dirty War in the 1970s, add backstory and detail, but this movie is at its best when it is at its simplest, unadorned and in conversation.
QUEEN & SLIM: 4 STARS
We first meet the title characters, Angela 鈥淨ueen鈥 Johnson (Jodie Turner-Smith) and Ernest 鈥淪lim鈥 Hinds (Daniel Kaluuya) as they are strangers, passing time on a first, awkward date at a Cincinnati diner. 鈥淪o what鈥檚 gonna happen tonight?鈥 asks Slim. 鈥淚 thought we could hang out and get to know one another.鈥 Then fate intervenes, Tinder may have brought them together but circumstance binds them together forever when Slim gets pulled over for 鈥渇ailure to execute a turn signal and swerving a little bit.鈥
The situation quickly spirals out of control.
Slim presses the aggressive cop to hurry it up while Queen, an attorney, questions the officer鈥檚 motives in searching the car. As the police officer鈥檚 dashcam rolls, there are harsh words, a skirmish, a misfire and soon the cop lies dead.
鈥淵ou are a Black man who shot a cop and took his gun,鈥 she says.
鈥淏ut I鈥檓 not a criminal,鈥 he replies.
鈥淵ou are now. If you turn yourself in you will never see your family again. We have to move forward.鈥
Panicked, they flee, heading for New Orleans home of Queen鈥檚 shady Uncle Earl (Bokeem Woodbine). By the time they make it out of state a video of the accidental shooting has gone viral and their photos are splashed all over the papers.
The press paints them as 鈥渓overs鈥濃攅ven though they have just met鈥攐n cross country crime spree but public opinion is mixed. An African-American mechanic (Gralen Bryant Banks) they meet on the journey says, 鈥淵ou gave them a reason to kill us,鈥 while his young son (Jahi Di鈥橝llo Winston) sees them as folk heroes who stood up to authority. 鈥淚f you don鈥檛 make it,鈥 he says, 鈥渢hat鈥檚 OK. You鈥檒l be immortal.鈥
They plan on making a run to freedom in Cuba. First, they have to avoid the police as they weave and wind their way to Florida鈥檚 coast.
Written by Lena Waithe and showcasing the style of director Melina Matsoukas in her feature debut, 鈥淨ueen & Slim鈥 takes a story with echoes of 鈥淭helma and Louise鈥 or 鈥淏onnie and Clyde鈥 and updates it, presenting the couple on the run tale from an African-American perspective. Angela is a lawyer whose first-hand view of the abuses of the justice system has made her a realist. It is her experience that self-defense will never fly solely based on the colour of their skin and it is her who sets the action in motion. The story of police brutality swaps the frequent narrative, presenting the story of two people who refuse to be oppressed by standing up to authority. There will be no spoilers here but know that 鈥淨ueen & Slim鈥 isn鈥檛 a manifesto, it鈥檚 a personal story about how quickly lives, ripe with possibility and promise, can be changed forever.
With terrific performances 鈥淨ueen & Slim鈥 transcends the outlaws-on-the-lam genre. Instead it is a timely humanistic drama that combines resilience with despair.
DARK WATERS: 3 STARS
The only thing big and green in Mark Ruffalo鈥檚 new film 鈥淒ark Waters are the hulking wads of cash a major corporation is willing to pay to cover up an ecological disaster.
Based on true events, Ruffalo plays corporate defense lawyer Robert Bilott, a native West Virginian now working for an upscale Cincinnati firm. He makes a living defending big companies but when Wilbur Tennant (Bill Camp), a friend of his grandmother shows up complaining that chemical giant Dupont is poisoning his livestock, Bilott is at a loss for words. 鈥淚 defend chemical companies,鈥 he stuitters. 鈥淲ell, now you can defend me,鈥 replies the plainspoken Wilbur.
Bilott knows the farm. As a kid he rode horses and milked his first cow there and even though the he doesn鈥檛 think he can help, he agrees to have a look. On the land he finds horrifying things. 190 cows dead, many born with birth defects and tumors. Wilbur is convinced that runoff from a nearby landfill is responsible. What was once a pastoral paradise is now a poisoned plot of land.
To paraphrase the famous John Denver song, country roads lead Bilott back home to place he belongs, defending a farmer done wrong by a conglomerate more concerned with profit than people.
鈥淒ark Waters鈥 is about accountability. Bilott spends more than a decade of his life, putting his health and family life at risk to take a corporate Goliath to task for their irresponsible behavior. Ruffalo does a good job at portraying the Bilott鈥檚 decline as he is worn down by the tactics of his foe, the impatience of the people he is trying to help and his inability to force the power brokers to play fair. It humanizes a story that otherwise would be a high level legal procedural.
Director Todd Haynes shoots the story in drab tones that echo much of the colorless work鈥攊.e. cataloguing the mountain of paper sent over by Dupont in the form of discovery. It doesn鈥檛 make for a compelling looking film but it helps set the scene and tone. Fighting back isn鈥檛 glamourous work. It鈥檚 about late nights, crappy food and a constant feeling of exhaustion.
鈥淒ark Waters鈥 isn鈥檛 a thriller. From the first frame there is no question about who is guilty. The question here is how guilty and will they ever pay for what they have done? It is geared to outage and infuriate, to underscore that the big guys don鈥檛 always win. It is marred by a leisurely approach and some paper-thin characterizations, but the David and Goliath story is compelling.
LADY AND THE TRAMP: 3 STARS
New to the Disney+ screening platform comes a glossy live-action鈥攖hat means real dogs!鈥 remake of 鈥淟ady and the Tramp,鈥 the House of Mouse鈥檚 1955 animated classic.
The updated version maintains the heart of the original. The story of two dogs from different sides of the tracks, a pampered American Cocker Spaniel named Lady (voiced by Tessa Thompson) and Tramp (voiced by Justin Theroux), a Schnauzer-mutt who lives on the street, is a study in class divides aimed at kid鈥檚 imaginations. The plot thickens when Lady鈥檚 owners (Kiersey Clemons and Thomas Mann) welcome a baby and, through circumstance, she finds herself on the streets, eking out a life with her new friend Tramp.
This is not your father鈥檚 鈥淟ady and the Tramp.鈥
The Disney+ version of is half an hour longer than the original version and comes with a modern sensibility. That means the regressive and racist 鈥淭he Siamese Cat鈥 song is nowhere to be found (the cats are no longer Siamese and they sing a new tune called "What a Shame"), irritable Scottish Terrier Jock is now named Jacqueline and Tramp no longer has to defend Lady from a group of wild dogs. She鈥檚 more than capable doing that herself. Also, Tramp won鈥檛 be defined by the name Tramp. In this outing he has no name.
鈥淲ho needs a name?鈥 he says. 鈥淚'm free to be whoever I want to be.鈥
To my eye the changes and new additions don鈥檛 justify the extended running time but as a family television experience 鈥淟ady and the Tramp鈥 offers up several pleasures. Once you adjust to the inherent strangeness of watching dogs speak, the canines hand in good performances (never thought I would ever actually have to write that in a review).
They don鈥檛 have the range of expression their cartoon counterparts brought to the story but, as we saw in 鈥淭he Lion King,鈥 the technology that brings them to anthropomorphic life is state of the art if not quite the magical experience you might hope for.
