In the best scene in Tom Ford’s Nocturnal Animals, a holiday drive on a sleepy West Texas thoroughfare becomes an auto-terrorist nightmare straight out of Spielberg’s Duel. When three accelerator-revving rednecks force suburban husband Tony Hastings (Jake Gyllenhaal), his wife Laura (Isla Fisher) and their daughter India (Ellie Bamber) off the road in the coffin-black night, it … [Read more...]
Language focus gives aliens-have-landed ‘Arrival’ a rare poetry
In an early scene in Arrival, Dr. Louise Banks (Amy Adams), a linguistics professor at a university, enters her lecture hall, which, curiously, is mostly devoid of students. Within seconds, her lesson is interrupted by the sprightly ringtones and groaning vibrations of smartphones from the remnants of her student body, a symphony of urgent earworms. “Can you turn the TV to a … [Read more...]