Patriots Day took the macro view of the devastating 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, concentrating on the manhunt for the perpetrators and the city’s resilience in the face of violent terrorism. Stronger takes an entirely different approach to the same event, focusing on a single victim of the explosions, and his personal struggle to stand tall in the aftermath. Jake … [Read more...]
‘Nocturnal Animals’: Thriller hemmed in by rich, airless bubble
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...]