October 13, 2017

Welcome to TFCA Friday, a weekly round-up of film reviews and articles by TFCA critics.

Reviews and features by: Peter Howell (PH), Gilbert Seah (GS), Radheyan Simonpillai (RS), Nathalie Atkinson (NA), Barry Hertz (BH), Jim Slotek (JS), Karen Gordon (KG), Brian D. Johnson (BDJ), and Chris Knight (CK).

Opening this Week

78/52 (dir. Alexandre O. Philippe)

“One of the best, pleasurable and most insightful documentaries on Master of Suspense’s techniques” — GS

“It may lose the attention of the semi-interested, but it’s a worthwhile buzz for bona fide film fans” — JS

“The film only stumbles, ironically, in fortifying the very male gaze Hitchcock himself was attempting to deconstruct” — BH, including a feature interview with the film’s director

BPM (120 Battements Par Minute) (dir. Robin Campillo)

“Full of life… A film that deserves to be angry for the fact that the privilege of living for many has almost been taken completely away” — GS

The Florida Project (dir. Sean Baker)

“Alexis Zabe’s rapturous cinematography reminds us that magic is where you find it. You don’t need a golden ticket to Mickey’s kingdom, although you can see it from here” — PH, featuring an interview with star Willem Dafoe

“Sean Baker bounces off his electrifying, iPhone-shot Tangerine with yet another intimate, emotional roller coaster about people on the margins. This time it’s the margins of Disney World” — RS

“Sympathy can melt like ice cream in the Floridian sun when there’s so little context to be had” — CK

“In its quiet, steady way, the low-budget buzz film builds in little layers. By the end, this heartfelt movie cuts deep” — KG

“A tiny adventure of absorbing wonder” — BH

The Foreigner (dir. Martin McDonald)

“Chan can lift right out of this mediocre political thriller revolving around Pierce Brosnan’s former IRA soldier turned politician” — RS

“[Jackie Chan] pulls it off with full deference to his age, wincing with every fall, occasionally being overpowered. I would have gleefully watched a whole movie of that. Unfortunately, there’s all this other stuff” — JS

Goodbye Christopher Robin (dir. Simon Curtis)

“Gets a little lost in its own hundred-acre wood” — CK

“Rides a tricky line between a frank look at parental neglect and the typical uplifting sentiment, and doesn’t quite make it” — RS

“The last act—in which Billy goes missing in the war and presumed dead (a trite plot development but for the fact it actually happened) and father-and-son reconcile in a clunky, sentimental way—seems tacked on by a studio note” — JS

“As if the film is not sentimental enough… Has one believe that Winnie the Pooh did wonders for world peace” — GS

Happy Death Day (dir. Christopher Landon)

“Not meant to be taken seriously” — GS

The Limehouse Golem (dir. Juan Carlos Medina)

“The Golem is the audience that relishes violence,” director Juan Carlos Medina tells Nathalie Atkinson in a chat about London, The Limehouse Golem, and the fine art of murder

“Simultaneously too complicated and too simple” — GS

Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House (dir. Peter Landesman)

“A Watergate explainer that doesn’t explain too much” — BH

“As the G-man who knew too much, a spectral Liam Neeson takes us back to the future, haunting the zeitgeist like the ghost in ‘Hamlet’” — BDJ

The Meyerowitz Stories: New and Collected (dir. Noah Baumbach)

Interviewing Dustin Hoffman, Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller, and Emma Thompson, Brian D. Johnson gets a whirlwind snapshot of the ensemble cast  

Professor Marston and the Wonder Women (dir. Angela Robinson)

“Not just fan service. It’s a smart and provocative debate on feminism wrapped up in an endearing love story” — RS

“Makes for a perfect double bill with the Gal Gadot blockbuster. In fact, it would be a shame for an adult to see one without the other” — JS