With awards season breathing down everyone’s neck, it’s one of them prestigey weeks at the megaplex — or at least it wants to be. Shall we see what’s on offer?
Carol: Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchette share a forbidden love in Todd Haynes’ new ’50s melodrama, which is much less surfacey than Far from Heaven and thus much more involving. Susan swoons heavily.
The Danish Girl: Tom Hooper and Eddie Redmayne are two of the most gifted artists working in cinema. (Just ask them!) Here, they join forces for an Oscar-bait biopic of trans pioneer Einar Wegener, and it’s as insufferably beautiful as I feared. (Alicia Vikander is pretty great as Einar’s wife and confidant Gerda, though.) Glenn gives it the thinnest of a pass.
Don Verdean: After Gentlemen Broncos cratered, Jared and Jerusha Hess try to rebound with another Sam Rockwell-Jemaine Clement oddity. This one is not as good as that one.
Every Thing Will Be Fine: Wim Wenders’ muted drama demonstrates that 3D cinema doesn’t have to be the exlusive domain of giant robot movies, and that’s a good thing. But a muted drama is still a muted drama, you know?
In the Heart of the Sea: Ron Howard botches the story of the Essex in a frankly spectacular fashion, wasting a terrific cast and a colossal CG budget in the doing. What a shame.
Macbeth: Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard are very, very intense in Justin Kerzel’s overwrought Shakespeare adaptation … which Glenn liked a lot more than I expected. Nice to see Paddy Considine turn up as Banquo, though.
Paul Taylor — Creative Domain: Kate Geis profiles the revered choreographer — still working in his 80s — in a brisk, immediate documentary. Glenn is all for it.
Sleeping Giant: Andrew Cividino’s feature debut — installed in Canada’s Top Ten earlier this week — is a thoughtful, evocative look at adolescence with some really strong performance and a gorgeous visual sensibility. Way more interesting than the whale movie.
Youth: It really says something about The Danish Girl that its arrival today means Paolo Sorrentino isn’t opening the week’s most ostentatious picture of the week. Seriously, though: Yeesh. (Susan liked it, though.)
And now it’s time to lurch into the TFCA’s 2015 awards balloting. Pray for Mojo — and follow along as we live-tweet our prizes on Sunday afternoon, beginning at 12:30pm EST. Won’t that be fun?
Yeah, probably. For you.