Morning Tidings

Tag: movie

  • ‘Bombay Rose’ movie review: This animated wonder is a love story to the City Of Dreams and its people

    ‘Bombay Rose’ movie review: This animated wonder is a love story to the City Of Dreams and its people

    Gitanjali Rao’s animated film goes beyond typical storytelling to explore the many ways one can love and be loved

    From petal to pollen, the flower has retained its symbolically rich status across literature, music and film. Sylvia Plath’s poem Tulips reflected her use of flowers to reflect exterior life. The Rolling Stones sang ‘Dead Flowers’ to gauge closure around a broken relationship. Now, in the recently-released animated film Bombay Rose, directed by Gitanjali Rao, flowers embody character, growth, an environment, pretty much anything.

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    The film took 18 months to make, given the frame-by-frame hand-drawn animation style. That said, the trailer of Bombay Rose paints a beautiful and Utopic picture of vibrant Mumbai but also sheds light on the gritty nature of the City Of Dreams. The film made several homes on the international festival circuit from the 2019 Venice Film Festival to the Toronto International Film Festival of the same year to, of course, winning Silver Gateway, India Gold award at MAMI 2019.

    The film is split into three intersecting stories set in a thronging Mumbai, which Rao and her team of animators have presented in a spread of fiery and earthy tones. Only at night do the hues cool down, as if to connote the loneliness one could feel despite the constant activity. The story focusses on a single neighbourhood of Mumbai, the entire experience serving as a microcosm of a Mumbai many of us would have known.

    Read More | Gitanjali Rao talks about ‘Bombay Rose’

    The central arc follows Kamala (Cyli Khare) who falls in love with Salim (Amit Deondi), a young Muslim man from Kashmir. However, life is a little more complicated than that. By day, Kamala sells flowers in all varieties, befriending customers with her wit and charm; by night, she is a bar dancer, unbeknownst to Salim, her grandfather and younger sister Tara (Gargi Shitole). As if things were not complicated enough, a thuggish brute Mike enters the picture; he wants to whisk Kamala off to Dubai all the while blackmailing her.

    Alongside this arc is the story of Shirley D’Souza (Amardeep Jha) who was once a famous actor and is now a widowed English teacher. Still indulging in the occasional cigarette during the morning and whiskey in the evenings, she continues to relive her golden era of stardom through the pretty pictures in her home and iconic songs such as ‘Aaiye Meherbaan’, as she reminisces.

    The film is mindful in not preaching on the socio-economic issues it does touch upon such as child labour, poverty, and sexual exploitation. However, the overlapping stories with the occasional dream sequence get a bit haphazard, and unfortunately can do more harm than help.

    Beyond the visuals

    As powerful as the visual beauty, the sound and music take on equal responsibility in telling these complex stories. Bombay Rose, though, has on-boarded a talented set of voice actors who convey the right amount of yearning, desperation, anger and glee throughout the story.

    To my delight, the film plays classic tracks such as ‘Yeh Mera Dil’ and ‘Hoon Abhi Main Jawan’. Clearly, Bombay Rose is an ode to the era of ‘Bombay Cinema’ when people poured in from different corners of India in hopes to make it big – and the city itself takes on a more stratified character where the rich and those with the sharpest teeth win out. There is no intended harmony here but it exists in some shape or form, for the sake of survival.

    After watching the film a couple of times, I do find myself wondering about the life of the flower seller from whom I buy the weekly supply of roses, jasmine flowers and chrysanthemums. Bombay Rose gets you thinking about your own life and your interactions with people across different layers of society – without instructing you to do so.

    Would Bombay Rose have worked as a live-action film? Perhaps, but I have a feeling it would not have had the desired effect of nostalgia and longing across the audiences. This film has a lot of re-watch value, given there is just so much packed into it; to the point that you may find yourself living vicariously through the characters and their difficulties. So, don’t be a phool and miss this.

    ‘Bombay Rose’ is streaming on Netflix.

  • ‘Teddy’ movie review: Uninspired writing drowns the bear

    ‘Teddy’ movie review: Uninspired writing drowns the bear

    The Arya-starrer which opted for an OTT release lacks entertaining components to warrant a watch, despite its impressive soundtrack

    Teddy has an unreal story line. Worse still are the unrealistic plot points which make it tough to look beyond the misfires and for the positives, if any, in the craft.

    The film begins and ends with Sayyeshaa; these are the only two portions in the film featuring her. A college student Srividhya (Sayyeshaa) takes pity on a guy who has met with an accident and tries to help him but injures herself in the process. An ambulance arrives and whisks both victims away. At the hospital, doctors — who are part of an organ trafficking network — induce Sayyeshaa into a coma following which she proceeds to have an ‘out-of-body’ experience; her ‘spirit’ possesses a teddy bear.

    ‘Teddy’

    • Director: Shakti Soundar Rajan
    • Cast: Arya, EB Gokulan as Teddy, Sathish, Karunakaran, Sayyeshaa, Magizh Thirumeni
    • Story line: A woman has an ‘out-of-body’ experience as a teddy bear after which the male protagonist unearths a trafficking ring and returns the ‘spirit’ to her body.

    This walking, talking teddy bear then finds its way to Shiva (Arya), a loner and a guy with photographic memory, although we are quite unsure as to why the latter quality makes him behave like the humanoid robot Chitti from Enthiran. Shiva and his friend (Sathish) agree to help the spirit keeping the stuffed toy alive and find its way back to its human body after learning its story! Their pursuit brings them at loggerheads with the kingpin of the organ trafficking network, Dr Varadarajan (Magizh Thirumeni in a role he doesn’t fit), in Azerbaijan. Whether or not Shiva succeeds forms the rest of the plot.

    Besides the musical score by D Imman, there isn’t much that can qualify as ‘entertaining components’ in Teddy. A couple of stunt sequences are well choreographed (especially the one that takes place in an Azerbaijani pub) but the fact that that is all you could tell about a film that employs CGI imaginatively, and has a plot that fits the supernatural-fantasy mould (which always has the potential to keep audiences engaged), explains the misfire that Teddy is.

    Arya in ‘Teddy’

    Shakti Soundar Rajan, unfortunately, makes the mistake of letting his writing be compromised — a weak plot and characters without an arc are proof — as he prioritises the extravagant over the bare necessities. Even the supposed ‘romantic arc’ to Shiva and Srividhya’s relationship feels under cooked, and relies on the viewer knowing Arya and Sayyeshaa to be a real life couple for its impact. Also, where are the funny lines? Making a film with a teddy bear as one of the protagonists and not even writing dialogues that can make audiences smile is a cardinal sin!

    The irksome fact, however, is that in Teddy’s universe, everyone just casually accepts that having a walking, talking teddy bear in their midst is something that is normal.

    It is as if the characters are meshed in a universe that suspends belief — one where it is okay to believe in teddy bears coming alive — yet their stories unfold, or are held together, by the real world we live in. So the story neither exists in a make-believe universe nor in a real universe; this is how writing gets compromised.

    Teddy becomes yet another example of imaginative thinking let down by poor writing — the staple for success for any major motion picture. If the filmmaker could think of an outrageous idea like using a comm system for the teddy bear (the toy literally has a clip-on listening device on its ear to communicate with Shiva), surely the script deserved more of his time and effort.

    ‘Teddy’ is streaming on Disney+ Hotstar

  • ‘The Priest’ movie review: Mammootty’s horror-thriller falls short after initial promise

    ‘The Priest’ movie review: Mammootty’s horror-thriller falls short after initial promise

    Debutant director Jofin. T. Chacko balances Mammootty’s star power with the script impressively, but repetitive sequences dull an interesting premise

    Subtlety in presentation is something that makers of new-age thrillers (and even horror flicks) focus on — as much as the plot twists and storyline. But when a mainstream star comes into the picture, especially in a star-oriented industry like in Kerala, often subtlety becomes a casualty. In The Priest, debutant Jofin. T. Chacko has the unenviable task of striking such a balance, but gets away almost unscathed in letting the content take precedence over the star… although the same cannot be said if the movie as a whole is considered.

    Father Carmen Benedict (Mammooty), who spends more time on criminal investigation than on priestly duties, is investigating a series of suicides in the Alatt family, which he suspects to be murders. During the investigation, he comes across young Ameya Gabriel (Baby Monica), who seems to have a few mysteries of her own.

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    The Priest gets many things right in the first half, which remains focused on a series of deaths in the family. In fact, the first half could even work as a stand-alone movie, for the latter half takes off from there on a different tangent, which has nothing much to do with the initial investigation. The one element of surprise the makers kept in store for the interval might not be a surprise at all, for those who have paid enough attention all along.

    The Priest

    • Director: Jofin. T. Chacko
    • Starring: Mammootty, Manju Warrier, Nikhila Vimal, Baby Monica
    • Storyline: A priest tries to solve a set of mysterious suicides, which leads to unexpected discoveries

    Even in the second half, when the horror elements kick in, the script is on track initially, when it manages to keeps us guessing and alternately evokes some chills. But before long, things end up all over the place, with the audience getting more than a clue on what the mystery is all about. From this point on, one has to plod on through tedious, repetitive sequences for the script to tie up the whole thing officially. The weakest link is perhaps the reason for some of the mysterious happenings, which could make some go, “That’s all?”

    A few sequences at ‘explaining’ what actually had happened seems to have been included probably because the makers underestimated the intelligence of the audience. The tone and mood of the whole film is a bit loud and uneven at various points, but it is still a notch better than some of the horror flicks in Malayalam.

    Mammootty the star, takes a back-seat most of the times, letting the investigator priest take over, except for a few fan-pleasing scenes, which is a welcome shift from many of his recent movies. Manju Warrier’s role is almost a short cameo, while Baby Monica steals the show as Ameya. However, some of the rather violent sequences involving the child could be hard viewing for other kids and even adults.

    Coming from a debutant, The Priest works in parts, but falls short after some initial promise.

    The Priest is currently running in theatres

     

  • ‘Sreekaram’ movie review: This Sharwanand film is well-intended but could have benefited from a better screenplay

    ‘Sreekaram’ movie review: This Sharwanand film is well-intended but could have benefited from a better screenplay

    Karthik (Sharwanand) is the son of a farmer, Kesavulu (Rao Ramesh), and works for an IT company. He repays his father’s debt to Sai Kumar who is a land shark in the village. He is well aware that most of the villagers have mortgaged their lands and migrated to the city where they become daily wage labourers. Karthik quits his job and moves to his village and much against his father’s wishes, begins tilling the soil. He introduces to the fellow villagers, the concept of joint farming and inspires the rest who left their homes to return.

    Sreekaram

    • Cast: Sharwanand, Priyanka Arul Mohan
    • Direction: Kishore Reddy
    • Music: Mickey J Meyer

    The conflict arises when Sai Kumar, who cannot digest the dry Rayalseema land turn green and people clear their debts, creates differences among the villagers on revenue that comes from joint produce. The director makes the plot interesting by using the right emotional connect and dialogues by Sai Madhav Burra. But somewhere down the line, it reminds you of Bheeshma and Maharshi. Using technology to connect, communicate and turning dry land into a green patch is obviously interesting but not new.

    We have seen heroes giving up a cushy lifestyle to work in the fields umpteen times. The only difference here is a coincidence. Just when Karthik and company are delighted to load all the produce into a truck and send them for sale, COVID-19 strikes and the produce is left to rot during lockdown.

    This time last year, we read about farmers directly sending fruits and vegetables to apartments and homes. This film taps into that situation when Karthik arranges for live streaming of farming and everyone becomes aware of it.

    Priyanka Arul Mohan does a Rashmika of Sarileru Neekevvaru. Her only job is to declare her love for the hero and he has no option but agree.

    The folk song by Penchal Das doesn’t suit Sharwanand. The film ends with a monologue by the hero who waxes eloquent on the importance and benefits of farming and enlightens the public on why farming could be a career option.

    No time is spent on developing a plot; the hero delves into the subject right from the word go. There isn’t much drama either and the film gets preachy. What saves it from becoming a documentary is the casting and right emotional dialogues.

    It is a well intended and noble attempt, but the routine plot and screenplay are dampeners.

  • ‘Gaali Sampath’ movie review: This Rajendra Prasad and Sree Vishnu film isn’t an engaging survival drama

    ‘Gaali Sampath’ movie review: This Rajendra Prasad and Sree Vishnu film isn’t an engaging survival drama

    Every now and then we have been witnessing rescue efforts of the government when a child falls into a open borewell, mostly with no success . In this film, when an adult finds himself in that situation, one expects the audience to empathise, but that doesn’t happen. Rajendra Prasad as Gaali Sampath — isn’t starving as long he is in the well. He has a water bottle that he hangs around his neck and he keeps sipping it at regular intervals and is seen eating chips.

    • Gaali Sampath
    • Cast: Sree Vishnu, Rajendra Prasad
    • Direction: Annish Krishna
    • Music: Achu Rajamani

    The drama has two parts, the first one is a narration of Gaali Sampath’s relentless efforts to stage a drama at the Parishad level competitions and win the prize money of eight lakhs to gift his son a truck. The father and son share a blow hot-blow cold relationship on account of the father’s impetuous acts. Despite his good intentions the father ends up sabotaging his son’s (Sree Vishnu) interests and messes up everything. For example, he spoils the alliance of his son, pilfers money that his son had got for a purpose.

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    Throughout the first half Rajendra Prasad uses “fa’ in his speech as his vocal chords have been damaged; a translator tells the audience and the characters in the story what he intends to communicate. In between we are shown how he loses clarity in speech and why he abhors rain. Satya does a fine job as the translator, bringing relief from the otherwise unending language. Every person in the film talks in a high pitch and their behaviour is abnormal, be it the girlfriend who has a fetish for eating or a bank manager who helps the hero with some cash. There is a woman who loves plaiting people’s hair. Every time she sees a male or female, she is found combing and plaiting.

    The movie begins with a bunch of villagers waiting to see a drama unfold on stage and one drunken man constantly asking when the woman in the play will strip — an allusion to Draupadi! Barring a few seconds when Rajendra Prasad falls into the trench, there is nothing that evokes sympathy. He comfortably wades through the water that fills up the well due to a heavy rain, barges into his house and rescues his son who since childhood has been suffering from respiratory issues.

    The entire survival drama appears as a farce. Every scene looks like patch work and a hurried job. Lovely Singh is meant to just look lovely, she has nothing much to contribute in the story. Though Sampath is an aspiring actor, full of beans, it could have helped if Rajendra Prasad had been slightly subtle. Though the film has a crisp run time, it fails to engage.

  • ‘Moxie’ movie review: Amy Poehler’s film is a fierce feminist rant

    ‘Moxie’ movie review: Amy Poehler’s film is a fierce feminist rant

    Based on Jennifer Mathieu’s eponymous novel, the movie on Netflix does not go for broke, but has its heart in the right place

    Vivian (Hadley Robinson) and her best friend Claudia (Lauren Tsai) are back at Rockport High in Oregon for the new term. Everything seems to be the same — the obnoxious rankings, where all the girls in school are graded according to their physical attributes, are out and the incredibly popular captain of the football team Mitchell Wilson (Patrick Schwarzenegger) is being his casually-annoying self. Everything is same that is until new girl Lucy (Alycia Pascual-Peña) asks Vivian, “You know that annoying can be more than just annoying right?”

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    Vivian’s mother, Lisa (Amy Poehler) is a feminist and tells her, “When I was 16, all I cared about was smashing the patriarchy.” While admitting to making mistakes and not being “intersectional enough” Lisa assures Vivian that she did not regret any of it. When Vivian finds her mother’s Riot grrrl zine, she decides to fight the endemic sexism and bullying in her school with a zine of her own, Moxie. And a movement is born. Anger (“I hate that we are shoved aside”) is channelled to challenge the status quo to the rousing background score of ‘Rebel Girl’ by punk rock band Bikini Girl.

    Moxie

    • Director: Amy Poehler
    • Cast: Hadley Robinson, Josephine Langford, Lauren Tsai, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Amy Poehler, Ike Barinholtz, Marcia Gay Harden, Nico Hiraga, Alycia Pascual-Peña, Sydney Park, Sabrina Haskett
    • Story line: A sweet coming-of-age story of a teenager who finds herself with a little help from peers and her rad mother
    • Run time: 111 minutes

    So Kiera (Sydney Park), the captain of the girls’ soccer team runs against Mitchell for a sports scholarship and all the girls turn up in tank tops to support Kaitlynn (Sabrina Haskett), who is told by Principal Shelly (Marcia Gay Harden) not to wear them. Moxie also encourages Emma (Josephine Langford) to reveal a dark secret. Social media is put to good use to spread the revolution.

    The sympathetic men include the English teacher (always has to be the English teacher, why not maths or geology?) Mr Davies (Ike Barinholtz) and Seth (Nico Hiraga), who wet his pants when he was a little boy, but has grown into a hunk, much to Vivian’s delight.

    Rockport High is very different school from Riverdale, Rydell or any of the schools teenagers seem to frequent in Hollywood. Though Moxie based on Jennifer Mathieu’s eponymous novel, does not go for broke, it has its heart in the right place.

    Moxie is currently streaming on Netflix

     

  • Bee Gees biopic: Kenneth Branagh to direct movie on popular band

    Bee Gees biopic: Kenneth Branagh to direct movie on popular band

    The film will follow the lives of brothers Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb from their humble beginnings to pop superstardom

    Actor-filmmaker Kenneth Branagh will next tackle a biographical movie about classic music band Bee Gees.

    Writer Ben Elton, who worked with Branagh for 2018 period movie “All Is True”, penning the current draft of the screenplay, reported Variety.

    The project, which has been set up at Paramount, will follow the lives of brothers Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb from their humble beginnings to pop superstardom.

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    Following their first No. 1 hit “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart” the Bee Gees went on to write and perform hundreds of popular songs such as “Stayin’ Alive”, “How Deep Is Your Love”, “Night Fever” and “Jive Talkin’”.

    They also worked on the soundtrack for John Travolta and Karen Lynn Gorney’s cult classic 1977 movie “Saturday Night Fever”.

    The biographical movie, which is currently untitled, will be produced by Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment is producing the film with “Bohemian Rhapsody” producer Graham King via GK Films and the production company Sister. Barry Gibb, the only surviving member of the band, will serve as an executive producer. He had recently participated in HBO documentary “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart” about the band.

    Branagh’s directorial credits include movies such as “Belfast”, “Murder on the Orient Express”, “Thor” and “Cinderella”.

    The British filmmaker is currently awaiting the release of multi-starrer “Death on the Nile”, a sequel to his 2017 movie “Murder on the Orient Express”.

    In addition to directing the film, Branagh also features in it alongside the likes of Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer, Ali Fazal, Rose Leslie, Emma Mackey, Annette Bening, Russell Brand, Sophie Okonedo, Jennifer Saunders, and Letitia Wright.

  • ‘Judas and the Black Messiah’ movie review: Daniel Kaluuya leads an incandescent cast in this electrifying drama

    ‘Judas and the Black Messiah’ movie review: Daniel Kaluuya leads an incandescent cast in this electrifying drama

    Director King makes good on his promise of telling Hampton’s story and the ideology of the BPP through a beautifully-shot tale

    One of the things that ran through my mind watching the terrifically thrilling Judas and the Black Messiah was how young some of the players are in this horrific tragedy. Fred Hampton, the chairman of the Chicago chapter of the Black Panther Party, was only 21 when he was assassinated and Bill O’Neal, 17 when he was recruited by the FBI.

    That is the age when a certain kind of person is in university, trying to change the world, rebelling without a pause against every injustice, perceived or true. The liberal thinker, who can afford to look at the world with the hope of fixing things through the prism of privilege.

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    The film opens with O’Neal (Lakeith Stanfield) stealing cars posing to be an FBI officer. When Agent Roy Mitchell (Jesse Plemons) tells O’Neal, he can make all his charges go away if he (O’Neal) agrees to be an informant on BPP activities, he reluctantly agrees.

    He infiltrates the Illinois chapter of the BPP where Hampton is building bridges with the rival gangs with his oratory as well as community outreach programs such as giving free breakfast for children. Violence begets violence with a BPP member being killed as he is being transported from hospital after having been shot by a police officer. The BPP retaliate with a shootout killing several officers. There is a shootout at the BPP office, which ends up being bombed by the police. Hampton is sent to prison for stealing $71 worth of ice-cream bars (!) and O’Neal rises up the ranks to become security captain.

    Judas and the Black Messiah

    • Director: Shaka King
    • Cast: Daniel Kaluuya, Lakeith Stanfield, Jesse Plemons, Dominique Fishback, Martin Sheen
    • Story line: An account of the betrayal of Black Panther Party chairman, Fred Hampton
    • Run time: 126 minutes

    The FBI have another mole, who goes into different BPP offices seeking shelter, thus giving the FBI a chance to get a warrant and search the place. Released from prison, Hampton is identified as a threat and FBI director, J. Edgar Hoover (Martin Sheen), orders Hampton’s assassination—what does the Bible say about old men’s dreams and young men’s visions? O’Neal is again coerced into drugging Hampton—not with a kiss as much as a drink.

    The acting is incandescent. As Fred Hampton, Get Out’s Daniel Kaluuya deserves the Golden Globe and every other award that comes his way. Another Get Out alum, Lakeith Stanfield, matches Kaluuya toe-to-toe as O’Neal torn between his loyalty, belief and self-preservation. Plemons as Mitchell brings the dilemma of the good man who tries to do the right thing when there isn’t one in sight. Dominique Fishback as Deborah, Hampton’s girlfriend and mother of his child is teasing, tough and tender while Martin Sheen as Hoover is downright creepy.

    Judas and the Black Messiah fearlessly plunges into the alleyways that Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial of the Chicago 7 steered clear of and is all the better for it. The dialogue is a razor-sharp mix of historical speeches and street smarts (when Mitchell asks O’Neal why he uses a badge to steal cars, O’Neal says, “A badge is like you got the whole army behind you.”)

    Like Shaka King, making an assured feature film debut, says, the film is The Departed in the world of counterintelligence. King also makes good on his promise of telling Hampton’s story and the ideology of the BPP through an electrifying, beautifully-shot, lovingly-scored tale.

    Judas and the Black Messiah is currently running in theatres

  • Actor Arya talks about his upcoming movie Teddy

    Actor Arya talks about his upcoming movie Teddy

    Arya talks about his upcoming Tamil flick Teddy, which will release on Disney + Hotstar VIP on March 12.

    The Tamil flick Teddy is directed by Shakti Soundar Rajan of Tik Tik Tik fame. Arya, shares screen space with wife Sayyeshaa in this film, which is set to  release directly on OTT platform Disney + Hotstar VIP on March 12.

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    The actor gets candid about the three Fs in his life: fitness, friendships and films in the interview and also shares his lockdown experiences.

  • ‘I Care a Lot.’ movie review: Pike and Dinklage are well-matched adversaries

    ‘I Care a Lot.’ movie review: Pike and Dinklage are well-matched adversaries

    The savage, dark thriller tears along at breakneck speed with double and triple crosses galore.

    The full stop at the end of I Care a Lot., suggests there is nothing more to say on the topic. One can almost hear Rosamund Pike as Marla Grayson ferociously using the full stop to quell any timid questions from weak-minded people. We first meet Marla in a blood-red dress with a sleek helmet of blond hair gently yet firmly showing a worried Feldstrom (Macon Blair) the error of his ways.

    Feldstrom is upset that he is not allowed to meet his mother in the retirement home selected by Marla, the court-appointed guardian. In court, Marla explains that she only stepped in to save Feldstrom’s mother from herself and she sold some of his mother’s assets to ensure the best care for her.

    As the movie progresses, we realise Marla and her girlfriend, Fran (Eiza González), have a sweet scam going. When Dr. Amos (Alicia Witt) tips them off about elderly, rich patients, Marla swoops in and gets herself appointed their legal guardian. She puts them in a retirement facility, cuts off their contact with the outside world and sells off their assets and pockets the money.

    Everyone is in on the scheme from the doctor to the director of the retirement facility. Judge Lomax (Isiah Whitlock Jr.) does not seem to be corrupt, his sin seems to be that of being very easily swayed—Marla can be very convincing.

    Everything seems to be going happily for all on this particularly juicy gravy train until Amos tells Marla about a particularly alluring mark. Jennifer Peterson (Dianne Wiest) is single, retired, has no relatives, is financially comfortable and lives in a beautiful house. Everything looks perfect and Marla moves in. She proves Jennifer is incapable of taking care of herself, gets appointed Jennifer’s legal guardian and sends her off to the retirement home.

    And then everything comes apart as Jennifer does not seem to be the helpless old lady she appeared to be and when a scary Russian Mafia boss, Roman Lunyov (Peter Dinklage) begins to take interest in Jennifer, Marla and Fran seem in over their heads.

    The savage, dark thriller tears along at breakneck speed with double and triple crosses galore. Pike and Dinklage are well-matched adversaries. The scam sounds eminently doable and is a sharp comment on consumerism and greed. The ending is just a little bit of a cop out, but the movie as a whole is enjoyable, full stop.

    • Director: J Blakeson 
    • Cast: Rosamund Pike, Peter Dinklage, Eiza González, Chris Messina, Dianne Wiest, Isiah Whitlock Jr.,  Macon Blair, Alicia Witt, Damian Young  
    • Story line: A con-woman picks the wrong mark 
    • Run time: 118 minutes 

    I Care a Lot. is presently streaming on Netflix.