The Golden Globe-winning drama “The Brutalist” is half of a great movie. The first half. In Brady Corbet’s 3 1/2-hour epic, Adrian Brody excels as a Hungarian Holocaust survivor who immigrates to the US and struggles to work as an architect. The film’s second half meanders and leaves us with dangling plot threads. While frustrating and the running time may seem brutal, “The Brutalist” is certainly worth a watch for patient viewers.
“Nickel Boys” is a fascinating cinematic experiment that brings to light an important story about horrific abuses at a Florida reform school. However, director RaMell Ross’ decision to use first person point-of-view camerawork is a gimmick that becomes a distraction. The technique might have worked well for a short film, but it draws attention to itself and away from the riveting drama. “Nickel Boys” is a near miss.
Some monsters just won’t die and that’s certainly true of “Wolf Man.” Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner offer terrific performances, and this reboot and reimagining of the werewolf genre is appropriately chilling. But there are awkward elements that undermine a promising premise, and the makeup effects in “Wolf Man” are a disappointment.
Cameron Diaz took an 11-year break from acting. Maybe she should have waited a bit longer to get back in action. In the Netflix action comedy “Back in Action,” she and Jamie Foxx star as former CIA agents in hiding who are reluctantly thrown back into the game when bad guys discover their whereabouts. You can’t blame the likable cast, but the copycat style makes it painfully familiar. The folks behind “Back in Action” should go back to the drawing board.