Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Released on 12th January
In this wide-open award season, I’d wager that Frances McDormand (below) will get nominated for this tale of maternal grief in a small town. She plays Mildred, whose daughter was murdered months earlier and the perpetrator still unknown. Mildred takes her complaint against the police public on large billboards. Writer/director Martin McDonagh spins his strong cast (Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell) with his acclaimed mix of dark humour, startling violence and sudden tenderness. There’s no moment in this film when you’re in doubt of the humanity that lies beneath.
Downsizing
Released on 19th January
Science-fiction is not where you’d expect director Alexander Payne (Sideways, About Schmidt) to go. Occupational therapist (Matt Damon) is a guy with a mid-life dilemma. How to live well—or as well as his wife would like—within limited means? Luckily, Nordic scientists have pioneered a radical solution: you can be shrunk down and live a sustainable lifestyle in a Lilliputian gated community. The film risks outstaying its welcome, but its jokes and observations about ambition, consumption and conservation are spot on.
The Final Year
Released on 19th January
For the last 12 months of the Obama administration, documentary-maker Greg Barker was given access to the US foreign policy team: Secretary of State John Kerry, US ambassador to the UN Samantha Power and speechwriter Ben Rhodes. As they jet-set round the globe tackling Iran, Syria, Cuba and the rest, Barker’s subjects are impressively fluent and charismatic and like their president, skilled at controlling their own image. Yet they don’t anticipate the election result: footage from that evening is extraordinary.
Released on 12th January
In this wide-open award season, I’d wager that Frances McDormand (below) will get nominated for this tale of maternal grief in a small town. She plays Mildred, whose daughter was murdered months earlier and the perpetrator still unknown. Mildred takes her complaint against the police public on large billboards. Writer/director Martin McDonagh spins his strong cast (Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell) with his acclaimed mix of dark humour, startling violence and sudden tenderness. There’s no moment in this film when you’re in doubt of the humanity that lies beneath.
Downsizing
Released on 19th January
Science-fiction is not where you’d expect director Alexander Payne (Sideways, About Schmidt) to go. Occupational therapist (Matt Damon) is a guy with a mid-life dilemma. How to live well—or as well as his wife would like—within limited means? Luckily, Nordic scientists have pioneered a radical solution: you can be shrunk down and live a sustainable lifestyle in a Lilliputian gated community. The film risks outstaying its welcome, but its jokes and observations about ambition, consumption and conservation are spot on.
The Final Year
Released on 19th January
For the last 12 months of the Obama administration, documentary-maker Greg Barker was given access to the US foreign policy team: Secretary of State John Kerry, US ambassador to the UN Samantha Power and speechwriter Ben Rhodes. As they jet-set round the globe tackling Iran, Syria, Cuba and the rest, Barker’s subjects are impressively fluent and charismatic and like their president, skilled at controlling their own image. Yet they don’t anticipate the election result: footage from that evening is extraordinary.
