A Reel Preview - Everything You Need to Know About GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE

This week, one of the most anticipated entries into a beloved franchise finally hits the big screen, when GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE arrives. Here now is a preview and everything you need to know. 

 

What is this about – GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE is a “legacy sequel”; meaning a sequel to a film decades later, in real-time. AFTERLIFE is a sequel to the ever popular GHOSTBUSTERS (1984), and GHOSTBUSTERS II (1989). It has nothing to do with the piece-of-stinking-shit remake from 2016. AFTERLIFE tells the story of a family who inherits a farmhouse once owned by a member of the original Ghostbusters…and the grandchildren discover their old legacy just as a new supernatural threat rises. 

 

Who is behind the camera – AFTERLIFE is directed by Jason Reitman, who is the son of Ivan Reitman…who helmed the first two GHOSTBUSTERS films. Ivan returns as a producer. Jason’s directing credits include the critically acclaimed THANK YOU FOR SMOKING (2005), JUNO (2007), and UP IN THE AIR (2009). Jason has four Oscar nominations to his credit, two of which for Best Director. 

 

Who is in front of the camera – Newcomers to the franchise include Carrie Coon (TV’s FARGO), Finn Wolfhard (TV’s STRANGER THINGS), McKenna Grace (young Carol Danvers in CAPTAIN MARVEL), and Paul Rudd (ANT-MAN). Original GHOSTBUSTERS alum returning include Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver, and Annie Potts. 

 

Random Facts – AFTERLIFE was originally scheduled for release in July of 2020, but was delayed due to the COVID pandemic * Development of a third GHOSTBUSTERS film goes as far back as the early 1990’s. Dan Aykroyd wrote a script called GHOSTBUSTERS III: HELLBENT, which had the original team transported to an alternate dimension where people and places are a hell-version * One of the themes Jason Reitman looked to explore was the idea that anyone can be a Ghostbuster * The film takes place in the American Mid-west to give it a different flavor than the previous movies * Jason Reitman appeared in GHOSTBUSTERS II as the kid who told Ray (Aykroyd), that they were “full of crap * 

 

What to expect – Starting behind the camera, Jason Reitman has more than proved his ability as a director, and having his father work with him makes this a labor of love, and anytime love is involved…great things can happen. Fans have been waiting a long time for a third film with returning cast-members, and after the disastrous remake, are finally getting what they deserve. The new cast assembled is excellent, and all the right pieces seem to be in place. There are a lot of good feelings this time around, and there shouldn’t be anything to be afraid of. 

 

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GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE arrives only in theatres November 19^th, with limited showings on the 18^th.

A Reel Retro Review: MURDER, INC (1960)

Reel Speak’s Retro Reviews will randomly review a classic film every week, with the intention of introducing some overlooked and perhaps forgotten screen gems from the past to those of us who may be unfamiliar or unawares of their existence. 

 

This month marks the 20^th anniversary of Disney and Pixar’s MONSTERS, INC (read Reel Speak’s writeup HERE). When that film was in its early stages, long-time Disney animator Joe Grant, whose work stretched back to SNOW WHITE from 1937, suggested the title MONSTERS, INC…which was a play from the 1960 gangster film, MURDER, INC. 

 

Brooklyn, 1930. Hitman Abe Reles (Peter Falk), is hired by mob kingpin Lepke (David J. Stewart) to carry out hits. Abe forces Joey (Stuart Whitman), and his wife Eadie (May Britt), to help him carry out a job to help pay off their loan debt. 

 

Directed by Burt Balaban and Stuart Rosenberg, and based on the true-story book of the same name by Burton Turkus and Sid Feder, MURDER INC. unfolds over the course of a decade, as Abe, under the command of Lepke, carries out hits all across their territories in NYC while evading the long arm of the baffled law. These are early days for organized crime, with prohibition just ending and a second world war still some years away. The cops (at least at the very beginning of the film), have no idea what organized crime is or how far it is spread out across the country…which allows Abe to carry out his hits with ease. 

 

Eventually the law, led by Turkus (Henry Morgan), is able to turn the heat up on the mob, which immediately causes switching allegiances. Eadie is more than willing to give them all up, while Joey is eager to keep his mouth shut. It’s a story of early mob activities with some of the first batch of rats deserting the ship. 

 

As a mob movie, MURDER, INC. works very well. The film has more than its share of violence as guys are stabbed, shot, and thrown out of windows…and a rape scene that is a shock. The film also seems to inspire THE GODFATHER films, with hitmen unscrewing light bulbs and bosses sitting behind large mahogany desks. 

 

Acting is terrific with Peter Falk leading the way in his first role in a major feature. May Britt spends most of the film in a bad mood but is still great to watch. 

 

MURDER, INC. has several instances where the story jumps ahead in time with documentary-style narration to catch everyone up, which is jarring at first but we get used to it. The film serves as good drama while also a slice of history about the American mob in its youth. At a tight 103 minutes the film is no monster, but does a fine job in blending facts with Hollywood drama. 

 

BOTTOM LINE: See it 

 

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Reel Facts:  MURDER, INC. was filmed in and around New York City, with a cast of actors from the off-Broadway theatre. Peter Falk would be nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, and would later earn TV fame as Columbo in the long-running series of the same name. 

 

A Reel Review: BELFAST

In addition to his fine work in front of the camera, writer and director Kenneth Branagh has dabbled in many different genres. He brought The Bard to the big screen with HENRY V (1989), and MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (1993), took a crack at horror with MARY SHELLEY’S FRANKENSTEIN (1994), and even journeyed into the Marvel universe with THOR (2011). Here in 2021, he brings his most personal tale to the screen with BELFAST. 

 

Belfast, Ireland, 1969. Buddy (Jude Hill), a young schoolboy, copes with the violence in his hometown, which effects his parents (Jamie Dorman, Caitriona Balfe), and his grandparents (Ciaran Hinds, Judi Dench). 

 

BELFAST is a film that is, quite specifically, dedicated to those who left, stayed, and were lost during what is known as The Troubles in Belfast; a conflict between its Catholic and Protestant people. It’s a conflict so deep-rooted that fire-bombs are tossed at houses, streets are blockaded, and the military is called in to quell the destruction. In the middle of all this is little Buddy, who just wants to read his comics (he actually reads a Thor comic. Ha, ha), watch movies, and find a way to get closer to a certain girl at school. 

 

It’s a personal film for Branagh as he grew up in Ireland, and he seemingly throws everything he remembered from his youth on the screen; from his favorite old films and TV shows, playing with toy cars, and using a garbage-can lid as a shield while slaying imaginary dragons. It works, and it works really well…as Branagh brilliantly captures the spirit of youth. 

 

Shot in glorious black-and-white with occasional splashes of color (timed perfectly), BELFAST looks gorgeous. Cheeky humor is nicely timed, and every shot gives us a lot to look at. The dramatic parts range from heartbreaking to shocking…but overall the film is a delight to take in. 

 

Acting is wonderful. Young Jude Hill carries the film and clearly has a bright future. Jamie Dorman and Caitriona Balfe are matched well together, and Ciaran Hinds and Judi Dench are a delight. 

 

BELFAST is not heavy on plot which makes it easy to digest. The real hook of the film; if the family would wait out the raging civil war or flee to England, doesn’t come until late in the film. That’s not a flaw, as that’s how Branagh remembered it, and it’s a treat that he decided to share that with us. 

 

BOTTOM LINE: See it 

 

 

A Reel 20: MONSTERS, INC.

“We scare because we care.”

 

This month marks the 20^th anniversary of Pete Docter and Pixar Animation Studio’s monster comedy, MONSTERS, INC. 

 

The fourth feature film from Pixar, MONSTERS, INC. centers on two monsters, Mike and Sulley, employed by an energy company which generates power for the city by scaring human children. But when a young child makes her way into the monster-world, things rapidly change for all involved. The story for the film was conceived as far back as 1994 in the now-famous lunch attended by eventual Pixar legends, Peter Docter, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, and Joe Ranft. That meeting would spawn the films A BUG’S LIFE (1998), FINDING NEMO (2003), WALL-E (2008)…and MONSTERS INC.  

 

The story for the film went through several versions. Docter’s original idea was to center on a man in his thirties dealing with monsters that he had drawn as a child coming back to haunt him years later. Working with screenwriters Jill Culton, Jeff Pidgeon, and Ralph Eggleston, the story evolved into a buddy comedy. Legendary Disney animator Joe Grant, who had worked on SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS (1937), suggested the title MONSTERS, INC. 

 

The voice cast would be led by big comedy names Billy Crystal (Mike), and John Goodman (Sulley). They would be joined by Steve Buscemi, James Coburn, Jennifer Tilly, John Ratzenberger, Bonnie Hunt, and Frank Oz. Pixar Animation Studios made strides in animating individual strands of fur. 

 

The film would open at no. 1 at the box office in 2001, and to this day sits as Pixar’s ninth-highest grossing film worldwide. It would be nominated for four Oscars, including Best Animated Feature, and would win for Best Original Song (by Randy Newman). The film would inspire a prequel, MONSTERS UNIVERSITY (2013), and a streaming series. 

 

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This Blogger didn’t think much of MONSTERS, INC. 20 years ago; didn’t love it, didn’t hate it…but over the years have come to appreciate it more. The homegrown plot device of kids being scared of the monster in the closet (maybe there was something in there, after all) is used to great effect, and the film capitalizes on the theme of fear; the monsters use fear to survive, and in turn it is they who fear children. Like most Pixar films, MONSTERS operates on several levels, and is as easily watchable for adults and children. Wherever Mike and Sulley did, they had us watching. 

 

“I’m watching you, Wazowski. Always watching…”

A Reel Review: ETERNALS

One of the most common, and perhaps unfair criticisms of the now 13-year, 26-film long Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) series is that the bulk of the films follow a very specific formula or structure. Formulas always work, but the reliance on them can lead to predictability. This year, the MCU steps into a brave new universe with ETERNALS. 

 

Thousands of years ago, ten superpowered Eternals (Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Lia McHugh, Brian Tyree Henry, Lauren Ridloff, Barry Keoghan, Don Lee, Salma Hayek, Angelina Jolie), are sent to Earth by the space-god Celestial Arishem to Earth for the strict purpose of protecting mankind against animal-like creatures called Deviants. Once the last Deviant was destroyed, the Eternals went into quiet hiding, waiting for their call to return to their home planet for another thousand years…

 

Directed by Oscar-winning director Chloe Zhao (NOMADLAND), ETERNALS sets itself up as a story we’ve seen before, with a group of disbanded superpowered beings getting back together when Deviants suddenly appear on Earth again. It initially feels like familiar territory, but a mid-film surprise turns the entire story upside-down; changing what the Eternals thought their purpose on Earth was and what their own existence was for. It’s a stunning twist that is huge for the story and for the overall MCU. 

 

The structure of ETERNALS takes place over thousands of years, and the film moves back and forth from different points in time and locations all over the planet in near dizzying fashion. The Eternals have been here a long time; protecting ancient civilizations and guiding them to survival; teaching them how to do simple things like plow fields and provide irrigation. The overall scale is massive and it takes a lot of thought to wrap our heads around. The film has several information-dumps to fill in the gaps and let us know what’s happening, and between the many talkie-scenes and the large canvas, it feels unlike any MCU film we’ve seen so far. 

 

Director Chloe Zhao brings us what feels like an arthouse film in many places, which is a welcome change of pace for a Marvel film. Natural, and quite beautiful outdoor locations are used; gone are the artificial environments (although there are some), and enter lush forests, endless beaches, and gorgeous sunrises and sunsets. There are large set-pieces here with characters scaled down to ant-size which demand to be seen on a big screen. Action sequences are handled well, and the quiet moments between characters provide depth. The hokey jokes and one-liners we’re used to in these movies are gone, although the bits of humor we do get are very well timed. Ramin Djawadi’s score is excellent. 

 

Also excellent is the large ensemble cast. Richard Madden takes a huge step up from a TV guy to movie star, and he is matched very well with Gemma Chan. Angelina Jolie makes for the most interesting character in the group, with her mind slowly going fragile due to the overload of thousands of years of memories. 

 

The third act contains yet another surprise leading to the final showdown which is a mind-bender, and the very end, along with two whopper mid-credits scenes, may send long-time Marvel fans over the edge of the planet. ETERNALS is epic, different, and a breath of fresh air in the MCU’s 26-film series. Formulas always work, but some deviation is always good. 

 

BOTTOM LINE: See it 

A Reel Review: SPENCER

In 2016, Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larrain brought us the Oscar-nominated drama JACKIE; an intimate look at the life of Jackie Kennedy in the days following the assassination of her husband, President Kennedy. Seemingly fascinated by the unraveling of a human being, Larrain returns with SPENCER…another drama that dives deep into the mind of the late Princess Diana. 

 

It is 1991, and Princess Diana (Kristen Stewart), arrives for Christmas festivities at the Queen’s sprawling Sandringham Estate…where she finds herself at her breaking point. 

 

The opening minute of SPENCER tell us, “A fable based on a true tragedy”. With that said, the film is right away letting it be known that this is a story not quite based on fact, but instead what might have happened on that fateful weekend where Diana finally decides that she no longer wants to be part of the Royal Family. The film itself does not have much by way of plot, and is instead an intimate mood piece; capturing Diana’s fragile state-of-mind towards the end of her marriage. 

 

SPENCER follows Diana as she finds herself trapped at every turn. Director Pablo Larrain is heavy on the metaphor; using towering ceilings to make her look small, tight pearl necklaces to give the idea of being choked, and curtains sewn shut (to protect against photographers), to make her feel imprisoned. And despite the large estate she finds herself trapped in, SPENCER comes across as very claustrophobic and it works well. 

 

Where SPENCER stumbles is the portrayal of Diana. While the character is obviously going through a major change in her life, she comes across as too frazzled, too needy, and nearly nuts. It’s almost to the point where it’s hard to feel sorry for her…which seems to be the point of the film in the first place. Quiet scenes with Diana and her children are excellent, but only seem to be a break in the nuttiness that this Princess Di will eventually get back to. There is also the occasional scene of Diana seeing ghosts and incidents that are only happening in her mind; well-intentioned but come off as weird. 

 

Kristen Stewart handles the role very well, carries a decent accent, and seems to get a lot of Diana’s mannerisms down-pat. Sally Hawkins comes in as Diana’s trusted maid and does very well, as always. Timothy Spall appears as the head of household and is solid. The rest of the cast for the Royal Family fades into the background…adding to Diana’s feeling of isolation. 

 

SPENCER is a technical marvel with gorgeous cinematography, sharp execution, period-costumes that are spot-in, a marvelous score by Jonny Greenwood, and overall excellent performances. It only needed to dial back the unraveling of the Princess, which as is makes this fable hard to swallow. 

 

BOTTOM LINE: Rent it 

A Reel Preview: The Year in Film 2021 - Episode V

The temperature outside may be dropping, but the big screen will be heating up this month with a wide-range of releases. Here’s what’s coming in the month of November: 

 

 

ETERNALS – The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) continues with this cosmic, generation-spanning superhero film, dealing with a race of beings living in secret on Earth for over 7,000 years. The ensemble cast includes Angelina Jolie, Gemma Chan, Brian Tyree Henry, Salma Hayek and TV’S GAME OF THRONES alums Kit Harrington and Richard Madden. It is directed by Oscar-winning director Chloe Zhao (NOMADLAND). 

 

SPENCER – Kristen Stewart plays the late Diana, Princess of Wales in this drama. It is directed by Pablo Larrain, who brought us the Oscar-nominated, First Lady drama JACKIE in 2016. 

 

CLLIFFORD THE BIG RED DOG – The big screen adventure based on the beloved children’s book which has also spanned a long-running TV series. 

 

ROCKY IV: ROCKY VS. DRAGO – Sylvester Stallone delivers a director’s cut of ROCKY IV from 1985 which will run in a one-night-only live event on November 11^th. The new cut promises never-before-seen footage. 

 

BELFAST – Kenneth Branagh directs this black-and-white coming-of-age drama centering around a young boy during the tumult of Belfast in the 1960’s. It stars Caitriona Balfe, Judi Dench, Jamie Dorman, and Ciaran Hinds. 

 

TICK, TICK…BOOM! – Lin Manuel Miranda of Broadway’s Hamilton directs this adaptation of the musical of the same name, telling the story of an aspiring theatre composer. Andrew Garfield and Alexandra Shipp carry the tunes. 

 

GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE – The beloved GHOSTBUSTERS franchise gets a legacy sequel, directed by Jason Reitman, son of Ivan…director of the original film. This time around, the grandkids of the late great Egon discover his  legacy just as a new spectral threat rises. Mckenna Grace, Finn Wolfhard, and Paul Rudd star. 

 

KING RICHARD – Will Smith plays the father of tennis legends Venus and Serena Williams in this biopic. 

 

C’MON C’MON – Joaquin Phoenix plays a radio journalist stuck with his young nephew on a cross-country trip. 

 

ENCANTO – Walt Disney Animation Studios brings us this fantasy about a family living in an enchanted realm, who discovers that their powers and existence may be under threat. 

 

HOUSE OF GUCCI – Sir Ridley Scott (GLADIATOR, ALIEN), releases his second film of the year, with this one spanning the decades before and after the murder of Maurizio Gucci; head of the fashion empire Gucci. The all-star cast includes Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, Jared Leto, Jeremy Irons, Salma Hayek, and Al Pacino. 

 

RESIDENT EVIL: WELCOME TO RACCOON CITY – This reboot of the RESIDENT EVIL film series serves as the seventh film of the franchise…based on the popular survival-horror video games. 

 

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Next month, Reel Speak previews the final month of 2021. 

 

 

A Reel 90: FRANKENSTEIN

“It’s alive!”

Halloween is over. The costumes are hung, jack-o-lanterns snuffed, and creature-features back on the shelf for 11 months. But this November just happens to be the 90^th anniversary of the king of all monster movies, FRANKENSTEIN. 

 

Directed by James Whale and based on the 1818 novel by Mary Shelley of the same name, along with a 1927 play by Peggy Webling, FRANKENSTEIN follows the obsessed scientist Henry Frankenstein, who is digging up corpses in order to assemble a living body. The story of the mad scientist and his monster that he would lose control of would become ground zero for horror films over the next nine decades, but FRANKENSTEIN owes it origins to its brother in cinema, Count Dracula. 

 

In February of 1931, Universal Pictures new horror film DRACULA would become one of the studio’s highest-grossing releases. As a result, plans were announced for more horror films. DRACULA star Bela Lugosi would be considered for the role of the monster before dropping out; a role that would eventually go to Boris Karloff. The rest of the cast would be rounded out by Colin Clive (as the doctor), Mae Clarke, John Boles, and Edward Van Sloan. 

 

The directing duties would go English theatre director and actor James Whale, who only had two feature films under his belt at that point. Whale, along with a team of screenwriters, crafted a script that would give the monster humanity while staying true to the original novel. The film would go through several edits to meet censorship codes in place at the time; ranging from lines of dialogue to a scene where the monster tosses a little girl in a lake. Still, the film opened to a successful box office and would become another hit for Universal Pictures. 

 

FRANKENSTEIN would receive wide acclaim and not only be considered one of the best horror films ever made, but one of the best films of all time; a rarity for a scary movie. In 1991, the film was selected for preservation in the United States Film Registry. The iconic image of the monster would go on to inspire cartoons, breakfast cereals, and countless spinoffs and parodies. 

 

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This Blogger can recall being introduced to FRANKENSTEIN as a wee-lad; watching it on the old cabinet TV on a Sunday afternoon. The images of the monster, the impressive sets (the castle and windmill sets still impress to this day), and the eye-popping lightning effects were enough to scare a little kid. Today, the film still impresses in its production design, and for a horrific monster that we’re supposed to afraid of, somehow…the film makes us feel sorry for him. That is no easy task for any film in the horror genre, but FRANKENSTIEN makes it work, and is certainly a film that is alive after 90 years. 

 

“Oh, in the name of God! Now I know what it feels like to be God!”

A Reel Review: ANTLERS

In the last 12 years, director Scott Cooper has become one of those filmmakers who lands on a lot of must-see lists. In 2009 he guided Jeff Bridges to an Oscar with CRAZY HEART, turned Johnny Depp into a gangster in BLACK MASS (2015), and helmed the outstanding Western HOSTILES in 2017. Here in 2021 he teams up with creature-feature producer Guillermo del Toro for the supernatural horror film, ANTLERS. 

 

Julia (Keri Russell), a schoolteacher, suspects that one of her students, Lucas (Jeremy T. Thomas), is secretly keeping a supernatural creature hidden in his house. 

 

Based on the short story The Quiet Boy by Nick Antosca, ANTLERS mostly operates as a mystery. In the early goings, young Lucas and his meth-cooking father are ambushed in an abandoned mine by some unknown creature, and later Julia, along with the audience, are led to believe that Lucas is keeping said creature as a pet. An early twist happens as we learn (slight spoiler here), that Lucas is actually keeping his infected father and younger brother locked up…both of whom seem to be slowly transforming into something else. 

 

While director Scott Cooper is slowly unraveling an effective mystery, he’s also making one hell of a horror flick with good scares and a creepy atmosphere. Unfortunately, once the mystery is uncloaked (which happens fairly early), the rest of the film becomes blandly predictable even for anyone who has never seen a horror movie. Cooper at the same time is playing with plenty of subtext; including lower-class families whose children fall through the system, small towns that are vanishing due to declining coal industry, and American Indian legends. 

 

Filmed on location in British Columbia (in the same town where FIRST BLOOD was filmed in 1982), the film looks gorgeous despite being in endless rainfall and sunless skies. Editing is crisp and the gore is glorious. The creature itself, when it does come, is horrific and grotesque. Cooper only shows the creature in fleeting glimpses which really works well. But in doing a horror film there are still traps that Cooper falls into, with the old trick of hapless characters venturing into spooky places they would naturally flee from. 

 

Acting is good from the small cast. Keri Russell handles everything well despite her character getting a lot of backstory that never seems to come back into play. Jesse Plemons comes in as her brother and local sheriff and does well. The support cast of young Jeremy T. Thomas, Graham Greene, and Amy Madigan all handle their roles well. 

 

The final battle and solution to kill the creature is handled with zero imagination and tension, and one has to wonder if there were discussions on set on how to do it best or if something got changed in the editing…and then an epilogue offers a slight twist that doesn’t work as well as it thinks it does. In the end ANTLERS pokes in as a horrific (in a good way) body-horror creature feature that delivers as just as much as it misses. 

 

BOTTOM LINE: Rent it 

A Reel Review: THE FRENCH DISPATCH

For the most part, the films of stylistic director Wes Anderson have explored with joyful whimsy the sad melancholy of things that have passed from this world; such as grand hotels, the spirit of youth, natural talent, or even love. Here in 2021 he takes a look at the long demise of print journalism with his anthology film, THE FRENCH DISPATCH. 

 

THE FRENCH DISPATCH is composed of three different storylines based on feature articles in the final issue of the fictional Kansas newspaper The French Dispatch, following the death of its long-time editor (Bill Murray). The stories include an incarcerated artist (Benicio del Toro), and his prison-guard lover Simone (Lea Seydoux), a student revolutionary (Timothee Chalamet), and a police commissioner (Mathieu Amalric), who enjoys fine dining. Each story is told through the eyes and words of each respective journalist who find themselves in the middle of each happening (played by Owen Wilson, Frances McDormand, and Jeffrey Wright). 

 

Quirky and untraditional even for an anthology film, THE FRENCH DISPATCH’s three storylines have little or nothing to do with each other, with the only connecting thread being that the writers of each article find themselves deeply imbedded in the happenings. Issues of ethics in journalism come up, but on a deeper level Wes Anderson is looking at how a story can be started as one thing in mind, only to have it take on a life of its own. It’s a statement on not only journalism but nearly any creative endeavor. 

 

The film is put together with Anderson’s usual trademarks; symmetrical framing, tracking shots, quick cuts, and marvelous set design. For good measure he finds a way to use the modern “mannequin challenge” as a cinematic tool…and it works wonderfully. His storytelling doesn’t quite go from A to Z easily as there are some sideways scenes that can be a bit jarring. The film looks gorgeous, and the moments of drama and laughter are perfectly timed and executed. Anderson throws every cinematic trick out there; ranging from various screen and color formats to animation. 

 

Acting is very good and with a huge ensemble cast with shifting storylines it’s difficult to single anyone out. In addition to Murray, Chalamet, Wilson, McDormand, del Toro, and Seydoux…there is also Elisabeth Moss, Jason Schwartzman, Anjelica Huston, Tilda Swinton, Adrien Brody, Henry Winkler (!), Bob Balaban, Christoph Waltz, Liev Schreiber, Edward Norton, Willem Dafoe, Saoirse Ronan, and Tony Revolori. An impressive cast, no doubt. 

 

THE FRENCH DISPATCH runs only 103 minutes but feels longer thanks to the massive amount of characters and happenings in the film. It’s easy to feel exhausted once the credits roll, but like most of Anderson’s films, he brings us a world that we would love to wrap ourselves up in. Ambitious, unique, and delivering an important theme, THE FRENCH DISPATCH can be read over and over. 

 

BOTTOM LINE: See it