#Middlebury
“Widows” (R) – Director Steve McQueen (“12 Years a Slave”) kills it in this woman-centric, dark and penetrating crime caper. A gang of crooks is killed while ripping off Chicago mob boss Jamal (Brian Tyree Henry), who pins the debt on the wife of one of the slain thieves. Veronica (Viola Davis) enlists the help of the other “widows” (Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debecki) and the babysitter (Cynthia Erivo) to pull off a job that will wipe the slate clean with the mob boss and secure the ladies’ futures. It’s dramatic, smart and exciting, and not without twists and turns. The film easily could have drifted into a one-note cliche about gender, but the widows (and the fierce men they face) are strong, vulnerable, flawed and heroic in equal measures.
“The Sisters Brothers” (R) – Eli (John C. Reilly) and Charlie (Joaquin Phoenix) Sisters are brothers. They travel the West as assassins on assignment from the murky Commodore, who is after Hermann Warm (Riz Ahmad) who “stole from him.” He’s sent the Sisters brothers to take Warm out, assisted by a scout named John Morris (Jake Gyllenhaal). When Morris finds Warm, who is not a thief at all but a chemist who has discovered how to easily find gold in the river, he switches sides, pitting them against the brothers, who are themselves an assassin target. In the meantime, the brothers riff on the Gold Rush, their own strengths and foibles, and whether they should retire. It’s a smart dark-comedy Western, and that alone makes it worth a watch.
“The Grinch” (PG) – The magic of Christmas is once again threatened by that notoriously small-hearted, scheming Grinch in the latest telling of Dr. Seuss’s masterpiece. If you don’t know the story, perhaps because the rock you live under was buried by an earthquake, let me catch you up. The Grinch (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch) is a miserable being who hates Christmas and the Whos down in Whoville, and decides that he must steal Christmas in order to stop it from being obnoxiously celebrated. Spoiler alert: He’s foiled by his own regret. This version features the Grinch’s backstory as a sad orphan and Cindy Lou as a spunky kid who feels her single mom is overworked and deserves a break from Santa. It’s cute and watchable without being a revolutionary addition to next year’s holiday movie lineup.
Rosamund Pike in “A Private War” (Aviron Pictures photo)
“A Private War” (R) – Following the incredible war journalist Marie Colvin (Rosamund Pike), “A Private War” embeds you alongside Colvin in the many dangerous locations across her decades-long career, including the perspective of her fellow journalist photographer Paul Conroy (Jamie Dornan) and her editor (Tom Hollander). Pike’s outstanding performance echoes the fearless mania of Colvin, who was dogged in her determination to give a voice to the voiceless. Colvin was killed on assignment in 2012.
New TV Releases
“Scooby-Doo and The Curse of the 13th Ghost”
“The Cloverfield Paradox”
“Gunsmoke” Season 14 (Volumes 1 and 2)
“Winter’s Dream” (Hallmark Channel Original Movie)
© 2019 King Features Synd., Inc.
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