Oppenheimer squeezes out Flower Moon, I.S.S. crash lands, and more from the week in movies

I.S.S. review: Ariana DeBose’s sci-fi outing fails to achieve liftoff

Ever since Georges Méliès sent audiences out of orbit in 1902 with A Trip To The Moon, filmmakers have been busy crafting distinctly textured space-themed stories, ranging from tender to terrifying. It’s a setting that provides claustrophobic tension and awe-inducing wonder, as well as giving space (pun intended) for drama and characters to flourish. So it’s unfortunate that director Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s I.S.S. fails to take full advantage of not just the location, but also its narrative function when building its stakes, smarts, and scares. Set aboard an international space station where six passengers engage in a war for control, the film neglects to include fresh, heady ideas after its interesting premise arises, denying us of any satisfying gravitational pull. Read More

Founders Day review: Gruesome fun for slasher devotees

There are lots of ways to tell when you’re in good hands while watching a movie. It might be the casting, or the lighting, or the clever dialogue in the script. It might be the way the film plays with genre, or the way it catches you off guard with smart plotting. For horror fans, all of these things can be true, but it’s often just as important. Read More

John Sayles on Lone Star, the state of TV, and making movies on the border

John Sayles has been a fixture of American independent cinema for nearly 50 years. Like many indie filmmakers, Sayles began his career making monster movies before directing his microbudget debut, Return Of The Secaucus 7. His shaggy, soulful, and funny look at the Baby Boomer generation was far more political and less sentimental than The Big Chill, which would benefit from Sayles’ originality only a few years later, but Sayles’ ear for dialogue, visual inventiveness, and nuanced and principled political expression is often imitated but never equaled. Read More

12 more Broadway musicals based on films we’d like to see on the big screen

It’s nothing new for Broadway creatives to look to Hollywood for inspiration, but the trend has gotten a little out of hand in recent years. You can’t throw a stone in Times Square without hitting an advertisement for the latest musical based on a movie. But now it’s Hollywood taking the cue from Broadway’s successes. With the release of The Color Purple and Mean Girls, the movie-to-musical-to-musical-movie pipeline is entering a new phase. What project could be next in line to come full circle? Here are some of our suggestions. Read More

Ariana DeBose finds her space, and then some

Ariana DeBose, who turns 33 on January 25, has already attained the kind of success some actors only dream of, winning an Oscar and a Golden Globe for West Side Story, and being nominated for a Tony (Summer: The Donna Summer Musical) and an Emmy (for hosting the 2022 Tony Awards ceremony). DeBose is striking while the iron remains hot. She provided the voice of Asha in the Disney animated feature Wish and stars in a quartet of upcoming films: I.S.S., House Of Spoils, Argylle, and Kraven The Hunter. Read More

Oppenheimer is squeezing Killers Of The Flower Moon out of awards season

Oppenheimer is blowing up awards season. After becoming the third biggest movie of the year, Christopher Nolan’s film has dominated the awards circuit since sweeping the Golden Globes. Heading into Academy Award nominations, it’s the frontrunner, but when will Killers Of The Flower Moon get its flowers? Read More