Here is a recap of the films reviewed on today’s show:
The Night Before is a frustrating movie because the potential is there to be a very good or even great movie but the film is too unfocused and not funny enough.
Victor Frankenstein is an ambitious project but it’s also a mess. There is some fun stuff here but the film is a jumble of underwritten characters and plot points that don’t make sense.
Trumbo has the potential to be a complex portrait of the juncture between entertainment and politics but the filmmakers settle for a straightforward man against the institution story. As that it works and Trumbo is a very enjoyable movie.
Secret in Their Eyes has some extraordinary performances and there is a powerful story here of justice and corruption. But the filmmakers are overambitious and unnecessarily complicate the story.
Dark Places flew under the radar of viewers and generally didn’t get the regard it deserved from critics. The movie is flawed and is certainly no Gone Girl but there is an intelligence to Dark Places that elevates it above the average murder mystery.
You can find full text of every review in the Sounds of Cinema Review Archive.