Studio: Parts and Labor . . . . . Length: 92 Mins. . . . . . Rating: R . . . . . Website
Starring: Anya taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie, Harvey Scrimshaw, Ellie Grainger
Directed by: Robert Eggers
How pious do you have to be to get banished from a Puritan colonial plantation? That’s exactly what happens to a family of seven in 1630 New England, forcing them to relocate to a remote patch of land on the edge of…a forest. Uh-oh.
Forests seem to be prime real estate for witches, with their festering, malevolent trees that you just know is hiding a small, secluded cottage tucked away in isolation. Made of candy, it’s not.
The relocating family consists of martyr-like father William (Ralph Ineson) tragic-faced mum Katherine (Kate Dickie), innocent, repressed eldest daughter Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy) bosom-conscious eldest son Caleb (Harvey Scrimshaw) mischievous younger twins Jonas and Mercy (Lucas Dawson, Ellie Grainger) and nursing infant Samuel.
The family provides fodder for a neighboring, murderous crone (Bathsheba Garnett) whom they never see. The effects of her presence are apparent in the disappearance of some of the children. The crone is suddenly alluring and seductive (Sarah Stephens) – but at what (literally) bloody price? Never fear. Budding beauty Thomasin, an adolescent girl, will be blamed for every unsettling occurrence.
The year is 1630, decades before the Salem witch trials, but Thomasin rapidly becomes the center of the family’s hysteria, fueled by boisterous twin siblings who are vociferous mouthpieces of accusation and unrestrained commentary.
There is even “sin” in Thomasin’s name. Fingers point in her direction as death descends like nightfall on the family. Eggs and goat milk turn bloody, crops fail; even the animals seem sinister and conspiratorial. The surrounding forest is another cruel presence, first presented as foreboding treetops amid a choir of scream-like voices, a warning that is not heeded.
Creepy and grim, the film is riveting in a voyeuristic sense. A snapshot of an austere, religion-driven existence, full of the fear of sin and denial of pleasure, there’s almost no need for an embodied witch. The horror here is what’s happening to Thomasin and her ravaged family. Suspicion, accusations, and lies nearly rival the actual witch, who has precious little screen time after a brief, disturbing scene of baby Samuel’s fate. Afterward, in a newly acquired youthful and voluptuous body, she becomes Caleb’s frenzied downfall. Scrimshaw gives a tremendous performance here, anchoring an effective cast.
Black Phillip (Wahab Chaudhry) is the family goat and your guess would probably be correct on why he’d need a human credit
Writer/director Robert Eggers’ feature debut (previous shorts: Hansel and Gretel, The Telltale Heart), is an atmospheric tale of paranoia where those who pray are preyed upon without mercy, and without the help of the God that they call upon so frequently. Eggers won the Best Director Prize in the U.S. Narrative Competition at Sundance for The Witch, and utilized transcripts of the era for some of the film’s dialogue. You will encounter thee, thou, and thy by the cauldron-full. The period recreation is impressive, bu painfully slow pacing derails much of the plot’s effectiveness.
The snail’s pace (some would call it slow-building horror; I wouldn’t) ramps up during the last few minutes, resulting in a disjointed, out-of-place, where-did-this-come-from conclusion that’s almost anti-climactic.
The Witch is a misnomer for a film that’s really a study in the seduction of innocence and the hysteria of unchecked religious fervor. Packaged and presently as horror, had it stayed within the confines of a fanatically religious family, its dissection of the human condition under onerous constraints would be all the more potent.
As a horror film, it disappoints. As a psychological study of paranoia within an absurdly religious climate, it makes a point sharper than any witch’s headgear. 
16-year-old Cassie Sullivan (Chloë Grace Moretz) is one of a group of dwindling human survivors in a world devastated by alien “waves” of systematic destruction by power loss, tsunami, disease, and massacre. One ordinary day, an enormous alien spaceship appears in the sky and it is (literally) “lights out” on Earth. The aliens come to be known as The Others; we never get to see them, or do we? This surprise is, unfortunately, painfully obvious.
The film objectifies both genders and delivers cringe-worthy dialogue to its protagonists, in some cases becoming a wave (nausea) of its own. Just because the world is fast-becoming Adolescent Central does not mean that everything has to be so…juvenile.
s “going green” a horrifying experience for Griffin. Grotesque clown dolls leer and attack while the laundry room floor cracks and oozes black slime while sprouting grasping arms that pull Kendra downward. Whispers and murmurings inside the closet coax six-year-old Maddie far enough in so that she’s hauled off into the darkness. Fun stuff like that.
Director Gil Kenan (Monster House) and screenwriter David Lindsay-Abaire (Rabbit Hole) provide some variations in their new version of the classic film (no swimming pool, no crawling food, no Zelda Rubenstein, 3D effect, good for a scene with a squirrel, etc.) along with elements from the original (rope guide, ceiling portal, ectoplasm, internal whirlwinds, spontaneous inanimate formations) but these only serve to remind us what the original film did so effectively. Here, both the recognizable and the new seem like weak imitations. If only the viewer were grabbed the way Maddie was.
As a child, Frank visits the 1964 World Fair in New York, toting his jet pack made from Electrolux vacuum cleaner parts. There he meets condescending British scientist David Nix (Hugh Laurie) and the enchanting Athena (Raffey Cassidy), a British tween with the style and poise of Audrey Hepburn. The two will figure prominently in Frank’s life where, as an adult, he morphs into a disillusioned George Clooney.
future. Why not open that up to everyone instead of forming an elite segment of environmental and creative snobs? I have a pin and you don’t, nyah-nyah!
Looks aren’t everything.
There are many novel ways to assault and die, and director George Miller (all three of the previous Mad Max films in the franchise) explores unique variations, all of them on wheels, some on poles, some as living hood ornaments. The visuals, stunt work, custom vehicles, set and sound design all rock, sometimes literally.
work for the inhabitants of the world after the bomb. The explosions don’t stop, nor do the considerable amount of omnipresent gears grinding out a rhythm of mayhem and brutality. Turns out grease is the word. Axle grease, that is.
You will not hear the word ‘madding’, ever, in the film. It is neither referred to nor mentioned, so I will tell you its origin. The namesake novel’s author, Thomas Hardy, took it from the first line of a Thomas Gray poem. The word means frenzied and knowing that, the title takes on an enhanced meaning, as in getting away from the rat race, such as there was in the 19
The three men is question are Gabriel Oak (Matthias Schoenaerts) a poor but worthy shepherd/farmer whose sheep were literally led astray to plunge off a cliff by an overeager herding dog; William Boldwood (Michael Sheen) a wealthy bachelor from a neighboring estate; and Sergeant Francis Troy (Tom Sturridge) who’s been accidentally and embarrassingly stood up at the altar by Fanny Robin (Juno Temple) a former servant of Bathsheba’s estate.
This is at odds with the sumptuous cinematography of the English countryside, the serene interior scenes full of natural lighting, the set decorations and the fine work of the actors themselves. Those are evocative and period perfect, but if you get lost in the lovely atmosphere, you risk giving the film more credit than it deserves.
Buckle up. You’re going on a wildly contrived road trip that’s supposed to be an uproarious comedy, but rest assured, you won’t die…laughing, that is. Your brain cells may be in danger, though.
The short 87-minute running time is actually a plus, and there are outtakes during the end credits that are funnier than most of the film’s attempts at humor.
lty. Wicked stepsisters Anastasia (Holliday Grainger) and Drisella (Sophie McShera) provide vain, silly (but not ugly) counterparts for James’s kind, forgiving, integrity-filled servant-turned-princess. 
Painted by Gustav Klimt in 1907, “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I” and several other masterpieces were taken from her family home by the Nazis when Altmann was a young bride (Tatiana Maslany in flashback). Altmann and her husband eventually escaped Austria, leaving behind her beloved extended family.
Reynolds’ Schoenberg seems bewildered and ineffectual, gaining strength later in the film. His wife (Katie Holmes) seems to serve the singular purpose of illustrating daunting financial responsibilities as his family grows, while Brühl is a mouthpiece for the story’s narrative from the Austrian side. Jonathan Pryce makes a short but crucial appearance s Chief Justice William Rehnquist of the Supreme Court.
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