SLOW WEST “Ah-yup. Reckon this’ll be a mite easier once somebody gets ’round to inventin’ razors.”
  • SLOW WEST “Ah-yup. Reckon this’ll be a mite easier once somebody gets ’round to inventin’ razors.”

SLOW WEST (Cinema 21, On Demand)—Ned Lannamann has nothing but good things to say about this western, starring Michael Fassbender and directed by the Beta Band's John Maclean. "Slow West isn't a film that wallows in the genre's inherent violence, nor does it adopt ideals of apple-pie heroism," Ned writes. "Its best moments are the still, thoughtful ones, where gorgeous photography of an unravaged, almost magical West evokes the characters' inner thoughts."

TOMORROWLAND (Various Theaters)—Man, this movie bummed me out. My review mostly focuses on how weirdly shoddy it feels: "For all its ambition, Brad Bird's adventure film feels like a movie where entire scenes have gone missing, even as others blur by in a jumble of technobabble. By the time Tomorrowland ends, the only thing that's clear is that George Clooney might want to fuck an eight-year-old robot." But yesterday on Blogtown, I dug into it a bit more to try and find out why the utopia in Tomorrowland is creepier than the dystopia in Mad Max: Fury Road.

IRIS (Living Room Theaters)—Marjorie Skinner liked Albert Maysles' documentary about 93-year-old style icon Iris Apfel—but also thought it could have said more. "If Maysles wanted to scratch a bit deeper," she writes, "he might've addressed the economic elephant in the room: The Apfels are rich, and while Iris may be one of the originators of 'high-low' style, her ability to collect whatever catches her eye goes a long way toward the final, striking result."

POLTERGEIST (Various Theaters)—While this unasked-for remake is "not exactly necessary," Andrew Wright notes, "it thankfully carries over the deviant wit of its namesake, in a way that the modern found-footage movement has largely neglected."

We've got even more reviews—including my thoughts on Good Kill, Andrew Niccol's new drama about drone warfare, starring his Gattaca buddy Ethan Hawke—in Film Shorts. And here are your Movie Times! Choose wisely.