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Leave it to a comedian to make one of the scariest movies in recent memory. Jordan Peele moves into writing and directing with this offbeat comedy, a fresh and fiendishly smart story with engaging characters and provocative themes. It's a combination of a knowing issue-based drama, lively romantic comedy and unhinged horror that hits all of its targets with precision. And it keeps us gleefully entertained with its escalating terror.

The story centres on Chris (Sicario's Daniel Kaluuya), whose girlfriend Rose (Girls' Allison Williams) invites him home for a weekend to meet her parents Missy and Dean (Catherine Keener and Bradley Whitford). Rose assures Chris that they're so liberal that they won't mind at all that he's black. But things don't feel quite right from the start. For one thing, there are two creepy servants (Betty Gabriel and Marcus Henderson) who seem to be lurking everywhere. And Rose's brother Jeremy (Caleb Landry Jones) revels in stirring up problems. As things get increasingly freaky, Chris calls his best friend Rod (Lil Rel Howery), an airport security officer back in New York, for advice. Then things take an even more bizarre turn when Missy and Dean's friends arrive for an annual party.

Peele begins to play with the audience right from the start, using Michael Abels' disorienting music and Toby Oliver's quirky camerawork to maximum effect. Often this involves pushing us far too close to a character whose behaviour is just a bit off. Every moment is undercut with humour, including awkward moments and snappy gags that serve as a relief valve even as they set us up for something scary. It's such clever filmmaking that we have little choice but to sit back and enjoy the ride. And woven through all of this is an inventive and lacerating exploration of attitudes toward race in American society.

Continue reading: Get Out Review

Writer-director Marc Abraham gets ambitious with this biopic about iconic country music star Hank Williams, but the film is far too choppy to provide much insight. Leaping through the decades without much context, the film never explores what made Williams such an important artist, so it's difficult to understand the impact of his tragic death at just 29. That said, Tom Hiddleston shines in the role.

Cutting around in time, the film shows Hank (Hiddleston) as a young man with a singular vision: he's determined to perform at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. His young wife Audrey (Elizabeth Olsen) and his mother Lillie (Cherry Jones) argue about who will control his career, but Hank just gets on with it, relying on help from music publisher Fred Rose (Bradley Whitford). Finally at 26 he gets his first No 1 single, and lands a spot at the Opry, becoming a fast-rising superstar. But the chronic back pain he has suffered since childhood leads him into alcohol and drug abuse, which of course begins to take a toll on his career as well as his friendships, marriage and health.

The film skips around Williams' life, moving on to the next scene before this one seems quite finished. This means that the story is never able to build up any momentum, and also that each fragmented period of time feels under-explained. And the people around Williams appear and disappear at random, so the actors never get any traction in their roles. Hiddleston does find moments of resonance, simply because he's in every scene in the film and establishes a bit of rapport with the audience. It's also astonishing that he performs the songs himself. But Abrahams's approach to storytelling never offers any insight into Williams' fame, talents or personal life.

Continue reading: I Saw The Light Review

And not only is the storytelling sharp, but the characters are too. Meg Ryan (not too perky, not too whiny) is Kate McKay, working her way up the NYC corporate ladder, but too busy for love after a four-year relationship with her brilliant ex, Stuart (Liev Schreiber). When Stuart discovers an open portal in the fabric of time -- you have to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge at just the right time -- he accidentally brings the 19th century Duke back to modern-day New York. Everyone involved, including Ryan's kid brother Charlie (the underrated Breckin Meyer), clearly has some baggage and life experience, and Mangold's script (co-written with Steven Rogers) clues us in without clobbering us.

Continue reading: Kate & Leopold Review

Found to inexplicably fit each of them despite very differentbody types, the pants become a touchstone as they're sent from friend tofriend, giving each girl confidence, good luck or comfort from unexpectedhardship just when such encouragement is most needed.

Adapted from the first in a series of popular books byAnn Brashares, the movie has a foundation of coming-of-age cliches, butbuilds upon it beautifully with three-dimensional characters and honestangst, consternation and joy.

Alexis Bledel ("Gilmore Girls") plays shy, beautiful,lanky Lena, whose vacation in a stereotypical Greek fishing village comescomplete with a hunky local (Michael Rady) who rides a Vespa. This is "Sisterhood's"least creative storyline (it even has a "Romeo and Juliet" bent),but Bledel digs for emotional truth and finds it.

Continue reading: The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants Review