Elle Fanning

In her inimitable loose style, Sofia Coppola remakes the 1971 Clint Eastwood movie from a distinctly feminine perspective. Like her other films, this feels loose and sometimes aimless, demanding that the audience find their own way through the story. It's also a remarkably effective gothic thriller, darkly playing on the vulnerability and innate power of women.

It's set in 1864 Virginia, where the residents of an isolated girls school can hear the Civil War raging in the distance. Teachers Martha and Edwina (Nicole Kidman and Kirsten Dunst) and students Alicia, Jane, Amy, Marie and Emily (Elle Fanning, Angourie Rice, Oona Laurence, Addison Riecke and Emma Howard) have just been getting on with their education in their cocoon-like plantation. Then Amy discovers wounded Union soldier John (Colin Farrell) in the woods. With their own male relatives dead or missing in the war, all of these women are fascinated by this man, an enemy who needs their help. So each begins flirting with him in her own way. But as John considers staying on as a handyman, he's unaware of the jealousies he is igniting around him.

The actors give provocative, layered performances, subtly revealing their internal desires as they interact in unexpected ways. Kidman is the focal point as the stern Martha, trying to remain stoic and in control even as she feels lust for this interloper. Dunst's Edwina is more openly romantic in her approach, while Fanning's Alicia is old enough to desire him in unfamiliar ways. The younger four girls stay mainly on the sideline, even as they add their own layers of intrigue. And Farrell is terrific as the brooding, swarthy man who's unaware of the passions he's stirring up. Where this goes is creepy and intense, as John seems to think that he can pick whichever woman he likes. But he's badly underestimating them.

Continue reading: The Beguiled Review

A triumph on a variety of levels, this staggeringly detailed stop-motion animation has a wonderfully deranged story packed with spirited characters. It also takes on some seriously important issues without ever getting heavy-handed about it. So while we're laughing at the astounding visual mayhem, there's plenty of depth to keep our brains spinning. And what the film has to say about communal paranoia is vitally important in today's world.

The story takes place a decade after a baby was kidnapped by the Boxtrolls, nighttime scavengers who prowl by night. Over the last 10 years, their legend has grown, and the people are now terrified of being eaten. So the red-hatted Snatcher (voiced by Ben Kingsley) and his sidekicks (Richard Ayoade, Nick Frost and Tracy Morgan) set a goal to exterminate the trolls in exchange for prestigious white hats, which will let them join Lord Portley-Rind (Jared Harris) for his evening cheese-tasting events. Then Portley-Rind's daughter Winnie (Elle Fanning) spots a boy among the Boxtrolls, learning that Eggs (Isaac Hempstead Wright) is actually the kidnapped baby. And that Boxtrolls aren't actually villains at all. But can she get her father to pay attention to her for even a moment, so he can understand that Snatcher is the real bad guy?

Everything on-screen is in constant motion, with cluttered scenes that are a feast for the eyes. Action sequences are complicated and layered, drawing the eye all over the screen as the stakes grow higher with each scene. The mechanical climax feels like one step too far, but the filmmakers keep the focus tightly on the characters, each of whom has a bundle of quirks and obsessions that make them flawed and likeable. Even the nefarious Snatcher has a soft side, and Kingsley has a great time bringing out each aspect of the hilariously vile character, including his scene-stealing alter ego, the fabulous drag queen Madame Frou Frou.

Continue reading: The Boxtrolls Review

Disney rewrites its own history again with this revisionist version of its 1959 classic Sleeping Beauty. As she did with Alice in Wonderland, screenwriter Linda Woolverton uses simplistic plotting and clumsy dialogue to turn a children's story into an eerily dark Lord of the Rings-style effects extravaganza. Fortunately, it's held together by an imperious performance from Angelina Jolie.

She plays the story's wicked witch as a misunderstood hero, a happy fairy who grew up in a magical realm next to a kingdom of humans who were constantly afraid of what they didn't understand. And things take a grim turn when her childhood friend Stefan (Sharlto Copley) brutally violates her in order to become the human's king. Now the two lands are at war with each other, and in a fit of rage Maleficent curses Stefan's firstborn Aurora (Dakota Fanning) to fall into a deep sleep before she turns 16. So Stefan hides her in a country house cared for by three bumbling pixies (Imelda Staunton, Lesley Manville and Juno Temple). But it's actually Maleficent who watches over Aurora, and as they bond Maleficent begins to wish she could undo that pesky curse.

Yes, this is not remotely the familiar 17th century Sleeping Beauty fairytale: it's a completely different plot that reduces the "sleeping" bit from 100 years to little more than a power nap. It also re-casts Maleficent as a woman who had one brief moment of nastiness, while the increasingly paranoid and cruel Stefan is the real villain of the piece. The problem is that this shift leaves all of the characters feeling shallow and uninteresting. Aside from Jolie's fabulously prowling horned fairy, no one on-screen really registers at all. The terrific trio of pixies are sidelined in silly slapstick, while the Handsome Prince (Brendon Thwaites) is utterly hapless and Maleficent's crow-like sidekick (Sam Riley) is the victim of an over-zealous make-up designer.

Continue reading: Maleficent Review