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Around Denver Things To Do Places To Go People To See Movies log into calendar / register Search by keyword or venue Search by date One day Week Month Now Playing Coming Soon The Little Things The Marksman News of the World Promising Young Woman Wonder Woman 1984 Wonder Woman 1984 3D Fatale Monster Hunter All My Life Half Brothers The Croods: A New Age Freaky Let Him Go 2 Hearts The War with Grandpa Trolls World Tour Dolittle Jumanji: The Next Level Harriet Abominable prev next Judas and the Black Messiah Crisis Tom & Jerry Boogie Chaos Walking Raya and the Last Dragon The Courier Godzilla vs Kong Nobody prev next Reviews News of the World News of the World, based on the 2016 novel by Paulette Jiles, is a road trip Western where the genre serves less as the focus than as a backdrop to the relationship between the paternalistic Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd (Tom Hanks) and the 10-year old wild girl Johanna (Helena Zengel). The bond between these two, which begins out of obligation and develops into a deeper, caring father/daughter association, represents the heart of the story. The star power of Tom Hanks, an actor whose inherent nobility creates an instant attachment to the main character, provides an important shorthand by defusing the possibility that Captain Kidd might have ulterior motives where Johanna is concerned. The movie transpires in 1870 Texas and director Paul Greengrass, who is known for his attention to detail, achieves a credible approximation of the Old West. Kidd travels from town to town, reading stories from national newspapers, informing the locals about what's going on in the nation at large. On one of his trips, he encounters Johanna. Six years earlier, at age 4, she was kidnapped by the Kiowa in a raid that resulted in the deaths of her parents. Now, the task falls to Kidd (in large part because no one else wants the responsibility) to transport her to her biological aunt and uncle. Unable to speak English, Johanna isn't the most amiable of traveling companions. She perceives her current predicament as a kidnapping since the only life she remembers is her time with the Kiowa. During the course of their journey, Kidd and Johanna establish a truce of sorts. They develop a rudimentary form of communication (he learns a few words of her language while he teaches her English). When a trio of outlaws in Dallas attempt to take Johanna by force, she helps Kidd in the ensuing flight and gunfight. The film's action-flavored Western elements are handled adeptly but the movie's strongest suit is the relationship between the veteran and his young traveling companion. Had the movie been made fifty years ago, no doubt James Stewart would have played Kidd. To the extent that Hanks brings "baggage" with him, it helps solidify his personality. Hanks' chemistry with Helena Zengel is easy and unforced. Captain Kidd is a clichéd character -- the gruff ex-military officer whose hardened heart is melted by the plight of a child -- but the performances of Hanks and Zengel as well as the Western milieu enable the movie to work despite its overall familiarity. News of the World isn't overstuffed with action but several scenes evoke suspense and one sequence in particular -- when an outnumbered Captain Kidd and Johanna take the high ground in a desperate attempt to outsmart (or shoot) their pursuers. On another occasion, Kidd's inherent nobility gets him in hot water when he refuses to endorse the tactics of a settlement's despotic ruler. Rather than using these moments as episodic distractions, Greengrass allows each to advance the developing father-daughter bond. News of the World is the second film this year (the other being Greyhound) in which Hanks' reliable presence enhances the production. Seen exclusively through a narrative lens, there's nothing special about News of the World. However, this is one of those movies in which the simple story is enriched by the elements that coalesce before, during, and after the production. © 2020 James Berardinelli More... Promising Young Woman Promising Young Woman, the auspicious, audacious debut feature of writer/actress-turned-director Emerald Fennell (she played Camilla Parker-Bowles in "The Crown"), defies classification. Is it a dark comedy with thriller overtones? Is it a serious message movie presented tongue-in-cheek? Is it an exploitative revenge film that uses a flippant style to undercut the darkness? In actuality, it's a little of all of these and, although there are times when the movie's approach seems scattershot and some of the tonal shifts can be jarring, the production as a whole feels rambunctious -- a perfect concoction for the #meToo era. When we first meet Cassandra (Carey Mulligan), she seems like a familiar character -- a 30-ish college drop-out still living with her parents (Clancy Brown and Jennifer Coolidge), without a boyfriend, and stuck in a dead-end job. She skates through her days without purpose and, at nights, she goes to bars, gets drunk, and allows herself to be picked up by guys who are looking to get laid by someone too blitzed to give (or refuse) consent. It turns out, however, that there's more to Cassie than meets the eyes. She has a purpose and it's tied to past events -- events that led to her dropping out of med school and becoming a loner. As those guys who thinks she's easy pickings discover, she's always stone-cold sober and, after giving them a chance to do the right thing, she teaches them a lesson about preying on inebriated women. It's easy to see how this story could evolve into a fairly standard female revenge thriller but Fennell has more in mind than exploitation. While she employs some of the genre's tropes, she provides Cassie with a deeper characterization than the typical "wronged woman gone psycho" stereotype. Although there are times when Promising Young Woman is humorous in a twisted, cutting fashion, it can also be uncomfortable because there's substance here and we can feel the pain and isolation. Working with such an ambitious agenda, it's perhaps not surprising that a freshman director would encounter some speed bumps. The narrative progression is at times choppy and exposition is occasionally presented awkwardly (interjected into conversations that seemingly have little purpose beyond filling in the viewer on past incidents). The final twenty minutes are oddly paced and plotted (although, in fairness, they culminate with a flourish) -- a slow wind-down telegraphing that something else is going to happen. (I wonder whether the movie might have worked better if presented in flashback with a voiceover narration.) One could make a case that Carey Mulligan hasn't been this good since Shame and she hasn't been given a chance to command the screen like this since An Education (which earned her an Oscar nomination). She often plays unassuming secondary parts but, as is the case here, she can emerge from the background with a ferocity that's all the more effective because it's unexpected. Mulligan is surrounded by an effective stable of supporting players. Clancy Brown and Jennifer Coolidge play her concerned parents. Bo Burnham, the director of Eighth Grade, is Ryan, the pediatric surgeon who becomes a love interest but is linked to a dark episode in her past. High-profile actors like Alison Brie, Connie Britton, and Alfred Molina become focal points for a long-game revenge plot that has been percolating in Cassie's mind. It would be a mistake to either undervalue or overstate the message behind Cassie's madness. The reason it's so easy to root for her is that she picks her victims based solely on their predatory instincts. Sure, some may seem to be "nice guys" but they represent an aspect of male entitlement that, once exposed and confronted, makes for a satisfying moment -- even if it is fantasy. Fennell hasn't hit a home run with Promising Young Woman, but she has crafted something that's more often delicious than unpalatable. The mixing of ge...