Reel-View Ratings: The Bigger The Beard, The Better The Movie

MR. TURNER

Artist biopics inevitably follow moody geniuses who pursue their craft at the expense of their families, lovers and friends. Romantic landscape painter J.M.W. Turner is no exception to the rule, but director Mike Leigh puts his own stamp on the genre. Leigh favors long, languid takes, with the pacing of each scene dictated by his actors. The effect is sometimes refreshingly spontaneous, sometimes slower than a melting glacier. Mr. Turner‘s strong point is its cinematography, which lovingly replicates Turner’s dreamy, atmospheric brushstrokes in its light and color, making the film more about the art than the man. The film is slow — but not without reward.

Opens Feb. 6 at Kahala Theatre

MOMMY

When a troubled son returns home to his equally troubled mother, they try to make a go of repairing their damaged family, but it doesn’t really work out because life is unfair sometimes. Pain is palpable here, as are cruelly fleeting snatches of hope. Director Xavier Dolan picked up this sad tale and crammed it into a square, 1:1 aspect ratio box, which expands and contracts with the flow of the story. It’s innovative filmmaking, certainly, and it has its occasional highlights, but it’s also something that alienates and deters audiences, who may not appreciate the literal, hammered-home illustration of the characters’ struggles.

Opens Feb. 13 at Kahala Theatre

SEVENTH SON

Ah, yes, here’s another juggernaut fantasy franchise would-be, but this one is less Lord of the Rings and more Jack the Giant Slayer (yes, exactly, you don’t remember that one). An evil witch (a CG-soaked Julianne Moore) threatens the land, and only one man (an indifferent Jeff Bridges) can stand against her. He picks up an apprentice (former Narnian king Ben Barnes), there’s a star-crossed love story and, of course, evil is destroyed, but in such a way that there could still be a sequel (but there probably won’t be). All of these actors have been in better fantasy films you could be watching instead.

Opens Feb. 6 in wide release