Motherless Brooklyn

This outing poses an obvious question: who made the mistake in making the lead character a Tourette's-afflicted gumshoe? Was it Edward Norton the writer, or Norton the director, or Norton the actor? Amazingly enough, the auteur gets off the hook, as the condition comes from the source book, and was simply carried over into the movie. I suppose it would have been impossible not to do so, as the character's affliction is a signature mark of the work, but the device probably works better in print--where the reader has a certain amount of control over distraction--rather than on screen, where it becomes a one more layer of opacity in a complex story. Some of the story gets away from the viewer, which adds a demerit to an otherwise solid effort. So too with Norton's penchant (typical in an unproven director) to try to be a bit too gimmicky in the presentation; sometimes it works, other times keeping it simple would have served better. Those flaws are mostly outweighed by the overall skill, which is well employed in creating a solid, neo-noir environment that is one of the real joys of the film experience. It's hardly perfect, but this piece is perfectly watchable, and promise even better works to come.

Free State of Jones

Apparently there's more manner of southern heritage than some folks care to consider. This piece strikes some interesting notes, to be sure, and it keeps Matthew McConaughy's mid-career resurrection moving in a positive trajectory--he is all over virtually every scene here, and owns the movie--but there are some failings, too. The film has focus problems, occasionally betraying a lack of decision about what message it wishes to convey. Trying to shoehorn in a decades-later court case involving a descendant of protagonist Newton Knight only muddles the issue, and makes the story seem more individual and less ecumenical. Also, there is a certain amount of predictability to some scenes, while other scenes drag enough to encourage the viewer's attention to wander. Overall, this is an intriguing attempt that works, to an extent--it's just not an overwhelming victory.

Miss Sloane

Watching this movie can easily make one wonder: with all the paranoia about a terrorist group taking out an American city, if that city were Washington...would we really be losing so much? Perhaps this portrait of official and unofficial amorality in the nation's capital is a little too cynical, and thus should not inspire such a question. What is unquestionable is that here we have yet another film that celebrates excessive cleverness, both its own and that of its characters, including the titular anti-heroine played by Jessica Chastain. She does her usual great job--Chastain is neck-and-neck with Amy Adams in the race for "current best American actress"--in a movie that she owns from start to finish. Whether you will enjoy this work depends mostly upon your tolerance for this sort of paean to cleverness; in this viewer's case, I found its excesses forgivable, given its solid performances, good pacing, and at least somewhat interesting political viewpoint. It gets my vote.