Just in time for summer viewing! A few excellent flicks from 2018 that you may have missed – by David S.
Stan and Ollie — The last of John C. Reilly’s four films(!) to come out last year, Stan and Ollie is a poignant and warmly funny comedy-drama about the last professional team-up of beloved silent-flick funny men Stanley Laurel (Steve Coogan) and Oliver Hardy (Reilly). Coogan (Trip to Spain, Hamlet 2) and frequent Will Ferrell-flick co-star Reilly (Step Brothers) once again prove why they are two of my favorite character actors.
Hot Summer Nights— Fantastic little noir-ish crime flick set in Cape Cod in the early ‘90s, featuring Call Me By Your Name star Timothee Chalamet (one of the few 20-something actors who can actually pass as a teenager) as an awkward teen who gets caught up in the drug-dealing ways of a local bad boy (Alex Roe) and involved with said bad boy’s sister (Maika Monroe). Beautifully shot, suspenseful and replete with excellent performances by Chalamet and Roe, as well as Emory Cohen (Detour), Thomas Jane and the always welcome William Fichtner.
Damsel — Very funny, wonderfully offbeat little western written and directed by brothers David and Nathan Zellner. Alice in Wonderland’s Mia Wasikowski stars as the title character, a frontier woman who most definitely does not need rescuing. Wasikowski’s the lead, but forever-known-for-Twilight star Robert Pattinson steals the movie in his supporting role, and makes me wish he’d do more.