The Favourite

A Clockwork Lyndon applies Lanthimos’ self-aware style to an otherwise conventional albeit hilarious premise to shockingly entrancing effect despite a seemingly stroke-slowed final act. All About Emma features animalistic actresses wigging out wonderfully amidst sea of wigged men while wielding wickedly smart dialog that feels equal parts Shakespeare and Sorkin.

The Bourne Legacy

Apparently Renner isn’t the solution to every problem, as indicated by the lack of energy in this deboot of the Bourne franchise.  Tired story, predictable plotting, Norton’s Strathairn, and plot holes big enough for Paul Greengrass to escape through all conspire to prevent operation Bourne Again from having any success. 

The Lovely Bones

Jackson attempts return to Heavenly Creatures roots and succeeds in relevance to title, but not in quality. Continuity maintained between poorly shot Earth scenes and poorly digitally rendered heaven scenes through use of poor music video-esque editing. Tucci is sole saving grace with a performance that cuts through the editing.

The Brothers Bloom

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels gets fake Wes Anderson treatment. Irritatingly dark and twisty plot weighs down what feels like a light film. Runs into problem of ‘If it’s a con, we called it. If not, lame.’ Aside from brooding Brody, quirky characters are the highlight, especially Rinko Kikuchi and Robbie Coltrane.