Art Spiegelman: Disaster is My Muse is a captivating and well-edited documentary biopic on American cartoonist Art Spiegelman. Co-directors Philip Dolin and Molly Bernstein combine interviews with Spiegelman himself and archival footage to delve into his life and work as an artist. They spend a lot of time focusing on one of his most iconic and most controversial graphic novels, Maus about his father's experiences in the Holocaust. It's even been banned at a Tennessee middle school for its nudity, profanity and violence. If you're familiar with Spiegelman, this documentary offers nothing surprising or new. Its structure is pretty conventional and linear with many talking heads. As an introduction to his life and work, it's illuminating enough even if its not very thorough. The filmmakers are lucky to have such a witty, wise and articulate artist as their subject because Spiegel's personality along with his emotional candidness, maturity and introspection help to elevate the film ever so slightly above mediocrity. At 1 hour and 38 minutes, Art Spiegelman: Disaster is My Muse opens at Film Forum via Cargo Film & Releasing.

      Joey (Daisy Ridley), a window cleaner puts her skills as a former soldier to the test when a group of terrorists and their leader (Clive Owen) hold hostage rich people at a gala that happens to be held at a high rise building that she's working at in Cleaner. She also has to ensure the safety of her autistic brother, Michael (Matthew Tuck), who has tagged along with her to work. The screenplay by Simon Uttley, Paul Andrew Williams and Matthew Orton is an uninspired, increasingly preposterous and lackluster action thriller that fails to entertain on a visceral level. It also bites off more that it could chew when the terrorists turn out to have an agenda and then try to frame Joey as a terrorist. The most contrivated scenes are the ones with the hostage negotiator (Ruth Gemmell) who's not convinced that Joey is actually responsible for the hostage situation. The dialogue ranges from stilted to clunky while lacking much-needed levity. Where's comic relief when you need it? Without it, Cleaner becomes monotonous around the hour mark.

      The action scenes aren't very exciting nor do the visual effects impress either. Daisy Ridley and Clive Owen deserve better material to showcase their acting talent. Unfortunately, they fail to breathe life into their roles because of the dull and vapid screenplay. It's a shame that the villains are so underwritten and forgettable. Perhaps if director Martin Campbell were to take more risks, this would've been something along the lines of Die Hard which it heavily borrows from. Even JCV's Die Hard rip-off Sudden Death is more wildly entertaining. At 1 hour and 36 minutes, Cleaner, directed by Martin Campbell, opens nationwide via Quiver Distribution.

Number of times I checked my watch: 3

      Three estranged Mexican American sisters, Sofia (Virginia Novello), Maria (Marta Méndez Cross), and Lucia (Valeria Maldonado), reunite and bond while on a pilgrimage to Talpa de Allende to honor their late grandmother who embarked on the same pilgrimage in Las Tres Sisters. Director Mar Novo and her four screenwriters, Marta Méndez Cross, Valeria Maldonado, Youssef Delara and Virginia Novello, have made a wise, tender and inspirational emotional journey well worth taking. There are funny moments, heartbreaking moments and moments with profound epiphanies. Those elements are combined effectively without tonal unevenness. Each of three sisters has her own unique personality which humanizes them and makes them more compelling concurrently. Muchas gracias to the filmmakers for seeing and treating them as complex human beings, warts and all, and for writing such great roles for women. Some of the sisters are more likable than the others, but they're all very true-to-life and relatable to a certain degree. They cry, they get angry, they laugh and, more importantly, they show signs of introspection and change innately by the end. In one of scenes during the pilgrimage, the sisters have a very sexually frank conversation which feels refreshing to hear.

      Interestingly, there's no villain except for a silent one: a disease that one of the sisters has which won't be spoiled here. Virginia Novello, Marta Méndez Cross and Valeria Maldonado are very well-cast and have great chemistry together. They give raw, heartfelt performances while managing to find the emotional truth of their roles and breathe life into them. Humanism, a truly special effect that's far more special and fulfilling than CGI, can be found in this extraordinary film from start to finish. At 1 hour and 36 minutes, Las Tres Sisters opens at AMC Empire 25 via Myriad Pictures.

Number of times I checked my watch: 1




 

       Three siblings, Eve (Gretchen Mol), Maggie (Julianna Margulies) and Andy (Edward Burns) struggle with marriage problems in Millers in Marriage. Each of the Miller siblings has to choose between their spouse or another man/woman. In the case of Eve, it's either her alcoholic, abusive husband, Scott (Patrick Wilson), or a charming music critic (Benjamin Bratt). Maggie must choose between her husband, and Dennis (Brian d’Arcy James). Andy must choose between Tina (Morena Baccarin) and his estranged wife, Renee (Minnie Driver). The screenplay by writer/director Edward Burns is shallow, anemic and undercooked while saying nothing profound about love, marriage or infidelity. Burns unfolds the plot in a nonlinear structure jumping from one subplot to another and back again over and over. There's very little narrative momentum and none of the characters come to life, so the film relies on the performances from the fine ensemble cast to carry the emotional weight and to engage the audience. Unfortunately, their performances don't manage to breathe enough life into the toothless screenplay that fails to be unflinching or emotionally resonating. At 1 hour and 57 minutes, Millers in Marriage opens in select theaters and on VOD via Republic Pictures. In a double feature with Edward Burns' sparkling romantic dramedy The Brothers McMullen, it would be the inferior B-movie.

Number of times I checked my watch: 3

      Hal (Theo James) must find a way to get rid of a cursed toy monkey from his childhood that causes people to die in The Monkey. The toy monkey resurfaces even though he and his twin brother, Bill (also Theo James), had thrown it away over two decades ago. Meanwhile, he spends time with his son, Petey (Colin O'Brien), whom he has custody of just once a year. The screenplay by writer/director Osgood Perkins is based on a short story by Stephen King and probably would've worked better as a short film. As a feature length film, though, The Monkey stretches its plot too thinly and eventually runs out of new ideas. It's gory and darkly comedic, but also tedious, tonally uneven and low on scares. The prologue cuts right to the chase at least without wasting any time in introducing the audience to the toy monkey and how it causes gruesome deaths. If you're looking for a reason why and how it's cursed, you'll be disappointed because Perkins keeps exposition at a bare minimum. The deaths happen in wickedly funny ways that won't be spoiled here, but it's worth mentioning that this isn't a film for an audience with a weak stomach, so expect to be disgusted. One of the deaths, though, goes too far with its outrageousness as though Perkins were trying too hard to push the envelope into bonkers territory. Elijah Wood is wasted in a brief scene where he plays Petey's stepdad. For a better horror film with Elijah Wood, see Come to Daddy. Moreover, the third act feels rushed and there are too many plot holes by the time the end credits roll. At 1 hour and 38 minutes, The Monkey opens nationwide via NEON.

Number of times I checked my watch: 2




 

      Just as he's about to retire, Danny (Christoph Waltz), a hitman, agrees to do one more assignment: to train his young prodigy Wihlborg (Cooper Hoffman) during a mission in Ireland in Old Guy. Another week, another tedious, uninspired and forgettable B-movie. None of the comedic beats land in the screenplay by Greg Johnson while thrills and suspense remains too low. Lucy Liu, who plays an assassin, Christoph Waltz and Cooper Hoffman are all wasted here in underwritten roles and witless dialogue. If the plot weren't so by-the-numbers or if it weren't afraid to go bonkers, perhaps it could've been a mindless, guilty pleasure. Even last year's action thriller Weekend in Tapei was more fun and exhilarating. At 1 hour and 33 minutes, which feels more like 2 hours, Old Guy, directed by Simon West, opens in select theaters and on VOD via The Avenue.

Number of times I checked my watch: 3




 

      Scott (Zachary Levi) and his wife, Teresa (Meghann Fahy), raise their autistic son, Austin (Jacob Laval), who also has brittle bone disease in  The Unbreakable Boy. Oh, and Scott battles alcoholism which threatens his livelihood and his marriage. Oh, and he also has an imaginary friend, Joe (Drew Powell). Writer/director Jon Gunn focuses too much on Scott's marital issues, alcoholism and emotional journey while treating Austin's emotional journey as an underdeveloped subplot. Austin serves as the narrator, so why isn't The Unbreakable Boy more about him? What ensues is a preachy, cloying and contrived film that spoon-feeds the audience everything as though they weren't intelligent enough to decipher the messages on their own. One of the aphorisms is quite powerful, though: we shouldn't be defined by our mistakes, but by how we heal from our mistakes instead. If only that message were found in a more nuanced, true-to-life and sensitively written film. At 1 hour and 38 minutes, The Unbreakable Boy opens nationwide via Lionsgate.

Number of times I checked my watch: 3




 

       UnBroken is a captivating, illuminating and genuinely heartfelt documentary about how the Weber siblings, Ruth, Gertrude, Alfons, Senta, Ginger, Renee and Judith, were miraculously rescued during the Holocaust. Director Beth Lane, the daughter of Ginger, combines archival photos, a letter from her deceased uncle, Alfonso, interviews with her mother and aunts, and animation to tell the story in a way that feels cinematic without any dull moments. She allows her interview subjects speak candidly as they recall their memories of how a farmer, Arthur Schmidt, and his wife hid them. In one of the documentary's most powerful scenes, she visits  Arthur Schmidt's grandson in Germany. UnBroken doesn't dwell on the horrors of the Holocaust; it focuses more on how decency, compassion, hope and resilience prevailed in the time of hatred and cruelty. The Weber siblings are lucky to have met a brave and kind farmer who refused to be a "Good German". Lane asks teenagers in Germany a provocative question regarding whether they would have risked their own lives to hide Jews. The answers she gets from each of them are interesting and also compel the audience to use introspection, an important tool, to ask that question to themselves.

      A truly great documentary finds the right balance between entertaining the audience and provoking them intellectually. UnBroken accomplishes that feat with flying colors. It also would pair well with Pablo Neruda's wise poem, "They can cut all of the flowers, but they can't stop the spring from coming." At 1 hour and 36 minutes, UnBroken opens at Quad Cinema via Greenwich Entertainment.

Number of times I checked my watch: 1