Fifteen years ago, Nicolas Winding Refn released the Ryan Gosling–starring Drive, and everything changed forever. At least for him. For starters, Drive’s dreamy and unabashed aestheticism represented a break from the rougher, more visceral films on which Winding Refn had built his reputation. The Danish director’s Pusher trilogy (which was restored and rereleased last year) had been handheld, hyperrealistic, and savage; Drive, on the other hand, was ethereal and moody, its characters submerged, their delivery precise. Even though it wasn’t a massive hit, the widely acclaimed Drive put Winding Refn on the map. Suddenly, everybody seemed to know who he was.
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Roxana Hadadi on Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom |
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As zanily imaginative as it is tenderly openhearted, Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom, the third spinoff film of the beloved Aardman Animations series, is a perfect Halloween watch. Per usual, the stop-motion antics rely on the Farmer’s clumsiness (voiced by John Sparkes), Shaun’s overconfidence (voiced by Justin Fletcher), and Shaun’s nephew Timmy’s cuteness (also Fletcher). When the Farmer accidentally destroys the sheep’s pumpkin patch, mad-scientist Shaun invents a growing solution that inadvertently endangers the Farmer. A family-friendly riot, the film is a touching homage to classic movie monsters, intergenerational bonds, and the creative catharsis of the jack-o’-lantern.
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The onetime prodigy is now a seasoned maestro. That doesn’t mean he can’t give the New York Philharmonic a jolt of fresh energy. |
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Back-to-back appearances on The Tonight Show and New Heights let Cruise call the shots on his Digger press tour. |
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The new movie from Weapons director Zach Cregger is not your typical video-game adaptation, and thank God for that. |
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Plus Jay Jurden crushing it on The Tonig |
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