Pieces of a Woman: Pieces of a Woman is the most potent tale of two polar opposite halves the world has seen since the Atlanta Falcons performance in Super Bowl 51. After coming out of the gate with a relentlessly harrowing 35-minute opening sequence that's quite frankly some of the most emotionally intense and fearless filmmaking I've ever seen, Kornel Mundruczo's exploration of a woman's grief (Vanessa Kirby) after the unexpected death of her infant daughter shortly after birth suddenly suddenly morphs into a maddening, contrived story that combines a steady dose of absurd melodrama with enough pretentious indie touchstones (nature symbolism, gratuitous establishing shots, characters staring into abyss in every other scenes to remind everybody that they're going through some shit) to fill Terrence Mallick's next dozen movies. It's honestly unbelievable that the same people (Mundruczo and writer Kata Weber) were responsible for every frame of this film and if that opening or the acting-particularly from Kirby and Ellen Burstyn as her overbearing mother-weren't exemplary, this would've pretty much been a complete waste of time.
Grade: B-
Outside the Wire: Netflix's heavily-promoted 2021 movie slate has officially kicked off with a nice little sci-fi actioner in Outside the Wire. Veteran Swedish filmmaker Mikal Hafstorm-in his second career action project after 2013's underrated Schwarzenegger/Stallone vehicle Escape Plan-directs with energy and style and Anthony Mackie makes the most out of his unfortunately all too rare opportunity to be a lead by turning a stock robot/human hybrid character into a charismatic, intelligent badass that adds intrigue and gravitas to every scene he appears in. The mixed, generally underwritten messaging about the immoral nature of American's military intervention across the globe as well as the rest of the cast's failure to match Mackie's presence prevent it from hitting its ceiling, but Outside the Wire manages to be a relatively engaging, action-heavy January diversion nonetheless.
Grade: B-
Locked Down: COVID-themed/set themes movies are likely going to be a mainstay for the next few years and Locked Down isn't a bad title to appear on the ground floor of this newly-minted subgenre. From the minds of director Doug Liman (Edge of Tomorrow, American Made) and writer Steven Knight, this ambitious genre mash-up (drama, heist film, romantic comedy) focuses on a couple that's on the cusp of getting divorced that gets stuck in lockdown together (Anne Hathaway, Chiwetel Ejiofor) and through a combination of going stir crazy, aggravation with their respective employers and good old fashioned fate, decide to rob the world famous Harrods Diamond from the iconic London department store. While Knight's script isn't nearly cohesive enough to pull off the delicate genre-balancing act he was aiming for and the heist itself is a thoroughly underwhelming, rushed shitshow, Locked Down does do a good enough job with developing its characters, detailing what went wrong in their relationship and examining how the isolation of lockdown has created this complicated dynamic that's forced them to finally confront their problems head-on while also reminiscing on the good old times to atone for its routine miscalculations. Plus there are a lot worse actors to spend 2 hours with than Hathaway and Ejiofor-whose collective ever-present magnetism keep things watchable even when the material lets them down.
Grade: B-
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