Capsule reviews of current movies

“DARK WATERS”

Rated. PG-13.

Grade: B

A type of fact-based expose that shares kinship with such efforts as “Silkwood” and “Erin Brockovich” “Dark Waters” is based on a New York Times Magazine story and pits real-life corporate attorney Robert Bilott (Mark Ruffalo, who also produced) against chemical giant DuPont. What gets these two unlikely rivals in a clobbering mood is a Parkersburg, W.Va., farmer named Wilbur Tennant (Bill Camp,). Against the better instincts of the head of Robert’s firm Tom Terp (Tim Robbins), Robert is allowed to take DuPont to court in the late 1990s. But this is just the beginning of a long (too long) struggle between a corporation that does not want to admit liability and ordinary people, whose lives are afflicted by its greed.

“KNIVES OUT”

Rated PG-13.

Grade: B-

In the retro-screwball comedy/whodunnit “Knives Out,” a Norfolk County family under the thumb of an octogenarian, who controls the family fortune, is under suspicion for his murder. Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) has amassed a fortune by writing two wildly popular mystery novels a year for decades. He has invited the clan to come to his mansion to celebrate his 85th birthday. His son Walt (Michael Shannon) runs the publishing company that deals only in Harlan’s work. Harlan’s daughter Linda Drysdale (Jamie Lee Curtis) created a successful real-estate business with a million dollar loan from her father. Johnson has complained in interviews that “Knives Out” is more “Murder on the Orient Express” than “Clue,” the board game that was adapted into a 1985 film. He doth protest too much, methinks

“QUEEN & SLIM”

Rated R.

Grade: A-

An African American couple on their first date become fugitives after a traffic stop gone tragically wrong. Daniel Kaluuya of “Get Out” stars in director Melina Matsoukas’ supple, provocative feature debut, opposite another British performer, model-turned-actress Jodie Turner-Smith (Syfy’s “Nightflyers”). What happens to these two characters, what they do about it, and how screenwriter Lena Waithe’s story has been filmed and scored to one of the year’s great soundtracks, leads the audience along the path of road movies and lovers-on-the-run ballads of old.

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Compiled by James Verniere and Herald Wire Services.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2XYh6C2