THE WHITE TIGER
Trapped in the caste system in India, a sly servant is intent on moving up the social ladder in this engrossing and stark satire from writer/director Ramin Bahrani. In a superb leading performance, Adarsh Gourav plays Balram and his transformation is a tantalizing one – going from being poor and uneducated to being right in the mix with the rich. It’s a sinful success story where Balram goes from his master’s most faithful to his worst enemy while we continuously sympathize with him. Bahrani’s adaptation has pitch black humor and is completely condemning, but its socio-political commentary could always be sharper; nevertheless, it sinks its teeth in just enough to leave a noticeable mark when experiencing, through Balram, the sacrifices made and extremities taken to break free from oppression.
OUTSIDE THE WIRE
Director Mikael Håfström’s mind-numbing sci-fi actioner of man vs. machine truly believes it has something special to say. I assure you it does not and is lackluster on all fronts. Damson Idris plays a drone pilot who disobeys orders and winds up in a war zone with Leo (Anthony Mackie), an android super-soldier hell-bent on stopping the bad guys from launching nukes. It’s all bullets and no brains, & even with its plentiful blood and violence – absolutely nothing exhilarating comes from it. Hang this one up right beside Mackie’s Point Blank, his other awfully generic and forgettable Netflix outing. They’re sure to become best buds.
THE DIG
Based on a true story of the extraordinary archeological find of Sutton Hoo that had museums salivating, director Simon Stone has difficulty making it as fascinating as the material indicates. Beneath the looming presence of WWII, Carey Mulligan plays Edith Pretty, a widowed single mother who hires a self-made excavator named Basil Brown (Ralph Fiennes) to start digging on her property. And boy do they hit the jackpot! Same can be said for Stone as Mulligan is marvelous and Fiennes is commanding throughout.
They’re the ones Stone needed to stick with, but too much time is spent on pointless subplots of supporting characters’ love affairs. It annoyingly cuts away from the strong main narrative – resulting in a stodgy, uneven attempt at telling too many stories at once. When the camera leaves Mulligan and Fiennes, the film suffers for it.
CHARMING
A bland and unimaginative animation that tells the story of a cursed Prince Charming going through a gauntlet to find his true love while coincidentally being engaged to Cinderella, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. Along with simple animation and slack storytelling – there’s forgettable songs squeezed in to take advantage of a voice cast that includes musical talents such as Sia, Avril Lavigne, and Demi Lovato. So singing is a must. If only it would’ve helped. Shaking off all shreds of what I’m sure started out as a novel idea from writer-director Ross Venokur, this is nothing of what the title suggests.
Brandon Vick is a member of The Music City Film Critics’ Association, the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and the star of The Vick’s Flicks Podcast. Follow him on Twitter @SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.
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