🥂 Happy Friday!
Today is the last day of our week dedicated to mind-bending sci-fi movies 🧬 and I saved my favorite recommendation for last. And since it’s Friday, I tell you about one of the movies I watched this week — and it’s a big one.
Okay, here’s day 5️⃣.
Today’s movie: Arrival
STREAMING ON EPIX
What it’s about: After twelve alien spaceships arrive (!!!) in different locations across the planet, including one in Montana, linguist Louise Banks (Amy Adams) is brought in by the U.S. military to try and determine whether the visitors come in peace or pose a threat.
Why it’s great: On its surface, Arrival seems like your classic alien invasion movie. However, what’s fascinating is that the invasion stops short of being an… well, invasion. Instead, the movie focuses on the question “why are they here?” And the way director Denis Villeneuve and screenwriter Eric Heisserer explore that question is through a narrative that’s equal parts thrilling, emotional, and meditative. Arrival is impeccably made, well-acted (in particular Amy Adams, who was egregiously snubbed for an Oscar), and the kind of smart blockbuster entertainment we need more of.
The key players:
🎬
Denis Villeneuve
🖋 Eric Heisserer
🎭 Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker, Michael Stuhlbarg, Tzi Ma
The details:
⏳ 116 minutes // 🗓 2016 // 📺
Trailer
Fun fact:
Forget Na'vi. Villeneuve and Heisserer created a fully functioning visual alien language for the movie.
Don’t have Epix? Arrival is available to buy or rent on Prime Video, iTunes, and YouTube.
What I watched this week
Today was my last day of press screenings before the New York Film Festival officially began and we ended with a big one.
The Irishman 🍀
Martin Scorsese’s newest crime film starring Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci has its world premiere today and I was fortunate enough to catch it at a press screening this morning.
The review embargo lifts tonight at 8pm, so you can find my full review on smashcutreviews.com then.
In the meantime, here was my instant reaction after the screening:
Below is a photo from the press conference that followed the screening. From left to right: Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Jane Rosenthal, Joe Pesci (that hat!), Al Pacino (that scarf!), Robert DeNiro, and Martin Scorsese.
The Irishman will be in theaters November 1 before dropping on Netflix on November 27.
Thank you so much for reading the newsletter! I’ll be back next week with a fresh theme. In the meantime, reply to this email with any and all feedback!
Have a fun and safe weekend! 🍂
Karl (@karl_delo)