Thunder Road is one for the more patient among us. It is an uncomfortable feature-length account of grief, rage, sorrow, and just about every other adverse emotion conceivable. Based on an award-winning short of the same name, this comedy-drama follows well-intentioned but volatile police officer Jim Arnaud (Jim Cummings) as he struggles to cope in the wake of his beloved mother’s passing. Hostile relations with estranged wife Rosalind (Jocelyn DeBoer) don’t help matters for this moustachioed, ticking timebomb, especially as she’s divorcing him and claiming full custody of his resentful daughter Crystal (Kendal Farr).
It’s taken Elton John and partner David Furnish the best part of two decades to produce Rocketman. That’s one hell of a dedicated vanity project. Now, with Dexter Fletcher at the helm, the dream has become a whiz-banging reality, albeit one with a relatively loose grasp on the truth. Rocketman is glitzy, fantastical and increasingly dark entertainment. The more Elton loses control on screen, the more Fletcher seizes it behind. Come for the music, take away surprisingly acute insight into the nature of addiction and the pitfalls of fame.
This one’s a joy. Not so far removed from Lady Bird and Superbad but a little American Pie. Oddly reminiscent of Luca Guadagnino’s work too. Whichever way, Booksmart sets out a tremendously self-assured debut for actor turned director Olivia Wilde. Naturally, much about the project’s influences promised an indie affair – in the vogue of Greta Gerwig’s own debut – but such was in contrast to the billing of Will Ferrell and Adam McKay as producers. In execution, Booksmart is gloriously equidistant to either pole. It is an eloquently brash and bitingly silly coming of age comedy at home on the fine divide between nostalgic and contemporary atmospheres.
The Film Blog 