Jason Clarke | Art House Film Wire

‘The Devil All the Time’ is a well-crafted, exceedingly grim slow burn

September 17, 2020September 17, 2020 Jeff Mitchell

“The Devil All the Time” – At the 46-minute mark of director Antonio Campos’ film adaptation of Donald Ray Pollock’s debut 2011 novel, Arvin Russell (Tom Holland) sheepishly smiles when his aunt brings out a cake with a lit candle on his birthday. As an audience, let’s also celebrate the occasion, because this moment is one of the very few on-screen smiles offered in “The Devil All the Time”, a rough-and-tumble, exceedingly grim step into noir. It’s a picture that might leave you depressed and reduced to near-zero hope for…

‘Serenity’ triggers agitation, frustration and exasperation

January 25, 2019January 25, 2019 Jeff Mitchell

“Serenity” – Baker Dill (Matthew McConaughey) drinks from a World’s Greatest Dad coffee mug, but he might not be the best at anything. World’s Greatest Screwup, perhaps. He’s a fisherman on Plymouth Island, a magical blue and sandy oasis where wealthy tourists descend for a week or two of R&R, but locals need to scrape and herd random sources of cash to keep roofs over their heads. Baker may be the most desperate, but he is his own worst enemy. As the film opens, his friend Duke (Djimon Hounsou) and…