The Party

*** SPOILER ALERT ***

Kristen Scott Thomas, a baking failure, some quantity of blow, a handgun in a garbage can, and one too many confessions turns a celebratory get-together into mild disarray as guest after guest turns the staid life she’s known completely upside-down. The ending is something else when we learn, well, you’ll just have to watch this little black and white gem to find out that life is not a bowl of cherries, even with National Health.

Arthur Miller: Writer

** SPOILER ALERT ***

Rebecca Miller, Arthur’s daughter, filmed this wonderful portrait of her father over the years. An accomplished director in her own right, she takes a loving look at her father’s life and legacy. I quite enjoyed this, too, perhaps even more, although it’s certainly missing the certified nuttiness of the Dennis Hopper production.

My recommendation: Go for it.

Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool

*** SPOILER ALERT ***

An aging actress, whose last meal was eaten in 1995, and hasn’t had her hair done since, ventures forth to Liverpool to play a ’40s movie star. She will move into a house filled with strangers, fully intending to die there. And who wouldn’t in a horrid place that hasn’t had a wallpaper or paint makeover since the ’30s. Even the sheets on the beds are color-coordinated and just as ragged. But it’s Britain. The entire country is like that.

God save Camilla. Stiff upper lip and all that.

Annihilation

*** SPOILER ALERT ***

See Natalie Portman acting wander around in a slo-mo daze sleepwalking for two – count’em, TWO – freaking hours. I didn’t spend that much time with her. Fortunately, I was able to borrow a pencil. I gouged BOTH of my eyes out with sharp, pointy lead after the first twenty minutes.

If you pay good money for this dog, I recommend you do the same after you find your seat. Be sure you have someone to lead you home at the end of this travesty.