6 new movie reviews in brief: Beasts of No Nation, Freeheld, Beeba Boys and more

Beasts of No Nation

From the accents to the violence to the storyline, Beasts of No Nation is an uncompromising look at child soldiers. Idris Elba may be the main attraction here, but Abraham Attah is the standout. As an orphan-turned-warrior, he encapsulates the horrible destruction these children are capable of while simultaneously showing us the spark of innocence that flickers in a smile. Director Cary Fukunaga's urgent, swirling cinematography immerses us in this tale of a boy and a charismatic leader capable of turning children into beasts.  

4.5 out of 5 stars

It takes something significant to steal a scene from Julianne Moore, but that's exactly what Ellen Page accomplishes in Freeheld, a timely look at a same-sex couple's fight for equality. Moore and Page portray lesbian partners in New Jersey in the early 2000s. What keeps the story from drowning in sap is the dynamic relationship at its core: the tough cop scared of losing her career and her younger lover frustrated at being relegated to the shadows. It's a power struggle between two strong women. Steve Carell and Michael Shannon fill out the excellent cast. That Freeheld is based on a true story makes it slightly predictable, but doesn't take away from the emotional conclusion. Let's be honest: I nearly lost it in the final few minutes. 

4 out of 5 stars

Steve Jobs

Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin has taken Apple's "Think Different" slogan to heart with his bio-pic about the loved and feared company founder. Directed by Danny Boyle, Steve Jobs is told in three acts: backstage at product launches from the first Mac in 1984 to the end at the iMac age in 1998. The through line is Jobs – the difficult, dictatorial visionary continually pushing himself and his team forward. Michael Stuhlbarg, Kate Winslet, Jeff Daniels and Seth Rogen play his corporate family, reappearing like the Ghost of Christmas Past. Sorkin and Boyle have created a film as audacious and ambitious as the man himself. While it may overreach at times – boiling Jobs' behaviour down to a man struggling with daddy-daughter issue – the cross-talk, cinematic flashbacks and bursts of memory that appear like a blinking cursor all add up to a stimulating saga. 

4 out of 5 stars

Beeba Boys 

As much as I love the idea of a movie filled with Indian grandmothers kibitzing during aquafit class and Sikh gangsters cracking wise about David Suzuki, there's something about Beeba Boys that doesn't quite gel. Director Deepa Mehta's film about an Indo-Canadian crime war – filled with flashy characters and colourful clothes – lacks subtlety. Instead of a noirish underworld, we get garish gangsters who strut like peacocks. The magnetic Randeep Hooda works well as the ambitious Jeet Johar, while Ali Momen gives a difficult role some swagger of his own. Mehta was obviously entertained, if not energized, by toying around with this genre, but deeper insights on this ugly side of the Canadian immigrant experience are lost. 

3 out of 5 stars

Bridge of Spies

With this film – based on a true-life Cold War tale – we have reached peak Hanks: Oscar-winner Tom Hanks has fully transformed from lovable, slightly amusing Everyman into a deadly earnest, unstoppable force for human dignity. Directed by Steven Spielberg, Bridge of Spies serves up a slice of American Pie set in the Sixties, with every character looking like a Norman Rockwell painting. Beneath all this, there is real tension as the Americans and Soviets rattle their sabres. The problem is Hanks as New York lawyer James Donovan, who agrees to defend a Soviet spy (Mark Rylance) and attempts to swap him for a captured American. Despite a droll little script by the Coen brothers and Spielberg's immaculate recreation of Berlin cut in two, the weak link in Bridge of Spies is Hanks. While there's certainly a place for a story of how a regular joe from Brooklyn navigated this volatile situation, with Hanks in the lead, our suspension of disbelief is permanently out of order.  

2.5 out of 5 stars

Crimson Peak

Guillermo del Toro's Crimson Peak has a luridly lovely production design – think the haunted house of Walt Disney's nightmares. But what it lacks are characters with enough complexity to compete with those surroundings: this may be the first film ever where a building steals the show. The haunted estate into which English aristocrat Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston) lures his new bride (Mia Wasikowska) features walls that seep red clay and spectral visions that roam the halls at night. Sure there are scary ghosts and shadows that stab, but wasting Hiddleston and Jessica Chastain as a pair of predictably twisted siblings is the true horror in this beautiful mess of a movie. 

2.5 out of 5 stars