Review: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

* * * *
Director: Martin McDonagh
Starring: Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson

We are living in an extraordinarily angry time (or maybe it just seems that way because the internet makes that anger inescapable) and Martin McDonagh's Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri functions like a snapshot of that overriding cultural emotion. It's a film about people who are angry about circumstances they cannot change and who, without any productive outlet for that emotion, have nothing but the violence and pain they're capable of inflicting so that the outside world is as chaotic as they feel inside. If you're familiar with McDonagh's previous features In Bruges and Seven Psychopaths, you'll be prepared for the violence of Three Billboards and for the fact that the film often finds a comedic beat or two in the midst of that violence, but what sets this film slightly apart from those previous two is how deeply felt it is on an emotional level. It's angry and then that anger begins to fade into despair and it just leaves you feeling wrecked in the best possible way.

Review: The Way Way Back (2013)

* * 1/2
Director: Nat Faxon, Jim Rash
Starring: Liam James, Sam Rockwell, Toni Collette, Steve Carell

Sam Rockwell is a resource that Hollywood hasn't really used to its advantage. I can't think of any Rockwell movie I've seen which wasn't vastly improved merely by his presence and his ability to make the most out of every part he's given, no matter how small and regardless of genre. This is a blessing and a curse, however, because it means that borderline films seem to cross solidly into "good" when he's on screen, and then backslide when he's not. That's how I felt while watching The Way Way Back, a film with flaws that start to seem inconsequential whenever it drops in on Rockwell's character, but which become glaring whenever it moves on to other matters.