Tag: Alexander Skarsgård

Screening Room: ‘Hold the Dark’

On By chrisbarsantiIn Books, Film - New1 Comment

In Jeremy Saulnier’s bleak and bloody adaptation of William Giraldi’s bleak and bloody novel, a naturalist investigates the apparent killing of children by wolves in Alaska, only to encounter some far more dangerous creatures.

Hold the Dark is playing now in limited release and on Netflix. My review is at Film Journal International:

Jeffrey Wright never shows up to deliver good news. It would be nice if someday soon he gets to show up in a Judd Apatow movie. Suffice it to say that when Wright appears at a woman’s doorstep in Jeremy Saulnier’s gruesomely bleak Hold the Dark, it’s not to deliver a check from Publishers Clearing House…

Here’s the trailer:

Now Playing: ‘The East’

On By chrisbarsantiIn Film - NewLeave a comment
Brit Marling and Alexander Skarsgard in 'The East'
Brit Marling and Alexander Skarsgard in ‘The East’

theeast-posterIn the new eco-spy-thriller The East, a private investigator is sent to infiltrate an anarchist cell. It’s a smart piece of work with impressive performances all around (Alexander Skarsgard, Patricia Clarkson in particular), but a slightly disappointing effort from director Zal Batmanglij, who wowed with last year’s astounding debut Sound of My Voice.

The East opened last Friday in limited release and will be expanding around the country over the summer.

My review is at Film Racket; here’s part of it:

Batmanglij’s co-writer Brit Marling plays Jane, a former FBI agent hired by a private intelligence firm as an investigator. Her first assignment is to infiltrate The East, an underground environmental activist cell that’s been targeting corporate executives they accuse of spreading pollution and disease. Jane dyes her hair blonde, gets tossed a pair of Birkenstocks by her new boss Sharon (an even flintier than usual Patricia Clarkson), and heads out to gather intelligence on The East for the firm’s corporate clients. A few nights of eating out of dumpsters and hopping freight trains later, she’s face to face with The East. They turn out to be little like the expected ranting radicals…

You can watch the trailer here: