danieljfarthing

In excellently made & performed creepy thriller "Heretic" Mormon missionaries Sophie Thatcher & Chloe East call at the isolated old house of Hugh Grant, who lures them in to subject them to his gradually intensifying (and scary) thoughts, hypotheses, & experiments on religion. The cast are superb (particularly Grant - outstanding again - in a perfectly skin-crawling manner) especially under Scott Beck & Bryan Woods' co-direction (nailing the atmosphere wonderfully). Beck & Woods also wrote the screenplay, which despite some implausabilities builds tension so well while presenting genuinely interesting facts AND landing a strong knockout punch. It's top-drawer fare.

Chick-flick rom-com "Hot Frosty" is exactly as advertised: silly, cheap, harmless, festive, & fun. When likeable Lacy Chabert puts a magic scarf on a snowman he transforms into Dustin Milligan, who may be just who she didn't even know she needed - but before reaching that conclusion she must deal with him learning what it is to be a man around her small town - causing much hoo-hah amongst locals like its two cops Craig Robinson & Joe Lo Truglio (who steal the show btw). Director Jerry Ciccoritti & prolific writer Russell Hainline deliver in a distinctly Hallmark-esque stylee... which was was no doubt their brief. Job done. Those who think they'll like it, will indeed.

In courtroom drama "Juror #2" Nicholas Hoult is on a jury (with JK Simmons, Leslie Bibb & others) at a trial where Toni Collette is prosecuting a death that it transpires Hoult may be more involved in than even he realised at the outset. With Clint Eastwood directing (albeit moderately) and the likes of Kiefer Sutherland & Zoey Deutch supporting, it smacks of a typically polished genre entry, on which debut writer Jonathan Abrams tries putting an original twist - that he fails to pull off with a screenplay too full of holes & unresolved ambiguities (many folk will HATE the ending - despite it summing up the film's whole point). It is brave, but it falls way short of the genre's best.