THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN

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Martin McDonagh's '20s era Irish chamber piece is a highly polished prize of social commentary.

So exquisitely crafted, "The Banshees of Inisherin" could work well as a Broadway play.

Martin McDonagh has usurped Lars von Trier at his own game. You want Dogme 95; here it is.

The work has a Shakespearean quality to it.

Personal, private, and communal forces drive McDonagh's thoughtful characters.

There is nothing flashy here, no fat on the bone.

Colin Farrell's and Brendan Gleeson's welcome return to working with Martin McDonagh, since doing "In Bruges" together in 2008, is something to savor.

Farrell and Gleeson deserve their reputations as two of the finest actors working today.

The tale of a break up between two close male buddies living on a tiny [fictitious] island, proves to be a great jumping off point for contemplating who we choose to spend our time with, and why.

Mental illness, it seems, might be contagious.

"The Banshees of Inisherin" brutally connects to the heart, mind, and soul of its viewer.

Confucius comes into play. "Seek revenge and you should dig two graves, one for yourself."

Hala-feckin-luya.

Rated R. 114 mins.

TÁR

         Groupthink doesn't live here, critical thought does.

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People are a complicated mix of good and bad elements. Talented people more so. 

Cate Blanchett's lesbian orchestra conductor character Lydia Tár is a lot of important things to a lot of people. 

Lydia preys on young women when she isn't busy rehearsing, composing, giving interviews, co-parenting a child with her partner, and all that goes into leading the Berlin Philharmonic.

Where does Lydia find the time for keeping up the subterfuge of pretending to sublimate her ego for art?

Todd Field's first film in 16 years is a (seemingly) rigorous psychological thriller, an intellectual puzzle if you will.

Sadly, it's a broken puzzle.

Lydia Tár gets in Dutch with the mob rule of social media — ironic especially because social media is neither social nor media.

No telling how many lives social media has destroyed.

As for its creator, Field gets in Dutch by cutting too close with the character of Lydia Tár to real-life lesbian symphony conductor Marin Alsop, music director laureate of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and chief conductor of the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra.

For the record, Marin Alsop has voiced her outrage at the film, and its parallels to herself.

Marin Alsop calls Tár "antiwoman."

Hard to argue with Marin Alsop.

You're a fool if you do.

As such, "Tár" comes across as a cheap parlor game.

Why Todd Field chose to craft his film so closely to a specific musical artist is a mystery deeper than any in the film.

If Todd Field had an axe to grind, that axe has come back to hit him in the face.

"Tár" does itself another disservice by neglecting key elements of a suicide subplot that contributes to the challenges of its unreliable protagonist.

Reality has stepped in too much for "Tár" to be considered the masterpiece that it strains to be, much less what it is, a B-movie in big budget trappings.

Cate Blanchett is nonetheless transfixing as ever, even if her narcissist character is a flat cardboard creation.

Rated R. 158 mins.

GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY

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Proof that filmmaking is a thing of the past, "Glass Onion" is a tone-deaf crime comedy whose overblown budget would have been better spent on New York City's infrastructure.

Memo to Rian Johnson, nobody in their right mind gives a flying fuck in a rolling doughnut about your little Elon Musk-styled billionaires pretending, or not pretending, to rule the world by playing stupid games.

Pointless.

There's no "mystery" here.

Not funny or entertaining.

Daniel Craig must just be cashing in his chips before retiring.

Good on him and goodbye if that's the case.

"Glass Onion" isn't a movie; it's a product.

However, you can't eat it, you can't buy anything with it, and you can't watch it with any enthusiasm.

Bored rich people breaking things, blah, blah, blah, blah.

It's not "a Rian Johnson Whodunnit," it's "a Rian Johnson Why'd You Bother?"

Rated PG-13. 139 mins.

ZERO STARS