Justin Chang

Mia Sara plays Chuck's loving grandmother, who taught him how to dance, and Mark Hamill plays his soulful but practical-minded grandfather. There's a lot going on in this chapter. It's a coming-of-age drama, with elements of a haunted house thriller, too. It's also a solution to a mystery, as the connections between Chuck's life and the end of the world become clear.

Mia Sara plays Chuck's loving grandmother, who taught him how to dance, and Mark Hamill plays his soulful but practical-minded grandfather. There's a lot going on in this chapter. It's a coming-of-age drama, with elements of a haunted house thriller, too. It's also a solution to a mystery, as the connections between Chuck's life and the end of the world become clear.

Mia Sara plays Chuck's loving grandmother, who taught him how to dance, and Mark Hamill plays his soulful but practical-minded grandfather. There's a lot going on in this chapter. It's a coming-of-age drama, with elements of a haunted house thriller, too. It's also a solution to a mystery, as the connections between Chuck's life and the end of the world become clear.

Without revealing too much, let's just say that King wants us to reflect on the idea that every human life is a universe unto itself. It's no coincidence that, at the beginning of the movie, Marty is teaching his class the poem Song of Myself, in which Walt Whitman declared, I contain multitudes.

Without revealing too much, let's just say that King wants us to reflect on the idea that every human life is a universe unto itself. It's no coincidence that, at the beginning of the movie, Marty is teaching his class the poem Song of Myself, in which Walt Whitman declared, I contain multitudes.

Without revealing too much, let's just say that King wants us to reflect on the idea that every human life is a universe unto itself. It's no coincidence that, at the beginning of the movie, Marty is teaching his class the poem Song of Myself, in which Walt Whitman declared, I contain multitudes.

Throughout the movie, Flanagan makes clever use of recurring images, like a door at the top of a dim staircase, that help us piece the puzzle together in a uniquely cinematic way. In most other respects, though, the life of Chuck feels hobbled by its extreme faithfulness to King's novella, and its ultimately life-affirming message comes together in a surprisingly lifeless way.

Throughout the movie, Flanagan makes clever use of recurring images, like a door at the top of a dim staircase, that help us piece the puzzle together in a uniquely cinematic way. In most other respects, though, the life of Chuck feels hobbled by its extreme faithfulness to King's novella, and its ultimately life-affirming message comes together in a surprisingly lifeless way.

Throughout the movie, Flanagan makes clever use of recurring images, like a door at the top of a dim staircase, that help us piece the puzzle together in a uniquely cinematic way. In most other respects, though, the life of Chuck feels hobbled by its extreme faithfulness to King's novella, and its ultimately life-affirming message comes together in a surprisingly lifeless way.

At times, the film does feel like an audiobook – as Offerman's narrator keeps dumping exposition in scene after scene. For a story that seems to urge us to dance like no one's watching, The Life of Chuck itself doesn't have much in the way of spontaneity. The movie doesn't ultimately contain multitudes. It just has a multitude of ways to keep hitting the same beat.

At times, the film does feel like an audiobook – as Offerman's narrator keeps dumping exposition in scene after scene. For a story that seems to urge us to dance like no one's watching, The Life of Chuck itself doesn't have much in the way of spontaneity. The movie doesn't ultimately contain multitudes. It just has a multitude of ways to keep hitting the same beat.

At times, the film does feel like an audiobook – as Offerman's narrator keeps dumping exposition in scene after scene. For a story that seems to urge us to dance like no one's watching, The Life of Chuck itself doesn't have much in the way of spontaneity. The movie doesn't ultimately contain multitudes. It just has a multitude of ways to keep hitting the same beat.

Hmm.

Hmm.

Hmm.

It's become customary to describe a new Wes Anderson movie as more of the same. But it says something about the sheer richness of his visual imagination that he can make two movies set in roughly the same era that look and feel nothing alike. His previous film, Asteroid City, was a gorgeous, warmly nostalgic ode to the American Southwest of the 1950s. His new movie, The Phoenician Scheme...

It's become customary to describe a new Wes Anderson movie as more of the same. But it says something about the sheer richness of his visual imagination that he can make two movies set in roughly the same era that look and feel nothing alike. His previous film, Asteroid City, was a gorgeous, warmly nostalgic ode to the American Southwest of the 1950s. His new movie, The Phoenician Scheme...

It's become customary to describe a new Wes Anderson movie as more of the same. But it says something about the sheer richness of his visual imagination that he can make two movies set in roughly the same era that look and feel nothing alike. His previous film, Asteroid City, was a gorgeous, warmly nostalgic ode to the American Southwest of the 1950s. His new movie, The Phoenician Scheme...

takes place in the same decade, but it's a chillier, more globetrotting affair. It follows an obscenely wealthy businessman named Anatole Zsa Zsa Korda, played by an excellent Benicio del Toro. Korda is the latest of Anderson's dashing scoundrels, the titan of industry as international man of mystery.

takes place in the same decade, but it's a chillier, more globetrotting affair. It follows an obscenely wealthy businessman named Anatole Zsa Zsa Korda, played by an excellent Benicio del Toro. Korda is the latest of Anderson's dashing scoundrels, the titan of industry as international man of mystery.