GLASS (15)***
Dir: M Night Shyamalan
With: James McAvoy, Bruce Willis, Samuel L Jackson
Runtime: 129 minutes
WRITER-director M Night Shyamalan's mind-bending thriller orchestrates a head-on collision of intriguing characters from his earlier features, Unbreakable and Split. As brittle and transparent as the title suggests, Glass unfolds in a menacing present day populated by super-powered heroes and villains who could be torn from the pages of a comic book. Shyamalan's confidently executed but emotionally starved conundrum pretends to defy well-worn conventions but ultimately abides by them within a narrative framework which includes an obligatory twist – the filmmaker's increasingly laboured trademark since his Oscar-nominated The Sixth Sense.Cinema audiences with limited exposure to the Marvel or DC Comics universes will be able to second-guess the writer-director's sleights of hands and will be surprised and disappointed by how linear the central plot turns out to be.Bruce Willis and Samuel L Jackson deliver muted performances in keeping with the film's largely predictable design, both fading into the background as James McAvoy reprises his show-stopping role as a killer with multiple personalities.
Beautiful Boy (15)****
Dir: Felix Van Groeningen
With: Steve Carell, Timothée Chalamet, Amy Ryan
Runtime: 120 minutes
FROM Amazon Studios and Plan B (Brad Pitt’s production company) comes this true tale of how addiction can destroy not just the victim but those who love them. Steve Carell plays David Sheff, a writer for Rolling Stone, the New York Times, and other publications. David and his estranged wife (Amy Ryan) seem to have provided the perfect upbringing for son Nic, save for living a plane journey away for each other. But they muddled through, David has married again, and the teenage Nic (Timothée Chalamet) seems to have everything: intelligence, opportunities, a place waiting for him at university, a loving family and friends. But he is addicted to booze and drugs, and no matter what his family do or try, the cycle of rehab and relapse continues to repeat itself. Felix Van Groeningen’s drama does well to capture the family’s despair, and both Carell and Chalamet turn in rounded, thoughtful performances that avoid the usual cliches surrounding addiction. For most of the running time the film, based on books by father and son, is commendable for its honesty, only becoming a let down with the rather rushed, manipulative ending. Chalamet, Oscar-nomination for Call Me By Your Name last year, deserves another nod this time.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here