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From ZERO to 6 ♥s. 100% ad-free. Run on pure love for movies, documentaries and TV-series. June 2025: Countdown to: Top 10: Best horror comedy movies - Upcoming review: There's Still Tomorrow (2023)
+ Best Independent Movie of the Year+Best Drama of the Year
This superb poster for Matt Ross' Captain Fantastic hints at its protagonist's problems of reconciling with the America that surrounds him while also including pictures of his six cool children
An idealistic father of six great children, whom he and his sick wife have raised isolated from the rest of society in the forests of the Pacific Northwest, following a well-meant but very strict and isolated physical and intellectual regimen, is served the test of his lifetime, as his wife and mother of the children takes her own life.
Captain Fantastic is the wildly impressive second film of great Connecticut-born writer-director Matt Ross (28 Hotel Rooms (2012)), whom you may know through his acting credits in a long list of TV and feature titles. It tells a commanding story with many nuances and powerful ideas: The father has raised his children to be non-religious socialists with strong opinions about their country and its business-driven agenda. This inspires both funny and sharp comments on the consumerist modern world that some of the kids encounter for their first time, when father and kids head south to their wife/mother's funeral. Since the film sympathizes with the protagonist's views, there is a real level of societal criticism to Captain Fantastic as well.
Viggo Mortensen (Eastern Promises (2007)) cements his position as one of the truly great actors of today in Captain Fantastic, giving complex and awesomely human, heartbreaking life to the character of the father, a man who has gone to extreme lengths to craft the most perfect existence he could imagine for his children, and yet now has to come to terms with the realization that what he has given them isn't perfect, and that perfect existence won't exist for them going forward either.
Viggo Mortensen is staggeringly great as Matt Ross' Captain Fantastic, for which he deserves great accolades
Mortensen is surrounded by an extremely impressive bunch of kids, all six of them, who must have gone through quite a lot for the film, which also must have been highly challenging to make due to most of the key actors' being children. Nicholas Hamilton (Strangerland (2015)) and Shree Crooks (American Horror Story (2015-16)) stand out in the bunch, as well as George McKay (Bypass (2014)), who is awesome and intense as the oldest son, Bo. McKay was also memorable for his solid performance in the comparable, great and ultimately equally uplifting Pride (2014).
Kathryn Hahn (Tomorrowland (2015)), Steve Zahn (Treme (2010-13)) and Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon (2008)) all give fine, nuanced performances as members of the estranged family, who make the funeral difficult for our unconventional family unit, which is provocative not only to them but also for us. Captain Fantastic is an unexpectedly intense experience, definitely the most moving film I've gone to in a cinema in a very long time. It's got an infectious sincerity to it and is adorned with great cinematography by Stéphane Fontaine (A Prophet/Un Prophète (2009)). It's both very beautiful and very sad. An intensely rich film that says a lot and deserves to be seen wide and broadly, and more than once. I personally can't wait to see it again.
Box office: 4.3 mil. $ (North America only) and counting
= Too early to say
[Captain Fantastic premiered January 23 (Sundance) and runs 118 minutes. Ross was inspired to write it both as a child of a mother who believed in alternative living and as a parent now himself, reflecting on how to be that in the best way. Read a fine interview with him here. Filming took place in Washington, Oregon and New Mexico from July 2014 on. The film enjoyed a long standing ovation at its Sundance premiere and a 10-minute standing ovation at its Cannes premiere, where it won Ross the Best Director prize of the Un Certain Regard section. It opened #34 in just 4 theaters to a solid 93k $, peaking so far in 550 theaters in North America. The grosses of only 4 foreign markets are public yet, and the film has yet to open in most markets, so its gross may still well double. Captain Fantastic is certified fresh at 79 % with a 6.9 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
+ Best English movie of the Year + Best LGBT Movie of the Year
The infectiously happy poster for Matthew Warchus' Pride
Pride is the second feature by English director Matthew Warchus (Simpatico (1999)), written by Stephen Beresford (That Thing You Drew (2010, short), actor).
In the mid 1980s England, the miners' strike drags on week by week, weakening the economical life in all the affected villages, as a gay rights group from London begins to collect funds for the miners, contributing to a fundamental change in the traditional country.
At the heart of Pride is a story truly worth telling, about people coming together and fighting for the common better. A humanistic tale that celebrates unionizing, human rights and solidarity. - Only the most regressive conformist could watch Pride and not enjoy it. - Human spirit and life simply sputters from it in all directions. I got the feel from the film that the people behind it were taking extra care to get it right, because it is an important and real story that deserves the best handling. There were several roads available with the story, but Warchus and Beresford have chosen an uplifting, often funny and several times moving portrait, which doesn't neglect to show the issues and problems, but which fundamentally has chosen the high road, letting us enjoy and celebrate the inspirational story and the pride in a highly festive manner. For that I am grateful. - Pride was a party to watch, as I think it rightly should be.
The solidity of the ensemble makes the film transcend and gain a fullness that is simply wonderful: Ben Schnetzer (The Book Thief (2013)) is luminous as the group's fireball leader; George McKay (How I Live Now (2013)) has a rare youthfulness to him that inspires his performance as struggling Bromley; Paddy Considine (Child 44 (2015)) plays Dai with a strong sense of integrity; Freddie Fox (The Riot Club (2014)) looks stunning as the group's blond bombshell, and Jessica Gunning (Law & Order: UK (2009-14)) is amazing as Sian, whose life changed as a result of the strike and alliance with the gay community. Aside from all of these promising actors are some established star performances that sweeps you away: Imelda Staunton (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)) as the indignant community leader; Bill Nighy (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011)) has a great part that he puts a delightful performance into, and finally Dominic West (The Wire (2002-08)) is wonderful as the group's veteran, and his dancing scene nearly halfway into the film is a reason to see it in itself! Plus Russell Tovey (Looking (2014-15)) has a fine cameo in Pride. Tat Radcliffe ('71 (2014)) has shot the film beautifully in widescreen and not a shot is off. Pride is also bolstered by lots of great period music hits. It is the perfect movie to watch to celebrate the recent court ruling in the US, which makes marriage equality a fact in all 50 states. - Don't miss it!
Who knew that Dominic West could dance like a dream? In one of the best scenes in Matthew Warchus' Pride
Watch the trailer for the film here
Cost: Unknown Box office: 14.7 mil. $ = Uncertainty [Pride premiered in Cannes, where it won the Queer Palm award and a standing ovation. It has won several other awards, nominations and has made 3.2 mil. £ in its native UK. Without its budget in public, it is impossible to say whether the film is a hit or a flop.] What do you think of Pride?
