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From left to right, Bryan Cranston as Sal, Steve Carell as Doc and Laurence Fishburne as Mueller in "Last Flag Flying." (Courtesy Wilson Webb)
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These are two troubling, ultimately optimistic movies about how all we really have left right now is each other. Though quite different in temperament and tone, when taken in tandem they present a bruised and battered state of the union - where rugged individuals who have been failed by our country’s crumbling institutions come together for fleeting moments of grace. I saw Richard Linklater’s “Last Flag Flying” and Martin McDonagh’s “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” within a couple days of each other at last month’s IFFBoston Fall Focus, and it’s funny how seemingly unrelated films can sometimes speak to one another. In short, the kind of movies that people who don’t go to the movies like to say that they don’t make anymore. With another mega-budget superhero spectacle crashing into theaters this weekend, get ready for a reprise of the familiar refrain that "nobody makes movies for grown-ups anymore" and "sophisticated drama is now the sole province of cable television."Īs it happens, if you can direct your attention away from Bat-fleck and his Superfriends’ billion-dollar marketing campaign and look up from the TV, this weekend brings to the Boston area two thoughtful, intelligent pictures from major filmmakers featuring big-name stars and stories directly engaged with the personal and political realities of our present moment. Frances McDormand and Woody Harrelson in "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri." (Courtesy Fox Searchlight Pictures) This article is more than 4 years old.