‘Animals’ Review: Ben Affleck Returns to the Director’s Chair for a Nasty, Compulsive Kidnapping Thriller

It’s for the best that “Animals,” actor Ben Affleck’s sixth outing behind the camera, is being released directly to Netflix — not that this slick, pacy serving of all-star pulp couldn’t or wouldn’t hold one’s attention in the multiplex. But ever since Affleck’s rousing, enjoyable political drama “Argo” won a Best Picture Oscar that it […]

It’s for the best that “Animals,” actor Ben Affleck‘s sixth outing behind the camera, is being released directly to Netflix — not that this slick, pacy serving of all-star pulp couldn’t or wouldn’t hold one’s attention in the multiplex. But ever since Affleck’s rousing, enjoyable political drama “Argo” won a Best Picture Oscar that it […] Kerry Washington, Gillian Anderson and Steven Yeun join director Ben Affleck in the ensemble of the pulpy Netflix thriller 'Animals.' Kerry Washington, Gillian Anderson and Steven Yeun join the filmmaker in the ensemble of a pulpy Netflix outing that is most interesting when it's most cynical.

It’s for the best that “Animals,” actor Ben Affleck‘s sixth outing behind the camera, is being released directly to Netflix — not that this slick, pacy serving of all-star pulp couldn’t or wouldn’t hold one’s attention in the multiplex. But ever since Affleck’s rousing, enjoyable political drama “Argo” won a Best Picture Oscar that it perhaps didn’t entirely need, his subsequent efforts have been burdened with the weighty expectations of a prestige filmmaker — the noirish, overbaked flop “Live by Night” certainly didn’t benefit from those, and while the fleet-footed crowdpleaser “Air” rallied nicely, it wasn’t a major