For the rest of her life Jessica Chastain is going to be on screen, making the tough calls and approving her employees' vacation requests. In Zero Dark Thirty, The Martian, and now, Miss Sloane, she has proved that she's extremely capable of acting capable—sometimes confident, sometimes cold, but always in charge. John Madden's Miss Sloane is a political thriller about a lobbyist (Chastain) who abandons her spot at a prestigious right-wing firm (where they plant goofy protesters at the Occupy marches to undermine their cause) so she can help the Brady Campaign pass a groundbreaking gun control law. The bill would make sure that bad guys couldn't buy guns. How, you ask? Don't ask. Don't dwell on the politics in the movie at all; they don't matter. Lull yourself into complacency by staring at Chastain's bold red lipstick and listening to the assertive clacking of her high heels.

Read the review by Julia Raban