That story proves paper thin, and requires believing Amanda is devoid of empathy yet devoted to Lily concepts too at odds to be plausible together.

It’s funny. It’s uncomfortable. And it feels real and lived-in, right to the bone.

Upgrade offers memorable, legible fights, a compelling bombed-out retro-apocalyptic look, and a mystery that seems obvious at the start but then keeps twisting.

Vice offers more than Yuletide rage-bait for liberal moviegoers, who already have plenty to be mad about. Revulsion and admiration lie as close together as the red and white stripes on the American flag, and if this is in some respects a real-life monster movie, it’s one that takes a lively and at times surprisingly sympathetic interest in its chosen demon.

Vida succeeds where others fail not just because the characters are richly developed, and not just because its masterfully written, but because it is both – all the time.

The film is an onslaught, sometimes silly, sometimes profound, but always riveting and emotional, and dazzlingly sure of itself.