CRITICS’PICKS

Playwright Martin McDonagh wrote and directed this black comedy about a couple of hit men cooling their heels in the medieval city of Bruges, Belgium, after a murder gone wrong, and it’s worth seeing for the rapid-fire dialogue alone. The counterintuitive casting and performances help too. Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell play an experienced contract killer and his very green amanuensis, respectively, who are sent away to this Christmas vacation wonderland for mysterious reasons by their very scary chav boss (Ralph Fiennes). Dark, violent, compulsively offensive, lovely and picturesque, the magic of “In Bruges” is all in the contrasts.