Movie Reviews
Movie Review: Chris Rock’s ‘Misty Green’ with astonishing Rosalind Eleazar nicely skewers Hollywood
Ten years ago moviegoers got a love letter to Los Angeles in the achingly sweet “La La Land,” where characters danced on air. Gravity arrives a decade later in Chris Rock’s terrific poison pen letter to the city, “Misty Green.” Rock, who directs and stars in the film as well as having written the screenplay, […]
Movie Review: Is Palme d’Or winning ‘Fjord’ a movie for these divided times?
In the era of gentle parenting, even the word discipline can feel like a third-rail topic. It’s certainly foreboding when it’s first mentioned in Cristian Mungiu’s “Fjord,” the prickly Romanian Palme d’Or winner opening in theaters this weekend. It’s built to get under your skin. Sebastian Stan gets the honor of saying it first. The […]
Movie Review: In Ben Affleck’s ‘Animals,’ a kidnapping threatens a mayoral campaign
We have now gotten two remakes of Akira Kurosawa’s “High and Low,” and yet not a single new rendition of “Stray Dog.” Lamentable though that imbalance may be — you may have your own Kurosawa favorite — it’s not hard to see the contemporary appeal of 1963’s “High and Low.” It’s an ingenious plot. A […]
Movie Review: Falling rocks, avalanches, heroism and greed converge in ‘The Last First: Winter K2’
“He has to go and live on the edge,” explains Lina Móey about her husband, the Icelandic mountaineer John Snorri Sigurjonsson, in “The Last First: Winter K2.” And she means it literally: He has to go live on the edge of a mountain. In this case, it’s the most forbidding mountain on the planet: K2, […]
Movie Review: ‘The Social Reckoning’ is classic Aaron Sorkin
It is unfortunate for “The Social Reckoning” that “The Social Network” exists. The latter is a modern masterpiece. The former was kind of always doomed to exist in its shadow. Although Aaron Sorkin can be quite good directing his own work (see: “Molly’s Game” ), it’s hard not to fantasize about what might have been […]
Movie Review: In ‘Primetime,’ a sinister shift in media, with a dazzling Robert Pattinson
Buzzing with the sound of dial-up internet and the hum of grainy VHS tape, Lance Oppenheim’s “Primetime,” about Chris Hansen and his Dateline NBC series “To Catch a Predator,” identifies a seedy moment when media became the new arbiter of communal justice. In “Primetime,” Hansen, as played with malicious precision by Robert Pattinson, is an […]
Movie Review: ‘Forgotten Island’ is a trippy ode to friendship set against rich Filipino folklore
Of all the magical portals that transport you to another world, “Forgotten Island” may have the cutest. It’s not a brick tunnel like “Spirited Away” or a hidden door like “Coraline” or even C.S. Lewis’ famous wardrobe. In this movie, it’s a sand dollar. That humble beach staple is the key to unlocking what surely […]
Movie Review: In ‘Heart of the Beast,’ Brad Pitt and a dog try to survive in the wild
Brad Pitt loves a lone wolf character. Even in ensembles, he’s often the quiet one just to the left (but, you know, still the focus). The guy who sees everything and says little, drawing people, when there are any, into his orbit with sheer charisma. Small talk is for the strivers, not the stars, maybe? […]
Movie Review: Ethan Hawke leads a tense, Depression-era thriller in ‘The Weight’
In April 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order banning the hoarding of gold and requiring Americans to deliver excess quantities to a Federal Reserve Bank by that May. The policy isn’t the subject of much discussion in the tense and earthy thriller “The Weight,” but it does set the stage for a […]
Movie Review: Zach Cregger and Austin Abrams find just enough humor amid the gore in ‘Resident Evil’
“I only use guns in video games,” says Bryan ( Austin Abrams), our frustrated protagonist, trying to piece together a machine gun while his impatient companion urges him to hurry. “It’s confusing in real life!” It’s the most on-the-nose remark in “Resident Evil,” a movie born of video games that’s trying to just be a […]