Movie Reviews
Movie Review: What’s up, flop? The toon-human hybrid ‘Coyote vs. Acme’ should’ve stayed on shelf
Some Hollywood decisions defy logic. Like, who looked at the world of Looney Tunes, those unhinged cartoons of our youth, and thought: Let’s add a bunch of personal injury lawyers. Such is the premise of the clunky, too-earnest, live-action-toon-hybrid “Coyote vs. Acme,” a film initially mothballed by the studio only to later be featured in […]
Movie Review: A tender love story with postapocalyptic teeth in Ridley Scott’s ‘The Dog Stars’
It says something about us that dogs are critical when it comes to postapocalyptic movies. Tom Hanks had an adorable terrier in “Finch” and Will Smith had a heroic German shepherd in “I Am Legend.” Another German shepherd is due to accompany Brad Pitt in next month’s “Heart of Beast,” but until then we have […]
Movie Review: Gen Z gets a moody, existential horror in ‘It Ends’
Every generation deserves its own postgrad malaise movie. Not every attempt is going to be “The Graduate” or “Frances Ha,” but even when they’re mediocre, they’re also often a pure expression from a young filmmaker about what their contemporaries are feeling at that exact moment. Though the details may change — the clothes, the hairstyles, […]
Movie Review: ‘The End of Oak Street’ is a gonzo good time
At the end of the block in David Robert Mitchell’s “The End of Oak Street,” is a cul-de-sac with a telephone pole in the middle and wires radiating out like the cables of a big top. It’s a fitting touch for a breakneck, carnivalesque movie made with throwback showmanship. Summer movies, of course, are not […]
Movie Review: Sunny Sandler is sweet — and sunny — in theater-kid dramedy ‘Don’t Say Good Luck’
“She is gone, but she used to be mine,” go the words of Sara Bareilles’ poignant and powerful anthem from “Waitress,” the quintessential Broadway 11 o’clock number. For musical theater fans, the mere sound of those opening chords is enough to send tear ducts into overdrive. So when at the beginning of “Don’t Say Good […]
Movie Review: ‘The Rivals of Amziah King’ is a Southern fried flick with too many ingredients
It turns out that the honey business isn’t as sweet as it sounds: In the new movie “The Rivals of Amziah King,” beekeepers steal from each other, poison rivals’ insects and rip folk off. “It’s not full of kind people,” the title character warns. “The Rivals of Amziah King” isn’t as sweet as it thinks […]
Movie Review: ‘One Night Only’ is a tease, but its stars score
“The Purge” for sex is the best way to describe the premise of “One Night Only” unless you prefer Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” for one-night stands. As the movie announces right away: The U.S. government has passed a mandate that premarital sex is illegal except for one night a year. For the past three years, […]
Movie Review: Olivia Wilde rules playful BDSM comedy ‘I Want Your Sex’
Erika Tracy, the artist and provocateur at the heart of “I Want Your Sex,” may be the most quotable fictional female executive since Miranda Priestly “that’s all-ed” her way into film history. Yes, sure, it is a little strange to compare a very buttoned-up character in a mass-audience, PG-13-rated movie with one in a very […]
Movie Review: Anthony Bourdain biopic ‘Tony’ is just an early nibble at a culinary giant
“Tony,” the Anthony Bourdain biopic, is a coming-of-age tale for a modern culinary giant. Set over just a summer, it’s also clearly an appetizer. And like all first courses, it leaves you with a nice first taste — but still hungry. Director and co-writer Matt Johnson has frustratingly taken liberties with a formative period in […]
Movie Review: In ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day,’ a lonely superhero grows up and looks inward
Are the ears playing tricks on us? Or does Tom Holland’s Peter Parker sound, at the beginning of “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” like more of a native New Yorker than before? The cadence, the sort-of Queens accent — it’s striking, as we watch Peter chat on the phone with police captain Jean DeWolff (Liza Colón-Zayas) […]