A duffer’s guide from a viewer whose familiarity with the play is limited to switching channels the minute “Memories” came on the radio. Tom Hooper’s (The King’s Speech, Les Miserables) feral recitation yields a uniquely unpleasant moviegoing experience. The design is hideous to behold, with character perspective that’s disorientating to …
As bold departures go — this is the director Chen Kaige’s second non-period picture in over two decades — it’s an exhilarating experience to behold; there’s not an off-balance 'Scope frame or mistimed cut in this rapid fire, multi-character drama. On the bus ride home following a routine checkup that …
1) In order to boost sales, a young author and some friends visit a bookstore and loudly attempt to give her tome better shelf placement. 2) Two strangers exchange funny jabs after one attempts to cut in line at a Starbucks. 3) A date with a Gap model ends in …
The opening shot from writer-director Apichatpong Weerasethakul is packed so full of visual information that it would take a mausoleum to house it all. From the distanced perspective of a front porch, we watch as soldiers oversee a pair of earth-grinding steam shovels. The veranda is attached to a small …
Don’t expect Certain Women’s tale of four disparate Montana women whose lives crisscross to end with the quartet comfortably telescoping in one central locale. The opening section, involving Laura Dern as a lawyer whose male client places more faith in the judgment of a man than a woman, is fairly …
The last temptation of Cesar Chavez, tireless crusader against a farm labor system that treats its workers like dirt, as presented through rare documentary footage and the partisan eyes of friends and family members. In July of 1988, the then 65-year-old head of United Farm Workers Union embarked on a …
From Cooper Raiff, the writer-director-star who constructed the brick-solid romcom Shithouse, returns with this endearingly eccentric tale of Andrew (Raiff), a “party-starting” Bar Mitzvah emcee who makes a connection with guests Domino (a radiant Dakota Johnson) and her autistic daughter Lola (Vanessa Burghardt). (He must live in a very tight-knit …
Anyone who has spent time in the cleaning service industry will find much to identify with in Lila Avilés’ feature film debut. Ditto those who answer life’s calling by combing film festivals for something of quality with which to connect. This contemplative película devotes its entire running time to a …
Profiles in Chivas. Instead of following in brother Jack’s footsteps, Teddy Kennedy (Jason Clarke) shepherds a pair of waterlogged loafers to shore. The Fredo Corleone of Hyannis Port and indulged son of Joe Kennedy (Bruce Dern, horrifyingly effective as a monster ghastlier than any Hollywood has yet to fabricate), Teddy …
The inspirational true-life story of 15-year-old Jay Moriarty (newcomer Jonny Weston), whose dream it was to surf Mavericks, the biggest and most hazardous waves in Northern California. Gerald Butler plays Frosty Hesson, a seasoned pro whose initial reluctance to mentor the lad (“Untrained boys don’t step in the ring with …
This documentary escapee from the Food Network follows 15-year-old Flynn McGarry, dubbed “the Justin Bieber of food,” as he transitions from kid cuisinier to celebrity chef. Did I say documentary? Half the picture consists of home movies shot by his suffocatingly predatorial mother, Meg. Day and night she films, the …
Her character in Hustlers was as harebrained and underdeveloped as the action scenes that stretched out Charlie’s Angels were soul-crushing. Nevertheless something about Lili Reinhardt’s poise and screen presence suggested a movie star in the offing. With Grace, the cane-reliant newcomer-cum-class-poet-laureate who drags more in tow than a game leg, …
Every little breeze seems to whisper unease in this one-location, one-joke comedy. We never know exactly why our six anal-retentive alpha males cruise the Aegean Sea on a luxury yacht, but one thing’s for certain: every minute of their time together will be spent competing for your attention. From housecleaning …
Why does 40-year-old Anna (Malin Akerman), a struggling small business owner who has never been on the giving or receiving end of a punch, decide to go along with this senseless marianismo of a female fight club? Because the actress that plays her doubles as the film’s producer, and dammit, …
Better you should take a closer look at your investment portfolio than this. Depending on your affinity for the subject of investment scams, this will either register as bank porn or something akin to Chinese water torture. One day later, and my hair has yet to dry. The slick, hermetically …