Melissa McCarthy slips into her blithe, doe-eyed, over-talking, PG-13 mode for a comedy about a freshly divorced soccer mom who dropped her daughter off at college and decided to stick around and complete her degree. When Rodney Dangerfield went back to school he did so in an obnoxiously amusing and …
Two long-term buds — a clingy-and-looking, perpetually aspiring musician (Leighton Meester) and a mutually dependent, mostly plugged-in environmental lawyer (Gillian Jacobs) — feel the foundation of their friendship begin to seism when the former is asked to take a back seat to the latter’s latest suitor (Adam Brody, the real …
Some philosophical musings on mortality and immortality are woven into a traditionalist sci-fi plot, in the Frankenstein vein, about scientists' congenital urge to play God. It includes an old-fashioned grave-robbing scene, a mystery man (Klaus Kinski, ideally cast) lurking about in the shadows and spying, and a romantic interest (Tina …
As near to philosophy as Mel Brooks gets: "It's good to be alive. There are so many things you can't do when you're dead." The richest man in the world (Brooks himself) takes a bet to live among, and as, the homeless, and acquires there a new set of values, …
Cute-kid comedy. Number-one cutie is Christina Vidal, a Brooklyn pickpocket who, after getting discovered by (i.e., picking the pocket of) a talent scout on a street corner, becomes the Sunburst Cookie girl. Michael J. Fox counts as a cutie too, a former child actor who hasn't quit acting cute just …
Shot simultaneously in Hindi and Telugu languages, Vijay Deverakonda stars as the titular MMA fighter alongside Ananya Panday, Ramya Krishna, and Ronit Roy in pivotal roles. The story is about martial arts, dreams, and star crossed lovers. Liger is an MMA fighter who trains hard and rises up the ranks …
After a tour of killing Jerrys in the Great War, bachelor Tom (Oscar nominee Michael Fassbender) returns to Australia, where he plans on settling down as a lighthouse keeper. Isabel (Oscar winner Alicia Vikander) is the town looker, making her, in accordance with Hollywood’s rule of keeping up surface appearances, …
Director and co-writer Robert Eggers continues the unpleasant but gripping work he began with his debut The Witch, or at least the aspect of it that has to do with taking the measure of a man. Then, the sins of a father were visited upon his children after he let …
Molasses Jack, more like it. A moseying Western comedy about an Aussie outlaw, last survivor of the Younger Gang, and his mute (but not deaf) hostage and then partner. Paul Hogan, who also authored the script, loses the Mr. Congeniality Award to his co-star, Cuba Gooding, Jr., in an anachronistic …
Paul Schrader runs his cultural vacuum cleaner over the rock-and-roll scene -- not at the Billboard Top 100 level, but at the bottom-rung bar scene in Cleveland and environs: fly-by-night bands with names like the Barbusters, the Hunzz, Yogurt Moon (shades of Spinal Tap! -- one of whose members, Michael …
Paul Schrader once again explores the spiritual dimension of an unlikely prospect: not this time a gigolo or a rock musician or a New York cabbie but a limo-riding drug trafficker who caters to an upscale clientele ("Twice the price, twice the safety"), offers them sympathetic counseling when indicated ("Personally …
Director David F. Sandberg made a three-minute short horror film about a woman being terrorized by something she first spies when she turns out the light. Reigning horrormeister James Wan got a gander, met with Sandberg, and bada bing, bada boom, we have ourselves a feature.
Give Hollywood enough time (and enough sequel money) and they’ll ruin anything. The Buzz Lightyear character came to be a household name thanks to four installments of Toy Story. The delusional doll that thought he was the character upon which he is based now has an origin story to call …