Mr. Jeremy Malcolm (Sope Dirisu) is not against taking a bride, so long as she meets the strenuous requisites contained in the eponymous checklist. Unable to make the cut after one date, Julia (Zawe Ashton) is left with no recourse to fall back on but one: that favored revenge trope …
Dreamworks Animation, an oxymoron if ever there was one, gives Mr. Peabody parvo in this hideously fashioned stab at turning Jay Ward’s series of witty, five-minute children’s cartoons geared for adults into a CG babysitting franchise. The comic possibilities of a highly-evolved talking cur playing adoptive father to a human …
A suggestion that pig-whisperer Ambrose (Danny Glover) should have raised chickens instead is greeted with a toothy grin and the reply, “They’re too stupid. And they’re not family.” We all know the type of hardcore animal-lovers who place more value on the lives of pets than they do humankind. That’s …
Mr. Turner — Mike Leigh’s most ambitious film to date — is also his most ponderous. In the time it takes to check out this 150-minute biopic of singular British artist, J.M.W. Turner, one could paint an entire apartment — two coats! — and walk away with a greater sense …
Dancer-sex worker in a Koreatown karaoke spot by night and nurse for her comatose father by day (a hospice is out of the question), Kasie (Tiffany Chu) puts out a call to her brother Carey (Teddy Lee) for help after the current co-caregiver up and quits. Carey arrives, and the …
At one time, “live-action Disney” was the most fearsome phrase in the cinematic lexicon. It’s time to update the dread with the slightly longer “live-action Disney remake.” Where does the animated Mulan rank in the Disney canon? Of the post-Little Mermaid and pre-A Bug’s Life animated features, Disney’s tale of …
Ten lean years following a Gold Medal win for his green thumb, and 87-year-old horticulturist Earl (Clint Eastwood) was no longer capable of popping for a round of drinks on the house. If the amount of emotional damage he’d already inflicted on two generations of women were any indication, Earl …
Perhaps it was my aversion to a certain tendency in British cinema that kept me at bay. Who wants to watch The Munsters run through a de-humorizer and be given the "Carry On" treatment? I didn't realize as a child that the British supporting cast was already residing in America …
Any similarities between Jim Henson’s antron-fleece assemblage and hack-screenwriter Jason Segel’s fleece job are coincidental. Bright lights, brittle colors, forced cheer, and production numbers lifted from a Dr. Pepper commercial (and backed by a knitting-needles-through-your-ears score) combine for a fatal dose of nostalgia. In the past, at least we had …
The colorful, show-stopping opener, "We’re Doing a Sequel" - the wittiest, most delightful musical number to come out of a live-action Disney production in decades - automatically places this Muppet movie eons ahead of the ghastly Jason Segel reboot. Kids will no doubt get off on the silly mistaken-identity plot, …
Mexico City’s answer to American Animals imagines a real-life pair of inveterate, thirty-something veterinary students leaving the safety of their parent’s homes just long enough to relieve the National Museum of Anthropology of 140 pre-Hispanic artifacts. Nothing about Juan (Gael García Bernal) and Benjamín (Leonardo Ortizgris) displays even a glimmer …
Yo Yo Ma stands waiting in the wings, a string of self-effacing jokes muttered under his breath making light of his host’s introductory remarks. Before the opening credits draw to a close, we’ve been treated to a sprightly, open-air performance ensemble by the film’s actual stars: a group of musicians …
An innocent splash with male schoolmates capsizes the lives of five orphaned sisters. Accused of disgracing their family, the girls are in turn exposed to untold humiliation at the hands of an uncle determined to make them prisoners in a home with but two escape routes: marriage or death. Given …
Roman (Matthias Schoenaerts), a broodingly inarticulate, uncommonly barbaric convict, returns to the general population, where he reluctantly accepts a position in a rehab program that entails breaking wild horses slated for adoption. He first goes full-Mongo on his assigned steed by punching the daylights out of the beast. Cranky old …
Nowadays, a sports film such as this has but two paths to follow: faith-based proselytizing (Facing the Giants, Woodlawn) or a regulation biopic like all the rest. First time director (and author of Hoosiers and Rudy) Angelo Pizzo dutifully delivers the latter in his latest schoolboy tome, a tribute to …