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Pete's Dragon (2016)
There's room enough for both
Pete's Dragon
s in this big old world.
Office Christmas Party (2016)
Well, why don’t you just tell me what you think
Office Christmas Party
is about, and I’ll tell you if you’re right. Uh huh. Uh huh. Uh huh. Yeah, you’ve got it.
Heart of a Dog (2015)
'Arty,' to be sure, but it's not pretentious: rather, it's expressive of the scattered state of mind, the reflective state of mind, that attends grief.
Don't Think Twice (2016)
Pinpoints a creative community that’s never been explored in a narrative film...its wistful, naturalistic presentation of a thirtysomething turning point—a forced maturation of sorts—rings true.
Miss Sloane (2016)
[Not] a truly thoughtful and credible treatment of the unpleasant realities of Washington lobbying...[but] a hothouse melodrama that teases an ice queen’s meltdown while actually doing the hustle.
Macbeth (1948)
The graphic intensity of Orson Welles' black-and-white 1948 film of
Macbeth
, then, isn't merely for show, but a carefully considered symbolist staging for screen, meant to complement the Bard's immortal poetry.
Hands of Stone (2016)
The film works as well as it does on the strength of its acting. De Niro is in fine, grounded form, and his verbal sparring with Ramírez, [et al]...elevates the film, the overlapping dialogue highly effective in infusing naturalistic energy.
Don't Breathe (2016)
Once
Don’t Breathe
detonates its big twist...some audience members will feel the film stops being fun while others will feel the fun has started in earnest.
Rules Don't Apply (2016)
In his screenplay and performance as Hughes, Beatty offers a canny, sharply drawn, and highly personal take on the billionaire, with strong elements of lacerating self-parody.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)
I have heard the cash cow moo...the sort of movie many will feel obliged to like more than they actually want to clamor right back onto the ride.
Loving (2016)
An easy realism and an intimate domestic perspective on events that became consequential to national history...replacing histrionics with a genuine curiosity about what it must have been like to live this story from the inside.
Arrival (2016)
A science-fiction masterpiece that’s largely about our perceptions of time and our struggles to communicate...unexpectedly romantic and profound in its deeper concerns, by exploring the happy-sad nature of existence itself, of being born to die.
The Eagle Huntress (2016)
As a documentary, it’s only marginally more credible than
Nanook of the North
. So have we really come a long way, baby?
Lone Wolf and Cub (1972)
Could be fairly branded exploitation pictures in their quantity of sex and violence (and nudity and gore), but they also qualify as comic-book movies, and perhaps the first in the modernistic style to which we've become accustomed.
Morris from America (2016)
An amiable, gentle, light drama with coming-of-age and outsider elements...a movingly attentive Robinson has never been allowed to be this warm on screen.
Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders (2016)
A gleeful exercise in nostalgia, a fun and family-friendly Batman story in its own right, and a running commentary on the character's flexible interpretation.
The Handmaiden (2016)
A conspicuously crafty tale...Park’s erotic thriller...with its story that, not coincidentally, deals with fetishes—never feels lifelessly premeditated; rather, we realize, early and often, that we are in very sure hands.
Preacher: Season One (2016)
As per a recurring Season One line, 'We're just getting started.'
A Man Called Ove (2015)
Though Holm’s film can be plenty sentimental and emotionally manipulative, it also manages to be
about
sentiment and emotional manipulations, and how those aren’t necessarily bad things.
Keeping Up with the Joneses (2016)
Only in a well-populated movie theater can one truly appreciate the sound of silence when Gadot’s character boasts she could crack a walnut with her vagina. And that, my friends, is the funniest joke in the picture.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
Lee brought a distinct elegance to the wuxia genre of mythic, lyrical martial arts pictures...a breathtaking visual and emotional experience for the viewer...
The Marx Brothers Silver Screen Collection (1933)
Universal's new three-disc
The Marx Brothers Silver Screen Collection
Restored Blu-ray Edition offers the best chance yet on home video to appreciate the Brothers and their brand of anarchic, sometimes surreal comedy...
Duck Soup (1933)
For all its wild comic abandon,
Duck Soup
has darker implications than the usual Marx Brothers comedy and, as such, feels the most relevant and sharp in its satire.
Monkey Business (1931)
Keeps plot at a minimum, anarchy at a maximum, which is a good place to be for the fearless foursome of 1930s screen comedy.
Animal Crackers (1930)
More so than any of the other Paramount films,
Animal Crackers
is Groucho's picture.
Horse Feathers (1932)
The opening ten minutes of
Horse Feathers
have more laughs than most comedy features muster in their entirety. And there's more where that came from...
The Cocoanuts (1929)
Sophisticated absurdity and sublime nonsense.
The Accountant (2016)
The running-gag emotional expression of another of the film’s autistic characters pretty much sums it up: 'Heavy sigh.'
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
Deep reserves of humor and heart...a sophisticated comedy with an often blazingly fast pace to its dialogue, a quintessential Gary Cooper performance in the title role, and an especially tenacious leading lady in Jean Arthur.
Angels & Demons (2009)
Try not to giggle when...Langdon is being called in for '[his] expertise, [his] erudition.' The guy from
Bachelor Party
? Just kidding, Tom, we love you—just not in this kind of pricy but conspicuously soulless crap.
Boyhood (2014)
Cinematic poetry...As that greatest of screen rarities—a potentially mainstream experimental film—the writer-director earns a bit of slack in gratitude for the strange and wonderful gift
Boyhood
is...
The Da Vinci Code (2006)
Too measured to be lively, too skittish to be provocative, too dramatically slack to be more than a ploddingly literal book-on-film.
The Infiltrator (2016)
A sturdy but uninspired crime docudrama that’s neither convincingly colloquial nor thrillingly stylish.
The Girl on the Train (2016)
A mental-health exploitation picture.
The Birth of a Nation (2016)
Unsettlingly, Parker’s historical film depicts a tragic uncivil war that bears comparison to our modern racial struggles, and while it’s history not to be forgotten, it’s also not to be mischaracterized.
Patterns (1956)
The main draw remains Serling, whose story seems every bit as relevant—indeed, more so—today. There is efficiency but also music in his theatrical language...
Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates (2016)
The fact that
Mike and Dave
will inevitably turn into a rom com blunts its potential as a black comedy of comeuppance for the titular jerks.
Queen of Katwe (2016)
A co-production of Disney and ESPN Films,
Queen of Katwe
unsurprisingly has a calculated quality to it...What’s thrilling is the story’s girl power, with Phiona described as an aggressive player of 'astonishing power.'
Blood Simple (1984)
Simpleness and crime have consistently fascinated the pair, who may as well be praying at the temple of Atë...the Coens preach a healthy respect for the randomness and chaos that ensues from our desires.
Beauty and the Beast (1991)
As far as 'Classic Disney,'
Beauty and the Beast
pretty much has it all. Y'know, for kids (of all ages).
Storks (2016)
Samberg’s jittery-nerdy energy comes through, and Stoller applies a level of taste and restraint to the film’s use of source music and amusingly awkward pauses.
The Dressmaker (2015)
Part slow-burn mother-daughter drama, part slow-burn suspense thriller, and part slow-burn romance, with a few twists for good measure as the town begins to come apart at the seams.
Captain America: Civil War (2016)
A direct sequel to
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
...a crazy-cool superhero team-up/smackdown movie to make
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
look like a tea party, and a franchise-launching introduction to the new Spider-Man...
Bridget Jones's Baby (2016)
As artless as it can be—and as thuddingly predictable about the baby’s parentage and whom Bridget will end up with—even grumps will admit to scattered amusing bits...and the likeability of Zellweger and Firth.
A Bigger Splash (2015)
The significant visual appeal and magnetic turns by the leading players make this four-hander a diverting dip into human nature: specifically, jealousy and the folly of opting for interiority over communication.
Marguerite (2016)
Why is Marguerite so funny to us, and why is her public humiliation allowed to continue for so long? The answers plumb both the best and worst instincts of human nature, and give Giannoli’s film a strong heartbeat.
The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum (1939)
The story, the effective acting, and the period-specific recreations of Kabuki would be enough for most films, but this one has Mizoguchi behind the camera, applying his rigorous formalism.
Sully (2016)
The so-called 'untold story' is essentially nonsense...The struggle is real for screenwriter Todd Komarnicki...
Night Train to Munich (1940)
Double-crosses and disguises, captures and escapes make up the momentum of Reed's nicely pacy adventure.
The Night Manager (2016)
A story that succeeds in the telling: in the work of Hiddleston, Laurie, and Colman and the steady hand of their director: notable feature-film helmer Susanne Bier.
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