Monthly Archives: May 2015

Bobbie flirts with the clerk while Jude pilfers CDs. Jude keeps their ancient Oldsmobile running while Bobbie scams a would-be John thinking she’s a hooker. They live in their car, drifting from hustle to theft — swiping presents from wedding … Continue reading →

“Where Hope Grows” is a sometimes moving and generally watchable melodrama about a drunken ex-ballplayer who finds purpose and a friend back in his home town. But unlike most faith-based films, it isn’t a church that saves him, a pastor … Continue reading →

In “Pound of Flesh,” Jean-Claude Van Damme can still do the splits, still pull off a nude scene and still feels the need to do one. And his Belgian-accented threats still sting. “You see thees Bible?” he purrs to the … Continue reading →

Take away the armies and artillery and a low-budget Civil War movie turns into a Western. The makers of the upcoming “The Keeping Room,” with Brit Marling, Sam Worthington and Hailee Steinfeld, figured that out. And the co-writer/director Kane Senes … Continue reading →

Not sure what Deadline Hollywood was expecting the sacrificial lamb comedy “Hot Pursuit” to manage on its opening weekend. It’ll do over $12, which seems a little low — not quite a flop. Reese’s big box office days are in … Continue reading →

Every studio, large and small, just assumed those darned “Avengers” would swallow another weekend’s box office whole. So nothing of any real note opens this second weekend of May. “Hot Pursuit” took a beating from critics. Just brutal. Reese Witherspoon … Continue reading →

French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent earns a “Gandhi” length, disjointed and arty film biography in “Saint Laurent,” a patience-testing period piece that skips through the designer’s glory years, catches up with him near the addled end and fails to … Continue reading →

The unspoken grief of a small, patriotic rural town that refuses talk about its combat dead is a heavy burden to slap on a formulaic city-kid-turns-rural-dance-team-into-champs dramedy. But that’s what the high-minded “Bravetown” attempts. An R-rated drama about drugs and … Continue reading →