Category Archives: Reviews

The novel place and time are the only distinguishing characteristics of “Marshland,” a Spanish serial killer thriller set in the years just after the death of the dictactor Francisco Franco. Those were wild, unbridled times in the cities of Spain, … Continue reading →

“Write about what you know,” teachers, novelists and script doctors tell us. So Pat Mills, a one-time child actor, cooked up a screenplay about a one-time child actor. Let’s hope that’s where the autobiography ends in “Guidance,” a rude and … Continue reading →

Years in the making, fortuitous in its casting, engrossing and thorough, “Straight Outta Compton” is pretty much all you could hope for in a biopic of the seminal L.A. rap group N.W.A. Director F. Gary Gray delivers his best work, … Continue reading →

His lover has died in the big city. And Tom needs to go to the funeral. But it’s out in the country. His lover’s family are farm folk. And they don’t know Tom (Xavier Dolan) exists. Because they don’t know … Continue reading →

“Fort Tilden” invites us to spend a long, mishap-filled day with two haplessly annoying young New Yorkers. It’s like “Girls” with more funky New York locations, but with less sex, and with fewer laughs. Harper, played with Bridey Elliot, is … Continue reading →

See, here’s what other people — fanboys and critics — missed in condemning those earlier film incarnations of “Fantastic Four.” They were childish, and intentionally so — aimed at a younger audience. Action pictures with training wheels, they were a … Continue reading →

It takes nothing away from “The End of the Tour” in labeling this Jason Segel/Jesse Eisenberg dramedy a “bromance.” Segel, the master of that genre on film (“I Love You, Man”) and TV (“How I Met Your Mother”), dons a … Continue reading →

The stop-motion animated maestros at Aardman get back to their clay animation comedy basics with “Shaun the Sheep Movie,” a dialogue-free romp that is a shear delight, shear perfection, if not quite a master-fleece. Sorry. A film of sight gags, … Continue reading →

Jokier and more obviously derivative, “Mission: Impossible-Rogue Nation” is the funniest “MI” picture, and maybe the worst of the series. It’s still an amusing Greatest Hits package, with Tom Cruise anchoring the action in a story that borrows from thrillers … Continue reading →

Nostalgia is an understandable, if perhaps misguided reaction to “Vacation,” a sequel/reboot of 1983’s “National Lampoon’s Vacation.” The soundtrack tugs at…something…every time Lindsay Buckingham’s “Holiday Road” theme song burbles back to life. And Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo reprise their … Continue reading →