Category: GENRE
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Pitch Perfect 2 [2015] ★★½
It doesn’t break any new ground, but “Pitch Perfect 2” provides lively entertainment as it builds on a template that’s familiar to anyone who’s seen such movies as “Bring it On” and “Step Up”. Once again, the people behind this comedy use an engaging cast and a selection of popular songs (energetically recreated by several choral groups)…
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Mad Max: Fury Road [2015] ★★★
Maybe you never heard of Mad Max, the 1979 cult movie starring Mel Gibson. Or maybe you think a big-ass reboot isn’t worth your time and money. Snap out of it. “Mad Max: Fury Road” does the impossible. Through dazzle and spectacular action scenes, it turns the cliche of Hollywood reboots on their heads and…
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Suite Française [2015] ★★★
If there can be such a thing as a sweet, reflective fable about love during WWII, “Suite Française” is it. Based on the best selling novel by Irène Némirovsky, who perished in Auschwitz in 1942 before she could finish her book (her daughter finally took care of it and published it in 2004 to worldwide acclaim), the film…
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La Famille Bélier [2014] ★★★
I’m a bit late coming to this movie, but having heard good feedback, I was looking forward to it. It’s easy to see why now. “La Famille Bélier” is a charming, funny film with winning performances; in short, a crowd-pleaser. Louane Emera (a semi-finalist in the second season of The Voice France) plays Paula, a young girl…
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Hot Pursuit [2015] ★★
Sofia Vergara (“Modern Family”) can be funny. Reese Witherspoon is a great actress who can play comedy or drama equally well (see “Walk The Line”). They both deserve a better vehicle than this mildly funny, forgettable comedy that shamelessly rips off every road movie ever made. Witherspoon plays Cooper, a by-the-book San Antonio cop assigned to escort Daniella (Vergara),…
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It Follows [2015] ★★★
If you’re a sucker for horror movies, then “It Follows” is the scarefest for you. It’s one of the best and most original horror flicks I’ve seen in a very long time. Writer-director David Robert Mitchell has clearly been inspired by the likes of John Carpenter and Wes Craven. But Mitchell adds something extra special to this…
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Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet [2015] ★★½
Khalil Gibran’s timeless masterpiece is among the most popular poetry books ever written, selling over 100 million copies in forty languages since its publication in 1923. And when people talk about it with affection and even passion, one could always hope that a screen adaptation can find some way to replicate those feelings. But let’s face it: even good…
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Avengers: Age of Ultron [2015] ★★★
Step up, Avengers junkies, and see the summer 2015 blockbuster that you’ve been waiting for since 2012. Like the first Avengers movie, “Age of Ultron” tries to stuff part of the Marvel universe (past, present and… future?) into one movie. The character overload may leave newbies dazed and confused. But fans are in for an exhilarating rush.…
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Beyond The Reach [2015] ★★
You can’t blame Michael Douglas for trying. At 70, he looks ripped and ready, playing Madec, a billionaire businessman who loves hunting. Then there’s Jeremy Irvine, who plays Ben, a local guide who takes him to the Mojave Desert. Things get messy when Madec accidentally shoots a local man and Ben wants to abide by the law. But Madec has other plans…
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5 To 7 [2015] ★★★
Here’s a surprising treat: a sweet, bracingly original, wholly entertaining film from writer director Victor Levin with a solid part for Anton Yelchin. In fact, every role is perfectly and inventively cast, which makes the movie almost hard to resist. The unusual plot involves aspiring writer Brian (Yelchin), who gets into a passionate love affair with a glamorous French woman (Bérénice Marlohe…
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The Age Of Adaline [2015] ★★
Like a cute puppy, this romantic drama starring Blake Lively as a woman who doesn’t age will wag its tail so you’ll find it irresistible and take it home. Not this time. There’s nothing terribly wrong about “The Age of Adaline”, it’s just that it rarely rises to its potential. And the movie does have…
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Tracers [2015] ★
Fun fact: Taylor Lautner can’t act. Not in “Twilight”. Not in “Abduction”. And definitely not in “Tracers”, his latest action misfire. Lautner plays Cam, a New York bicycle messenger that had me remembering Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s underrated “Premium Rush”. Anyway, Cam is also in debt. So he quickly joins a group of urban free-runners or “tracers” who use their skills…
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Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 [2015] ★
As if the 2009 original wasn’t endurance test enough, the sequel further cheapens the talents of Kevin James (once upon a time he was actually funny), reprising his role as Paul Blart (or fart), the famous mall cop who finds himself facing more bad guys, this time in… Las Vegas (how original!). Even Raini Rogriguez,…
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Child 44 [2015] ★★★
Gary Oldman and Tom Hardy are two of the best actors on the planet. So the idea of teaming them up for a tense, Stalin era thriller seems more than promising. And the story is perfectly set up: we meet Leo Demidov (Tom Hardy), a war hero turned secret policeman in the U.S.S.R. His job involves hunting down suspected…
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The Longest Ride [2015] ★★½
Based on yet another novel by Nicholas Sparks. I thought you should know that before you cringe and stop reading. But truth be told, “The Longest Ride” is better than most Sparks movies. Yes, it follows the same old formula we’ve come to expect from Mr. Sparks (“The Lucky One”, “Dear John”, “The Best of Me”…),…
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The Forger [2015] ★★
John Travolta is well cast (believe it or not) as a thief who has to work with his father (the great Christopher Plummer) and son to forge a painting by Monet and steal the original. Sounds simple enough. But the film bites off more than it can chew, trying to tackle a difficult father-son relationship and a complex…
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The Water Diviner [2014] ★★
A lot of people were full of praise when “The Water Diviner” was released back in December. I wasn’t. If looks were everything, Russel Crowe’s epic directorial debut would have been the movie of the year. But a corny script bloated with shameless sentimentality can wear you down. Crowe pushes way too hard (and it shows) as farmer…
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Furious 7 [2015] ★★½
Vin Diesel called “Furious 7” a “labor of love”. It shows. Not when Jason Statham is onscreen, but trust me, you’ll know. Behind the clumsy script, cheesy dialogue, and awkward acting (exhibit A: Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson), there’s something irresistible about this installment. I watched the cars smashing and smiled. I watched Paul Walker in his last…
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A Little Chaos [2015] ★★½
It’s difficult to dislike Professor Snape’s…oops I mean Alan Rickman’s second movie as a director. With a solid cast engaged in an intriguing love story, beautiful 17th century clothes, and the Palace of Versailles as a breathtaking backdrop, “A Little Chaos” has an abundance of eye candy and charm. It isn’t a great movie (far from it), and some people…
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Get Hard [2015] ★★
Will Ferrell can find the dumb fun in anything. Whether he gets naked and shows his private parts or not, he makes me laugh. And he does it in good movies (“Elf”, “Old School”, “Anchorman”, “Talladega Nights”, “Blades of Glory”) and horrible movies (“Bewitched”, “Kicking and Screaming”). Hell, Ferrell is funny when he just drops into a movie for a…
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