Recent Reviews
These are our latest reviews of movies at theaters, at the art house, or at festivals.
Emotional resonance isn’t House of Gucci’s strong suit, but it’s fun watching fashion royalty fall apart at the seams.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife
***1/22021, Jason Reitman
Afterlife has an enormous amount of heart that hasn’t been seen on the big screen since E.T.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife is ready to heal you.
Encanto
***2021, Byron Howard, Jared Bush, and Charise Castro Smith
The best parts stem from Lin-Manuel Miranda’s songs.
Encanto — Disney’s 60th animated feature — is a trip worth taking, even though the final destination is a little ho-hum.
Eternals, the 26th theatrical release in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is a tantalizing concoction of big ideas, mixed messages and missed opportunities that succeeds despite the shortcomings.
Last Night in Soho
***1/22021, Edgar Wright
Wright pulls all the threads together so skillfully, so slickly.
Last Night in Soho is a wild trip in time and mind.
Edgar Wright is one of those rare directors who can take moviegoers on a journey in which they don’t really know where they’re being taken until they get there. And when they get there — with a concierge awaiting their arrival — it’s quite sensational.
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The presentation is as hot as the Arrakis mid-day sun, but Dune’s story is still as cold as the desert night.
The French Dispatch
***1/22021, Wes Anderson
If it’s a self-indulgence at first, it soon after becomes a shared indulgence.
With its focus on the craft of writing and a huge (as in ginormous) ensemble cast, The French Dispatch is genuine Oscar bait.
Halloween Kills
***2021, David Gordon Green
I’ts becoming clear there’s some sort of method to director David Gordon Green’s madness.
Halloween Kills is an absolute trainwreck of a movie, but it’s a trainwreck by design.
No Time to Die
****2021, Cary Joji Fukunaga
It all culminates in some breathtaking creative choices.
It’s a major achievement for any movie to make an audience feel something — anything. But to come to the end of the line with Daniel Craig’s fifth and final outing as James Bond and feel rattled not by the action but by the emotional core of the storyline is quite a testament to the narrative strengths of the Craig installments.
The Last Duel
***2021, Ridley Scott
It’s a case of narrative cleverness getting in the way of and clouding the heart of the story.
In Gladiator, there’s the great line, “What we do in life echoes in eternity.” That thought is the foundation for The Last Duel’s greatest value: seeing how those events from centuries ago still echo through society today.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage
*1/22021, Andy Serkis
Turns out, this one’s a throwback to the days when comic book movies were quickly dismissed as junk.
The “carnage” in this sequel’s title refers to all the quality talent that’s laid to waste.
Dear Evan Hansen
*1/22021, Stephen Chbosky
By the end of it all, this Dear Evan Hansen is less galvanizing and more frustrating.
Dear Evan Hansen, I’m sorry. I know you mean well, but your movie is hard to watch.
The Eyes of Tammy Faye
***2021, Michael Showalter
You can’t move forward by looking in the rearview mirror of your life.
The Eyes of Tammy Faye offers a surprisingly balanced revelation of the ‘80s heydays of televangelism.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
***1/22021, Destin Daniel Cretton
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings should’ve opened Phase 4 of the MCU.
Shang-Chi presents a host of fresh faces that take the Marvel Cinematic Universe into an exciting new realm of possibilities.
The Protege
***2021, Martin Campbell
While The Protege stumbles, it’s still a solid piece of action entertainment.
Hot on the heels of The Suicide Squad, The Protégé is another ultra-violent action flick stuffed with some nifty twists that upend the genre.