Movie Reviews

Arts

With Go-For-Broke Exuberance, 'A Wrinkle In Time' Celebrates The Power Of Love

2:33pm March 09, 2018

by Justin Chang

Ava DuVernay's adaptation of Madeleine L'Engle's novel assets that a young girl's imagination can change the world. Critic Justin Chang says despite some gaudiness, the film has its own kind of magic.

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Stalin's Dead and Red in The Death of Stalin. L to R: Dermot Crowley as Kaganovich; Paul Whitehouse as Mikoyan; Steve Buscemi as Krushchev; Jeffrey Tambor as Malenkov; Paul Chahidi as Bulganin.

Arts

Iannucci's 'The Death Of Stalin': Amid Chaos, Great Energy

10:05pm March 08, 2018

by Ella Taylor

Armando Iannucci directs this lacerating, frenetic dissection of the power vacuum left by Stalin's death. The director "never overtly winks at current parallels East or West. He doesn't have to."

Harold Soyinka (David Oyelowo) finds himself in some unexpected trouble on his business trip to Mexico in Gringo.

Arts

A Good Man's Moral Compass Points South-Of-The-Border In 'Gringo'

5:01pm March 08, 2018

by Chris Klimek

Though it traffics in broad stereotypes, several funny performances nearly salvage this satiric tale of a faked kidnapping, greedy executives and dim-bulb criminals.

Lily (Anya Taylor-Jo, L) and Amanda (Olivia Cooke, R) hatch a plot to kill a troublesome step-father in Thoroughbreds.

Arts

Tense, Stylish 'Thoroughbreds' Earns Place In Winner's Circle

5:01pm March 08, 2018

by Andrew Lapin

Murder Most Foal: Two teenage girls — a champion horseback rider and a fashionable boarding school student — plan a bloody deed in this "blistering new comic thriller."

Arts

'A Wrinkle In Time' Will Delight Target Audience That Doesn't Have Too Many Wrinkles

4:59pm March 08, 2018

by Bob Mondello

NPR's movie critic Bob Mondello discusses the star-studded film adaptation of A Wrinkle In Time, the sci-fi fantasy novel about light and darkness, time and tesseracts.

Storm Reid is Meg Murry in A Wrinkle In Time.

Arts

Oprah In The Sky, With Wisdom: The Earnest, Imaginative 'A Wrinkle In Time'

4:29pm March 07, 2018

by Linda Holmes

Director Ava DuVernay's adaptation of the classic novel is devoid of cynicism, full of beautiful images and deeply moving.

Natalie Portman plays Lena in Alex Garland's Annihilation, a fantasy sci-fi drama based on the novel by Jeff VanderMeer.

Science
Arts

Life Hacking Life: The Scary Premise Of 'Annihilation'

12:22pm March 07, 2018

by Marcelo Gleiser

As with Ex Machina, says Marcelo Gleiser, director Alex Garland is sending a warning: We are now hacking life itself and will continue to do so with growing efficiency. Are we creating our own doom?

"Stop! In the name! Of love! Be-fore you break! My masculinity!" Paul Kersey (Bruce Wills) points at something in the otherwise pointless Death Wish.

Arts

Watching The Lazy, Cynical Remake Of 'Death Wish' Will Give You One

9:31am March 02, 2018

by Glen Weldon

It's violent, formulaic and lightly repellent. But come on, you knew that already.

At a lonely checkpoint, an Israeli soldier (Itay Exlroad) dances with his weapon in Foxtrot.

Arts

In 'Foxtrot,' Grief And Fate Come Together In A Brutal, Beautiful Dance

8:02pm March 01, 2018

by Bob Mondello

An Israeli soldier is killed, and his parents attempts to uncover what happened, in filmmaker Samuel Maoz's searing study in loss — and its aftermath.

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From Russia, With Hat: Dominika (Jennifer Lawrence) looks shady in Red Sparrow.

Arts

Ballerina Gets Brutalized, Goes Ballistic In Nasty 'Red Sparrow'

7:08pm March 01, 2018

by Chris Klimek

Based on a 2013 novel, Red Sparrow makes us watch America's Sweetheart Jennifer Lawrence put through sadistic torture before it unleashes her into a world of espionage.