Movie Reviews

Arts

An Enchanting Love Triangle Unfolds In 'Lover For A Day'

1:41pm January 25, 2018

by Justin Chang

French filmmaker Philippe Garrel's new film follows a 50-something philosophy professor whose romantic relationship with a 23-year-old student is complicated when his grown daughter moves in.

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Sundance Film Festival Opens And Our Reviewer Tells Us What To See

6:00am January 25, 2018

Snow, movie stars, film critics — the annual Sundance Film Festival is underway in Park City, Utah. David Greene talks to movie critic Kenneth Turan about some of the notable dramas and documentaries.

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Arts

Documentary Offers A Devastating Look At The Obama Administration's 'Final Year'

1:31pm January 19, 2018

by David Edelstein

Greg Barker's new film follows Obama's foreign policy team as they set about negotiating an arms deal in Iran, a climate accord in Paris and a response to refugee crises in Syria and parts of Africa.

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Greg Barker's The Final Year finds former President Barack Obama grappling with foreign policy decisions. Figures from left: Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power, Secretary of State John Kerry, and Presid

Arts

Documentary 'The Final Year' Offers Behind-The-Scenes Look At Obama's Foreign Policy

5:32pm January 18, 2018

by Mark Jenkins

Greg Barker's film favors candid emotional moments over a meaningful examination of how key policy initiatives were shaped in the closing months of the Obama presidency.

Arts

'Den Of Thieves' Offers An Epic Cops And Robbers Tale, Re-'Heat'ed

5:30pm January 18, 2018

by Chris Klimek

Christian Gudegast's film about a bank heist in L.A. borrows so freely from Michael Mann's 1995 film Heat it never quite recovers from the deep cinematic debt.

Country, Wronged: Music star Liam Page (Alex Roe) returns to his hometown, and his ex Josie (Jessica Rothe), whom he left to pursue his career.

'Forever My Girl': A Familiar Tune, Played (Too) Simply

5:00pm January 18, 2018

by Ella Taylor

A Southern town, a heapin' helpin' of heartbreak, a shot at redemption and an adorable tyke: Writer-director Bethany Ashton Wolf's romantic drama never complicates or deepens its rote story.

Splendid in the Grass: A young girl (voiced by Ruby Barnhill) pines for adventure in Mary and the Witch's Flower.

Arts

With 'Mary And The Witch's Flower,' A Studio Ghibli Offshoot Blooms

4:38pm January 18, 2018

by Andrew Lapin

Director Hiromasa Yonebayashi, a Ghibli veteran, has made an animated film that owes a great deal to his influences yet displays skill and imagination all its own.

Arts

The Vigilant Thriller 'Into The Fade' Melds Tragedy With Nihilism

3:31pm January 15, 2018

by David Edelstein

Diane Kruger plays a German woman whose Turkish husband and young son are killed in a bomb attack. David Edelstein says that despite its crisp storytelling, Into The Fade is "a little disappointing."

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Liam Neeson has a very particular set of train timetables in The Commuter.

Arts

'The Commuter': Punching On The Metro-North Express

5:27pm January 11, 2018

by Chris Klimek

Vera Farmiga choo-choo-chooses Liam Neeson for a deadly assignment in this everyone's-a-suspect thriller set on a commuter train.

Wee Ol' Teddy, Marmalade: Ben Whishaw voices the perpetually well-meaning bear in Paddington 2.

Arts

'Paddington 2': A Story That Bears Repeating

5:00pm January 11, 2018

by Andrew Lapin

In an age of cringeworthy kids'-movie sequels, Paddington 2 proves "a lovely yarn with effects that dazzle, slapstick segments that shine and accomplished British thespians who give their all."