Movie Reviews

Indie sci-fi films 'The Pod Generation' and 'Jules' are grounded and intimate

4:22pm August 10, 2023

by Bob Mondello

Science fiction often goes epic, but this week brings low-budget, low-key, indie sci-fi: The Pod Generation, which re-imagines pregnancy and Jules, about the alien sitting on Ben Kingsley's sofa.

Franz Rogowski as Tomas and Adèle Exarchopoulos as Agathe in Passages.

Arts

'Passages' captures intimacy up-close — and the result is messy and mesmerizing

2:15pm August 08, 2023

by Justin Chang

A narcissistic film director leaves his husband for a woman in Ira Sachs' new drama. But ending a marriage is rarely clean or easy — as this thrilling, tempestuous film proves.

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2 new movies center on filmmakers who lead disruptive, messy lives

4:42pm August 04, 2023

by Bob Mondello

A pair of new indie films — Ira Sachs' Passages and Randall Park's Shortcomings — center their stories on filmmakers who espouse rigorous standards but lead messy lives.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is a fun and visually striking animated feature directed by Jeff Rowe.

Arts

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles return, rebooted and reinvigorated, for 'Mutant Mayhem'

5:01am August 04, 2023

by Stephen Thompson

With a terrific voice cast and distinctive animation, Mutant Mayhem offers a fun and kinetic reset of a long-running franchise.

Arts

'Haunted Mansion' is a skip, but 'Talk to Me' is a real scare

1:30pm July 28, 2023

by Justin Chang

Two films take on the horror of grief: While Disney's live-action comedy is neither funny nor frightening, the Australian horror-thriller about teenagers dabbling in the occult is terrifically creepy.

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It's not every day that an exuberant comedy about a Mattel doll goes head-to-head with a brooding drama about the father of the atomic bomb, but both Barbie and Oppenheimer deliver. Above, Margot Robbie as Barbie and Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer.

Arts

Go see 'Barbie' and 'Oppenheimer' in theaters — doubleheader or not is your call

2:38pm July 21, 2023

by Justin Chang

It's not every day that an exuberant comedy about a Mattel doll goes head-to-head with a brooding drama about the father of the atomic bomb, but critic Justin Chang says both films deliver.

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Nolan's thriller 'Oppenheimer' is a monument to science and the arrogance of genius

4:38pm July 20, 2023

by Bob Mondello

Christopher Nolan's historical thriller Oppenheimer — based on American Prometheus, the biography of theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer — chronicles the creation of the atomic bomb.

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Based on one of America's most emblematic pieces of intellectual property, Greta Gerwig's Barbie starring Margot Robbie, above, was never going to be just a movie, because Barbie was never just a doll.

Arts

Is 'Barbie' corporate propaganda or Malibu Metacommentary™? Why not both!

1:31pm July 19, 2023

by Aisha Harris

Based on one of America's most emblematic pieces of intellectual property, Greta Gerwig's Barbie was never going to be just a movie, because Barbie was never just a doll.

Tom Cruise is back, and doing his own stunts, in Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One.

Arts

Tom Cruise hangs on for dear life to his 'Mission' to save the movies

1:40pm July 14, 2023

by Justin Chang

Film critic Justin Chang doesn't know if Cruise can save the movies but he never gets tired of watching him try. Cruise does his own outrageous stunts in Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One.

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Arts

'Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning' is impossibly full of surprises

4:25pm July 12, 2023

by Bob Mondello

Tom Cruise, still doing his own stunts, which this time include riding a motorcycle off a cliff in the Alps, returns as Ethan Hunt in Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning, Part 1.