Movie Reviews

Escalating Tension: Richard Gere is a man who makes connections in Norman.

Arts

Richard Gere Is A One-Man Social Network In 'Norman'

5:00pm April 12, 2017

by Mark Jenkins

Critic Mark Jenkins calls Joseph Cedar's tale of a cipher (Richard Gere) who finds himself at the center of a web of personal and political machinations "intricate, rollicking and sometimes sad."

Your Name. starts like a teen rom-com but turns into a harrowing survival tale.

Arts

A Body-Switching Teen Romance Anime Disaster Flick With 'Your Name.' On It

3:03pm April 07, 2017

by Bob Mondello

Your Name. was the most popular film in the world for the first two months of 2017. Now, the deeply resonant body-switching anime comes to the U.S.

Arts

Genre-Bending 'Colossal' Mixes Monster Metaphor With Romantic Comedy

1:29pm April 07, 2017

by David Edelstein

Anne Hathaway plays a woman mysteriously linked to a monster in South Korea in her latest film. Critic David Edelstein says Colossal shows that "even the dumbest genres can be used to profound ends."

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Romeo (Adrian Titieni) and Eliza (Maria-Victoria Dragus) in Graduation, writer-director Cristian Mungiu's tale of the tiny, everyday compromises that destroy the soul.

Arts

'Graduation': An Unflinching Look At Backroom Deals Made In Broad Daylight

5:00pm April 06, 2017

by Andrew Lapin

A Romanian father descends into a world of bureaucratic corruption as he strives to give his daughter a better life. Critic Andrew Lapin admires the film's chilling, intimate storytelling.

The Mirror Has Two Faces: Taki finds himself in the body of Mitsuha in writer/director Makoto Shinkai's Your Name.

Arts

'Your Name' Goes There: Teens Switch Bodies In Charming, Dreamlike Romance

5:00pm April 06, 2017

by Ella Taylor

Critic Ella Taylor says this quirky love story "shimmers with the magic of a fairy tale" yet "has its feet firmly planted on the ground of Japan's past and present."

Where There's Smoke, There's Kaiju: Gloria (Anne Hathaway) and Oscar (Jason Sudeikis) look pensive in Colossal.

Arts

Anne Hathaway As A 'Colossal' Trainwreck Who Wreaks Monster-Movie Havoc

5:00pm April 06, 2017

by Mark Jenkins

A binge-drinking American woman unwittingly controls a monster that's destroying Seoul in this tone-deaf comedy; the film's lumbering attempts to subvert our rom-com expectations fall flat.

I'm Going To Call Your Parents: Willie (Morgan Freeman), Joe (Michael Caine) and Albert (Alan Arkin) get caught red-handed in Going in Style.

Arts

'Going In Style' Is A Disappointingly Feeble Caper Comedy

5:00pm April 06, 2017

by Scott Tobias

This remake of a wry 1979 comedy about three retirees risking it all for a big score ditches the original's sense of urgency to focus instead on subplots and sentiment.

Friends Ginger and Lena in All This Panic.

Arts

Two Ways Of Documenting Uncertainty: 'All This Panic' And 'God Knows Where I Am'

5:12pm March 31, 2017

by Bob Mondello

Two documentaries out now flex a bit of moviemaking technique: All This Panic, about young women exploring what life has to offer, and God Knows Where I Am, about a woman who's sure she's seen it all.

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Petra Epperlein in the 5th grade, as seen in the documentary Karl Marx City, directed by Epperlein and Michael Tucker.

Arts

In The Documentary 'Karl Marx City,' A Grim But Enlightening Homecoming

5:44pm March 30, 2017

by Ella Taylor

A filmmaker returns to the former East Germany to uncover family secrets and explore how life behind the Berlin Wall traded on civilian informants and an insidious collective obedience.

A Study In Contrasts: Emile Zola (Guillaume Canet) and Paul Cézanne (Guillaume Gallienne) in Cézanne et Moi.

Arts

A Painter, A Novelist And A Contentious Lifelong Friendship: 'Cézanne et Moi'

5:00pm March 30, 2017

by Mark Jenkins

It'll help to brush up on your Impressionists before seeing writer-director Danièle Thompson's decades-spanning portrait of Emile Zola and Paul Cézanne, but the film deftly avoids biopic clichés.