Movie Reviews

Arts

Jon Stewart's Disappointing New Political Satire Is Hardly 'Irresistible'

1:26pm June 26, 2020

by Justin Chang

Steve Carell stars as a Democratic strategist running for mayor of a small Midwestern town in a film that feels exasperatingly out of step with the present moment.

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Steve Carell stars as Gary Zimmer in Irresistible.

Arts

'Irresistible' Chooses An Inopportune Moment To Get Glib About Politics

11:45am June 23, 2020

by Linda Holmes

Jon Stewart wrote and directed a new comedy that stars Steve Carell as a political operative cynically descending on a Wisconsin town. Unfortunately, it has little to offer in the current moment.

HBO Releases A 'Perry Mason' Makeover

8:21am June 23, 2020

by Eric Deggans

HBO has released a 1930s-era noir mystery series starring Matthew Rhys. The new series has reimagined 1950s courtroom drama, Perry Mason.

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In Defense Of Jazz Biopics: Melodramas And Morality Tales, Set To Music

2:37pm June 16, 2020

by Kevin Whitehead

Many jazz fans hate biopic films, but critic Kevin Whitehead likes noticing which true elements get in — or get left out — as messy lives are squeezed into stock-story formulas.

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Four black war veterans (Isiah Whitlock Jr., Norm Lewis, Clarke Peters and Delroy Lindo) and one veteran's son (Jonathan Majors) return to Vietnam in Da 5 Bloods.

Spike Lee's 'Da 5 Bloods' Is A Platoon Picture, Heist Thriller And History Lesson

1:39pm June 11, 2020

by Justin Chang

Decades after the war, four black veterans return to Vietnam to recover a stash of buried gold. The timely film is a critique of the U.S.' long, shameful history of devaluing its black soldiers.

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Shirley Jackson (Elisabeth Moss) and her long-term houseguest Rose (Odessa Young) form an unusual bond in Shirley. The film mixes fact and fiction to explore the life of the American writer best known for her short story "The Lottery."

Arts

Elisabeth Moss Shines As Writer Shirley Jackson In This Smart, Surprising Film

12:54pm June 05, 2020

by Justin Chang

Shirley mixes fact and fiction as it explores the life of the writer best known for the short story "The Lottery." This unusual film isn't so much a biopic as it is a biographical-literary fantasia.

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What Movies Hollywood Prepared For The Reopening Of Theaters

3:58pm May 25, 2020

by Bob Mondello

Memorial Day usually means the start of Hollywood's blockbuster season — except this summer is different. But if movie theaters do reopen soon, Hollywood has few premiers to revive the industry.

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Arts

Movie Review: 'On The Record' With Russell Simmons' Accusers

7:53am May 24, 2020

by Eric Deggans

A new documentary looks at allegations that the hip-hop mogul sexually assaulted several women, and places his case against the larger question of how black women are treated by the #MeToo movement.

Actor-comedians Steve Coogan (left) and Rob Brydon (right) play coyly fictionalized versions of themselves in The Trip to Greece.

Arts

With 'Trip To Greece,' Coogan And Brydon's Odyssey Reaches A Poignant End

12:20pm May 22, 2020

by Justin Chang

After journeying through England, Italy and Spain, comic duo Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon take one final trip, playing fictionalized versions of themselves as they retrace Odysseus' famed voyage.

Steve Coogan and Rob Bryden Follow Homer's 'Odyssey' In Their New Film

5:59pm May 21, 2020

by Bob Mondello

In The Trip to Greece, Steve Coogan and Rob Bryden undertake their fourth comic and culinary journey — this one actually modeled after Homer's Odyssey.

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