“Why are we embarrassed to admit that we are single,” asks narrator-star Dakota Johnson at the outset of this muddled valentine to self-discovery, when singledom is “when our real life is happening, maybe?” So committed is the film to musing on this point that it eventually hollows out nearly every …
Documentarian Mark Wexler travels the world, talking to old-timers and scientists about the secrets of staying alive and well preserved. The old-timers mostly offer sweetness and bromides — exercise and enjoy life! The scientists offer a shotgun spray of possibilities: hormone replacement, organ replacement, cryogenics, reduced calories, etc. The journey …
"With Vikings riding dragons," proclaims the clever young Viking Hiccup at the outset, "the world just got a whole lot bigger." "Bigger" pretty much describes this sequel to the 2010 sleeper hit - as opposed to, say, "different." Once again, our hero must convince a hardheaded hulk about the right …
File under: if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Or rather, if what’s broke doesn’t bother the audience, for heaven’s sake, leave it alone. In installments one and two of the saga of scrawny/savvy Viking Hiccup and his beloved dragon Toothless, there was a requisite Enemy to serve as the …
File under: if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Or rather, if what’s broke doesn’t bother the audience, for heaven’s sake, leave it alone. In installments one and two of the saga of scrawny/savvy Viking Hiccup and his beloved dragon Toothless, there was a requisite Enemy to serve as the …
File under: if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Or rather, if what’s broke doesn’t bother the audience, for heaven’s sake, leave it alone. In installments one and two of the saga of scrawny/savvy Viking Hiccup and his beloved dragon Toothless, there was a requisite Enemy to serve as the …
La Dolce Vita — never actually all that sweet - gone properly sour. Open with an overhead shot of the cleanup following a swanky Italian gala. An employee mounts his bicycle and heads for home, only to be struck by a speeding SUV. There's your disaster, but on whose head …
Noted down-home small-towners Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey produce traditionally minded director Lasse Hallstrom's (Chocolat, The Cider House Rules) film version of Richard Morais' novel about a displaced Indian family ("There was an election of some kind.") who decide to open a restaurant in a French village, right across the …
In the future, rebel districts are punished by the Reaping: every year they have to send a couple of teenagers to the Capitol. There, the kiddies fight to the death in a regulated, televised competition. Sloppily directed by Gary Ross, it’s more games than hunger and more a comment on …
In the future, rebel districts are punished by the Reaping: every year they have to send a couple of teenagers to the Capitol. There, the kiddies fight to the death in a regulated, televised competition. Sloppily directed by Gary Ross, it’s more games than hunger and more a comment on …
Katniss Everdeen won her murder tournament in The Hunger Games. Now she has to deal with the aftermath. Once again, the best reason for seeing a Hunger Games movie is star Jennifer Lawrence, whose protean, Old Hollywood visage brings to mind the line about how They Had Faces Then. And …
For a film about rebelling against the oppressive overlords who just want to drain your precious resources for their own benefit, it's awfully greedy with your time and treasure. You know, because, in an effort to make two movies from one very popular book, they've padded out this installment — …
After the forced histrionics of Part 1, it’s nice to see star Jennifer Lawrence being allowed to quiet down and act again. But the story still feels stretched, a countdown that slows as it approaches zero hour. The various Districts, long divided and conquered by the Capitol, have united behind …
Oh, so that’s what the Star Wars prequels were trying to do: trace the downward trajectory of a man from a good guy in a bad situation to a bad guy in a good situation — thanks in part to a healthy dose of heartbreaking loss. And director Francis Lawrence …
Look back in wide-eyed wonder. An idealistic English teacher (Minnie Driver) returns to her provincial hometown following the death of her father. (Being a princess in the big city just wasn't happymaking.) There, she plans to put on a rock-infused production of Shakespeare's Tempest in a Wales high school circa …