Writer-Director Paul Feig knows how to make Melissa McCarthy much funnier in his movies (see “Bridesmaids” and “The Heat”) than in the movies she finds on her own (don’t see either “Tammy” or “Identity Thief”). […]
Category: In Theaters
review – love & mercy
Brian Wilson gave The Beach Boys their sound, their early hits, and their direction. This is an introspective look at his music — and his madness. With the number of Beach Boy biographies and made-for-TV […]
review – aloha
What could Cameron Crowe possibly have been thinking? As a writer and director, he is at least idiosyncratic (his last movie was “We Bought A Zoo”) and sometimes incomprehensible (consider “Vanilla Sky”), but then he’s […]
review – tomorrowland
It’s named after a section of Disneyland, but it really embodies the purpose of EPCOT and the spirit of the Kodak-sponsored adventure, the original “Journey Into Imagination.” One indication: in the first fifteen minutes, the […]
review – max max: fury road
Here’s to those with real talent! Here’s to those foolish enough to think they can make a movie about nothing but non-stop action – and figure out a way to make it work in a […]
review – hot pursuit
At one point, Agent Cooper (Reese Witherspoon) is being searched at a party. As she’s being “patted down,” she echoes what the searcher is not finding. “No,” she repeats, “nothing there.” She could be describing […]
review – avengers: age of ultron
Holy Crapola, Batman! This is over-stuffed stuff. Batman is not in here, of course, but it’s chock full of other superheroes – Iron-Man, Captain America, Thor, Hawkeye, Black Widow, the Hulk, and others including Quicksilver […]
review – far from the madding crowd
This is a very pretty movie, but with plot holes large enough to drive a flock of Dorset sheep through. It’s a film where the main character, Bathsheba (Carey Mulligan), promises to “astonish you all,” […]
review – age of adaline
You’ve seen this basic plot before. It’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” maybe even “Winter’s Tale.” It’s the kind of picture the studios release around Valentine’s Day, a soft […]
review – woman in gold
This is a movie that will restore your faith in the power of movies. The story is true, the dialog is often witty, the plot moves effortlessly between the past and present. The staging is […]
review – danny collins
“It’s never too late to be what you might have been.” English Victorian novelist Mary Ann Evans, who used the pen name George Eliot, wrote that more than 150 years ago, but she could have […]
review – furious 7
If you believe that too much of a “good thing” is a “great thing,” have I got a movie for you. Although it’s released in April, this is a fitting introduction for a “summer of […]
review – get hard
As the double-entendre title makes clear: this intends to be a raunchy comedy – and it is. Fortunately, Will Ferrell is just an overgrown kid at heart; he uses that to guide his performance and […]
review – the second best exotic marigold hotel
Ah, finally, a movie made for adults that’s not relentlessly offensive and even embarrassing to so many adults. A movie you can recommend to your mother and she won’t ask you later: What was going […]
review – focus
This is fizzy, frothy fun. And it all works better if you don’t focus too closely. The leads (Will Smith and Margot Robbie) are likeable, even charismatic; any question about their uneven chemistry may be […]
review – mcfarland, usa
This may be the “feel good” movie of the first quarter. Yes, it’s a bit long and with the subject of cross country running, it’s not quite as exciting as it might be with another […]
review – taken 3
A half-dozen years ago, with the first movie that began this franchise, Liam Neeson seemed to have given new life to his career. At an age where he was a bit old to be a […]
review – still alice
This is both frightening and enlightening work. It’s a fully-affecting performance in a fully-disquieting movie. As the story goes deeper and the situation becomes more desperate, we feel helplessly trapped in the downward spiral of […]
review – american sniper
Clint Eastwood has directed thirty films, not all of them good. But, when he gets it right, he makes stripped-down entertainment that engages our mind, speaks to our heart, and leaves us changed by the […]
review – selma
This works better as an important history lesson than it does as a dramatic movie. It’s better written than it is edited, more authentically staged than it is emotionally engaging. It feels slow, stretched out, […]
review – into the woods
I love movie musicals. I could watch them forever – which is approximately how long this one seemed to go on. At just over two hours, it seems like it’s at least a half hour […]
review – the gambler
In a word, this movie is “tedious.” And blame that on Mark Wahlberg. He brings no emotional involvement to Jim Bennett, his gambling-addicted character who’s at the center of this story. He shows no elation […]
review – unbroken
Laura Hillenbrand, author of the book “Unbroken,” is a writer of great taste and enormous talent. She told the true, fully-human story of Louis Zamperini in a way that put his horrific experiences in World […]
review – big eyes
Think of this as “the beauty and the buffoon,” a potentially-intriguing story in which Tim Burton’s direction and Christoph Waltz’s performance force Amy Adams to act against a cartoonish character. The result is a husband-wife […]
review – wild
Director Jean-Marc Vallee has proven (in last year’s “Dallas Buyers Club”) that he can tell powerful stories by getting extraordinary performances from his actors — and he gets one from Witherspoon here. Make-up free for […]
LOS ANGELES FILM REVIEW 