You would think that, with a title like “The Gift,” this would be an uplifting, cheerful movie. Absolutely not so. Don’t see this movie if you live alone. But if you feel safe at night, […]
Category: In Theaters
review – me and earl and the dying girl
A late review perhaps, but summers need more movies like this. This is a movie without special effects, big stars, and loud noises. Often, the camera just sits patiently, waiting for scenes to unfold. Actors […]
review – mission impossible: rogue nation
“This may well be our last mission,” William (Renner) tells Ethan (Cruise). “Make it count.” In this, the fifth installment in the M:I series, audience expectations may not be as high as the production budget, […]
review – ant man
This is somewhat smaller, much less-ambitious successor to the “Guardians of the Galaxy” – a super-hero movie that never takes itself seriously, a film that seems to believe it’s not worth saving the world unless […]
review – trainwreck
Judd Apatow makes very funny movies in a very crude sort of way. If you’re not easily offended by rampant sex and four letter words included casually in every sentence — and multiple examples of […]
review – minions
Think of them as yellow pint-sized capsules of humor that head straight to funny bone of the very young. There, they must tickle; how else to explain the uncontrolled laughter at the utter nonsense taking […]
review – ted 2
The original was an unexpected delight. This one is an unfunny disaster. It’s also unfocused and desperate; like Seth MacFarlane’s last outing, “A Million Ways to Die in The West,” this movie heads in a […]
review – inside out
“Do you ever look at someone and wonder what is going on in their head?” With that question, Pixar begins this, their fifteenth animated film. They take us into the mind of Riley, an 11-year-old […]
review – spy
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”). […]
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 […]
LOS ANGELES FILM REVIEW 