Here are some reviews of films coming out at the theater this week as well as others that may be in theaters or newly on home video.
Opening: DATE
Wide (United States)
Operation Finale
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Expanding (United States)
Searching
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Limited (United States)
Blood Fest
Brent McKnight @ The Last Thing I See
- Excerpt: The first hour or so is up-tempo and energetic and has a grand old time spraying blood and winking at horror fans. It’s sloppy and bumpy and silly, but it’s also manic and gleeful, a joyous, modestly engaging celebration of splatter and gore. But it falters on the home stretch.
The Little Stranger
Courtney Howard @ FreshFiction.tv
- Excerpt: Lenny Abrahamson stirs up a desire in our souls to see something a little more spooky and spirited – and a lot less confusing.
2018 Films In Theaters Now In Select Areas
Alpha
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Avengers: Infinity War
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
BlacKkKlansman
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Christopher Robin
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Crazy Rich Asians
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Happytime Murders
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Meg
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
7 Days in Entebbe
Amir Siregar @ Amir at the Movies [Indonesian]
- Excerpt: The hijacking thriller ‘7 Days in Entebbe’ is absorbing enough but barely lifts off the runway.
A-X-L
Herman Dhaliwal @ Cinema Sanctum
- Excerpt: It doesn’t seem to have any ambitions higher than just being another one of these boy-and-his-dog movies, but it has its charms, which will likely work better on younger audiences. It’s bland and by-the-numbers, but not a total waste of time.
Blockers
Mark Hobin @ Fast Film Reviews
- Excerpt: Nothing wrong with emotion if it feels sincere. When it follows a scene in which everyone projectile vomits, well….it made me want to vomit.
The Bookshop
MaryAnn Johanson @ FlickFilosopher.com
- Excerpt: It’s weighed down by unnecessary narration and a surprising lack of conflict. But star Emily Mortimer and director Isabel Coixet create a character study of a rarity onscreen: an earnestly cerebral woman.
The Death of Stalin
Mark Hobin @ Fast Film Reviews
- Excerpt: There is something inherently satisfying about taking the exemplars of pure evil and making them buffoons.
Destination Wedding
Courtney Howard @ FreshFiction.tv
- Excerpt: Witty, wonderful and wildly audacious, this uproarious romcom for cynics is a pure delight.
Destination Wedding
MaryAnn Johanson @ FlickFilosopher.com
- Excerpt: A dark, bitter bonbon of an anti-romcom: so marvelously unromantic, so beautifully catty and witty. Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder were born to play these roles.
Dirtbag
Bev Questad @ It’s Just Movies
- Excerpt: Beckey does not wax about the environment, the purpose of life or the comraderie of rock-climbing expeditions. He says his joy is, in part, risking his life and surviving against all odds.
Do You Trust This Computer?
MaryAnn Johanson @ FlickFilosopher.com
- Excerpt: This slick gloss on the state of AI is frustratingly scattershot and won’t surprise anyone who has been paying attention. But its warnings about how we’ve dealt with huge and rapid scientific leaps before are worthy ones.
Drvo – A Árvore
Paulo Peralta @ CinEuphoria [Portuguese]
The Equalizer 2
Amir Siregar @ Amir at the Movies [Indonesian]
- Excerpt: Denzel Washington’s charismatic performances elevates the movie which pretty much works like a carbon copy of its predecessor.
Five Seasons: The Gardens of Piet Oudolf
Bev Questad @ It’s Just Movies
- Excerpt: Brimming with beauty, Thomas Piper’s sensitive presentation of “The Gardens of Piet Oudolf” is a soft poem of life.
The Girl and the Picture
Bev Questad @ It’s Just Movies
- Excerpt: This story of madness, courage and resilience is documented by Academy award-winning filmmaker Vanessa Roth, who artfully interweaves archival footage, survivor testimony, and Magee’s grandson’s visit to China.
In the Last Days of the City
Bev Questad @ It’s Just Movies
- Excerpt: Filmed in 2008, about two years before the Egyptian Revolution and the fall of Mubarak, El Said’s film can be seen as a perspective on the Middle East if not the entire world.
The Island
- Excerpt: The Island shines a notable spotlight on the plight of the human condition under duress in all its corrosive, uncertainty, and societal impishness. Indeed, Huang’s stinging freshwater farce definitely stays afloat in all its darkened levity.
Juliet, Naked
MaryAnn Johanson @ FlickFilosopher.com
- Excerpt: A gentle, generous confrontation between fan and artist, and between a past full of regret and the possibility of a happier future, made warm and human by the terrific central performances. An instant new comfort movie.
Lives Well Lived
Bev Questad @ It’s Just Movies
- Excerpt: If we knew the secret to being happy, would it change how we lived our lives? Sky Bergman, inspired by her grandmother who, at almost 100 years old still worked out, has made a film of interview responses to questions related to what might help us live in the now.
Lou Andreas-Salomé
Bev Questad @ It’s Just Movies
- Excerpt: Created by first-time filmmaker Cordula Kablitz-Post, “Lou Andreas-Salomé” is a crucially important tribute to a woman who began her path of feminine independence before women had the right to vote. Andreas-Salomé demands respect and acceptance, not as a beauty or prospective wife, but for her study and analysis of great thinkers.
Memoir of War
MaryAnn Johanson @ FlickFilosopher.com
- Excerpt: Marguerite Duras’s semifictionalized memoir of psychological survival and emotional endurance in Paris during the Nazi occupation makes an uneasy, listless transition to the screen.
Mile 22
Amir Siregar @ Amir at the Movies [Indonesian]
- Excerpt: Badly written. Badly acted. Badly edited. Badly made. A huge, huge mess of a movie.
Minding the Gap
Brent McKnight @ The Last Thing I See
Naila and the Uprising
Bev Questad @ It’s Just Movies
- Excerpt: Notably executive-produced by Abigail Disney, the more general aspect of “Naila and the Uprising” is that when women were involved in the leadership, the Palestinian struggle was most successful. When they were excluded, the struggle floundered and lost ground.
Papillon
Herman Dhaliwal @ Cinema Sanctum
- Excerpt: Papillon is well made and the two lead performances are great. However, it doesn’t do much to distinguish itself from other prison movies.
Papillon
- Excerpt: remake is overall more satisfying than miscast original … less movie star charismatic, Hunnam plays scruffy squire to McQueen’s Cooler King … ‘Les Miz’ meets ‘Escape from Alcatraz’
Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich
Herman Dhaliwal @ Cinema Sanctum
- Excerpt: Fans of ultra gory horror films will have fun with this, especially if they’re watching it with a crowd, but its mean and problematic sense of humor might prove too much for most mainstream moviegoers..
A Quiet Place
Amir Siregar @ Amir at the Movies [Indonesian]
- Excerpt: John Krasinski’s almost-silent horror movie is an instant classic!
Rampage
Amir Siregar @ Amir at the Movies [Indonesian]
- Excerpt: ‘Rampage’ is another big, noisy mayhem from Brad Peyton and Dwayne Johnson.
RBG
Bev Questad @ It’s Just Movies
- Excerpt: “RBG” is just as magnificently well put together as its subject. This is a sacred slice of history evocative of what is best about the human spirit.
Ready Player One
Amir Siregar @ Amir at the Movies [Indonesian]
- Excerpt: Could’ve been one of the greats but ‘Ready Player One’ settles as a thrilling – but mostly empty – visual ride.
Return to Mt. Kennedy
Bev Questad @ It’s Just Movies
- Excerpt: Instead of waxing nostalgia on the lost days of Camelot, the hope of Bobby Kennedy’s run for president, the revitalizing beauty of nature and environmental issues, this doc exposes Bobby Kennedy’s namesake, Bobby Whittaker, in one surprise after another.
Slender Man
Amir Siregar @ Amir at the Movies [Indonesian]
- Excerpt: The young actresses try to live this movie up but ‘Slender Man’ is one of the most lifeless, boring, and dull horror movies in years.
The Testament
Bev Questad @ It’s Just Movies
- Excerpt: This personal, yet also universal plane is where truth has an absolute value and deciding role to play. How Greenberg orchestrates Halberstam’s burning struggle takes this film into the realm of stunning masterpiece.
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before
Betty Jo Tucker @ ReelTalk Movie Reviews
- Excerpt: Incurable romantics of all ages should enjoy this heartwarming teen rom-com.
2017 Films
Burden
Betty Jo Tucker @ ReelTalk Movie Reviews
- Excerpt: This revealing documentary does not idolize its subject. However, one cannot help being impressed by the passion, intensity and dedication Chris Burden brought to his controversial art projects.
The Discovery
Betty Jo Tucker @ ReelTalk Movie Reviews
- Excerpt: Although slow moving in many places, this sci-fi romance gives viewers something important to think about.
Little Evil
Betty Jo Tucker @ ReelTalk Movie Reviews
- Excerpt: Combines comedy and horror in a clever offering with plenty of chuckles and scary sights for fans of both genres. It’s like The Omen meets Tucker & Dale vs Evil.
Mean Dreams
Betty Jo Tucker @ ReelTalk Movie Reviews
- Excerpt: Impressive sequences in the woods that two teens travel through come across sometimes as very touching, and at other times quite terrifying — just right for a thriller!
The Music of Silence
Diego Salgado @ Guía del Ocio [Spanish]
Naledi: A Baby Elephant’s Tale
Betty Jo Tucker @ ReelTalk Movie Reviews
- Excerpt: This marvelous documentary wisely uses the true story of Naledi, a baby elephant orphaned at one month, to gain our attention and empathy regarding the serious problem of African elephant extinction.
Once Upon a Time in Venice
Betty Jo Tucker @ ReelTalk Movie Reviews
- Excerpt: Jason Momoa is the BIG surprise here. It’s such a treat to see this giant of a man playing a tough gang leader who just might have a heart.
OtherLife
Betty Jo Tucker @ ReelTalk Movie Reviews
- Excerpt: Although the acting and production values in this independent film earn high marks, a confusing flow of the story is troublesome.
Rodin
Diego Salgado @ Guía del Ocio [Spanish]
The Shape of Water
Amir Siregar @ Amir at the Movies [Indonesian]
- Excerpt: Guillermo del Toro’s ‘The Shape of Water’ is magically delicate and deeply romantic with one unforgettable performance from the sublime Sally Hawkins.
To the Bone
Betty Jo Tucker @ ReelTalk Movie Reviews
- Excerpt: A very compassionate, non-judgmental film — one that should have an important impact on people with eating disorders and on their loved ones.
Urban Hymm
Betty Jo Tucker @ ReelTalk Movie Reviews
- Excerpt: Watching the strong bond that develops ever so slowly between a troubled teenager and her new social worker touched my heart.
