Because of embargoes (those happy little restrictions on when critics can post reviews, good or bad), a lot of our critics aren’t able to share links with you until release day. Here are some last-minute reviews for this weekend’s upcoming films. We’ve kept in all the reviews posted yesterday as well so you can have more help in deciding what to see (if you haven’t already).
Our critics have been hard at work reviewing the latest films. Here is a look at what’s coming out this weekend (in select cities, check your local listings) and what else may be in theaters right now.
Opening: Aug. 8-10, 2014
Wide (United States)
The Hundred-Foot Journey
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Into the Storm
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Limited (United States)
About Alex
Daniel Carlson @ Movie Mezzanine
Deepsea Challenge 3D
Kenji Fujishima @ Slant Magazine
The Dog
[New Today] Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: a fascinating look at one of New York City’s most notorious and unlikely personalities.
Kristen Lopez @ Cinema Sentries
- Excerpt: Wojtowicz’s story is fascinating, but the flaw of a documentary with one predominant voice is bias smothers the filmmakers’ intention of burrowing under the surface.
Fifi Howls from Happiness
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat @ SpiritualityandPractice.com
- Excerpt: A documentary about an arrogant and weird Iranian artist living in exile in Rome.
Matthew Lucas @ From the Front Row
- Excerpt: This an extraordinarily singular work about an extraordinary man, both elegiac and rapturous.
What If
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: Another shot fired across the bow at Hollywood’s attempt to kill the romantic comedy genre, “What If” may veer uncomfortably close into some too cutesy moments and scatological bad taste, but it always manages to right itself, buoyed by its charming star pairing of Radcliffe and Kazan.
[New Today] Charlie Juhl @ Citizen Charlie
- Excerpt: Back in 1989 after When Harry Met Sally was released, a studio exec probably said, “What if we make a sequel or another rom/com similar to this one?” His partners told him that was not a good idea; too bad that advice did not filter down to 2014.
2014 Films In Theaters Now In Select Areas
22 Jump Street
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
At the Devil’s Door
Begin Again
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Boyhood
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Calling
- Excerpt: More than ‘Fargo’ meets ‘Se7ven’ … Sarandon’s portrayal of the surly small-town police chief is so nuanced and assured we’d welcome a Hazel Micallef franchise.
Calvary
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Cheap Thrills
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Coherence
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Come Back to Me
Get on Up
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Guardians of the Galaxy
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Half of a Yellow Sun
[New Today] Bev Questad @ It’s Just Movies
- Excerpt: In the beginning, two beautiful women are dining at a stately dinner in their luxurious family home. In a seeming eyeblink, they are caught in the tightening vise of a desperate civil war.
Honeymoon
[New Today] Bev Questad @ It’s Just Movies
- Excerpt: The dichotomy between the newlyweds is exposed through the secrets they have not shared. It’s not that the groom was expelled from his exclusive boarding school and his bride had attempted suicide, but the reasons why.
I Origins
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Ida
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Jimi: All is By My Side
[New Today] Bev Questad @ It’s Just Movies
- Excerpt: Ridley’s film is a shocking biopic starring André Benjamin – who becomes Hendrix. From the soft voice, skinny body, and constant gum chewing to the groundbreaking guitar work, Benjamin pegs the Hendrix we all loved.
The Kill Team
Joshua Brunsting @ The CriterionCast
Life After Beth
Joshua Brunsting @ The CriterionCast
Locke
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Louder Than Words
- Excerpt: The “Inspired by a True Story” credit slapped over the opening images would suggest that writer Benjamin Chapin and director Anthony Fabian intend this as a respectful account, but the 1995 tragedy that claimed Maria Fareri’s life could do far better than this tepid, confusing, and sometimes downright bizarre retelling.
Lucy
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Magic in the Moonlight
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Making the Rules
Moebius
A Most Wanted Man
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Purge: Anarchy
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Radio Free Albemuth
[New Today] Bev Questad @ It’s Just Movies
- Excerpt: Writer/director/producer John Alan Simon consciously channeled the mind of prolific science-fiction writer Philip K. Dick to re-create this masterpiece novel as a suspenseful movie. The result is a film about what I’ll call the power or catalyst for inner drive, the essence of our inspiration and motivation. Dick called this source VALIS, an acronym for Vast Active Living Intelligence System.
Rich Hill
Joshua Brunsting @ The CriterionCast
Snowpiercer
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Third Person
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Venus in Fur
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Video Games: The Movie
Beth Accomando @ KPBS Cinema Junkie
- Excerpt: Despite the cheerleading, Snead does manage to deliver a genuinely comprehensive and sometimes insightful portrait of gaming. The film celebrates the innovation, creativity and artistry that goes into games.
2013 Films In Theaters Now In Select Areas
Homefront
José Arce @ LaButaca.net [Spanish]
- Excerpt: Jason Statham no sostiene por sí solo una película bastante pobre en todos los aspectos. Los escasos pasajes de acción y la turulata relación entre James Franco y Winona Ryder son los únicos elementos reseñables de una propuesta a olvidar.
2014 Films (Coming Soon)
The Birder
- Excerpt: Birds of a feather laugh together!
Blueberry Soup
[New Today] Bev Questad @ It’s Just Movies
- Excerpt: Blueberry soup, often served cold on New Year’s Day, is high in anti-oxidants. Tradition says it cleanses and purifies the system. Hopefully, this metaphor will eventually prove an accurate description for the ground-breaking constitutional experiment in Iceland.
Dealer
Joshua Brunsting @ The CriterionCast
Entertainment
[New Today] Kathy Gibson @ Access Bollywood
Ich Hunger
[New Today] Bev Questad @ It’s Just Movies
- Excerpt: Wild Creature meets Tinkerbell in pastoral faux Germany during a murder investigation. Beginning with a deep “Ommmm” beset with cacophonous sounds, “Ich Hunger” delivers an expressionist tableau of foolery and macabre.
Korengal
[New Today] Bev Questad @ It’s Just Movies
- Excerpt: Soldiers are penned up in a sand-bagged lookout on a hillside overlooking the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan. They are ordered out on daily sorties where they are shot at either coming or going. They are the bait. Enemy fire reveals where the adversary is.
Lyle
Peter Nellhaus @ Coffee Coffee and more Coffee
The Magic Voice of a Rebel
- Excerpt: In the late 1960s, at the height of the Prague Spring, singer Marta Kubišová was one of Czechoslovakia’s greatest talents, touring France with Václav Neckár and Helena Vondrácková as one of the Golden Kids: pop producer Bohuslav Ondrácek’s answer to the kind of bubbly music sensations that had been dominating Western culture but were potentially dangerous commodities under the communist regime.
Seeds of Time
[New Today] Bev Questad @ It’s Just Movies
- Excerpt: For glorious Peruvian scenery, ice cold Norwegian vistas and a story about a man on a mission to save the world, “Seeds of Time” is a meaningful, poignant documentary.
Thou Wast Mild and Lovely
Joshua Brunsting @ The CriterionCast
Totally Talking
- Excerpt: This appealing little blast of 1980s John Hughes nostalgia comes from one of the unlikeliest places: Parádne pokecal (titled Totally Talking in English), the debut feature from writer-director and FAMU graduate Tomáš Pavlícek, might be another Czech comedy-drama, but it’s as far removed from what has become the prototypical Czech dramedy as possible.
Two Raging Grannies
[New Today] Bev Questad @ It’s Just Movies
- Excerpt: Shirley and Hinda challenge us to think a little deeper and act a little kinder. Bustnes found genius and the lost American voice in Shirley and Hinda. The audience is left hungry for more episodes on their irrepressible activism.
Ukraine Is Not a Brothel
Welcome to New York
[New Today] MaryAnn Johanson @ FlickFilosopher.com
- Excerpt: This may be one of the most repulsive movies I’ve ever seen. It’s also an important movie, laying bare the farce that equality and justice become in the face of power, privilege, and money.
Zwei Leben
Samuel Castro @ Ochoymedio.info [Spanish]
- Excerpt: Otra historia de la Segunda Guerra Mundial que a pesar de ser terrible, no consigue transmitirnos las emociones implicadas en el hecho.
