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: September 5-7, 2014
Wide (United States)
The Identical
[New Today] James Jay Edwards @ FilmFracture
- Excerpt: ‘The Identical’ Is A Bad Impersonation Of A Rock And Roll Movie
[New Today] Charlie Juhl @ Citizen Charlie
- Excerpt: At best, The Identical should be forgotten and only spoken about as a curiosity amongst bad movie aficionados.
Cole Smithey @ ColeSmithey.com
- Excerpt: A shoo-in for a spot on any worst movies of 2014 list, this poorly constructed slice of propaganda, courtesy of the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America (MJAA), is so unintentionally campy you can’t help but laugh.
Frank Swietek @ One Guys Opinion
- Excerpt: The basic premise is actually fairly interesting. Unfortunately, it’s been poorly worked out and clumsily executed.
Limited (United States)
But Always
- Excerpt: Nicholas Tse proves he is better-suited to tough guy roles than romantic leads, but his inert performance here opposite Gao Yuanyuan is far from the only problem with Snow Zou’s shockingly cliched and unaware tragi-romance.
Frontera
[New Today] Andy Crump @ Movie Mezzanine
- Excerpt: …for all of its political concerns, Frontera should be seen foremost as a movie that serves its actors.
God Help the Girl
- Excerpt: dull exercise of endless emotional exposition which desperately wants to infuse the musical sensibilities of Jacques Demy into the drab kitchen sink melodrama of teen angst in Glasgow.
Innocence
- Excerpt: in a modern world where ancient covens still exist, one would wish that the supernatural world would be a bit more progressive—this virgin motif seems incredibly dated, even though Brougher is trying to make this an allegory about modern female adolescence, –
Frank Swietek @ One Guys Opinion
- Excerpt: An extremely silly attempt at a young adult thriller that winds up laughable rather than scary.
Rocks in My Pockets
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat @ SpiritualityandPractice.com
- Excerpt: A wild and weird animated feature about a Latvian grandmother who passes on her depression to others in the family circle.
Wetlands
Cole Smithey @ ColeSmithey.com
- Excerpt: Challenging and provocative, co-writer/director David Wnendt’s nervy adaptation of Charlotte Roche’s presumably unfilmable popular novel, breaks new cinematic ground.
2014 Films In Theaters Now In Select Areas
As Above / So Below
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
La Bare
Before I Go to Sleep
[New Today] MaryAnn Johanson @ FlickFilosopher.com
- Excerpt: When it finally collapses under the weight of its own preposterousness, this would-be elegant thriller becomes a cheap retrograde melodrama.
Bicycling with Molière
- Excerpt: A smart and insightful human drama, it builds its narrative on two aging actors bickering over a possible production of Moliere’s The Misanthrope. Fabrice Luchini and Lambert Wilson are superb in the main roles, creating complex characters who are always interesting to watch because they have plenty of interesting things to say.
Boyhood
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Calling
Cam2Cam
[New Today] Joshua Brunsting @ The CriterionCast
Canopy
- Excerpt: Canopy is a movie rich of its own world, an 80-minute work of filmmaking that rises above mere war or survival films and becomes something unique.
Code Black
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Congress
[New Today] Mark Dujsik @ Mark Reviews Movies
- Excerpt: The film begins a stinging critique of Hollywood’s less admirable qualities … It becomes a lament for humanity’s inability to deal with the hardships of life and the world.
The Double
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Gimme Shelter
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Grand Seduction
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Guardians of the Galaxy
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Guest
[New Today] Darren Mooney @ the m0vie blog
- Excerpt: Invite him to stay…
- Excerpt: Adam Wingard pays homage to the horror genre, by adhering to the distinct conventionalities with a tongue firmly in his cheek.
Happy Christmas
[New Today] Joshua Brunsting @ The CriterionCast
The Hundred-Foot Journey
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Ida
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Into the Storm
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Jamie Marks Is Dead
Jeremy Kibler @ The Artful Critic
- Excerpt: A somber, harshly grim supernatural twist on the coming-of-age tale, “Jamie Marks Is Dead” is never as fully realized as desired, but there is something about it that stirs in the mind.
Kochadaiiyaan
[New Today] Kathy Gibson @ Access Bollywood
The Last of Robin Hood
[New Today] Jamie S. Rich @ DVD Talk
- Excerpt: …a hackneyed script and a low-budget production keep the biopic from being definitive or essential.
Life After Beth
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Life of Crime
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Locke
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Love Is Strange
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Lucy
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Magic in the Moonlight
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Manakamana
A Master Builder
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: It’s a remarkable adaptation, Henrik Ibsen by way of Bob Fosse, a little “All That Jazz” influence in this permutation featuring modern dress and period manners and language, fitted out by a note perfect ensemble.
Memphis
Chris Barsanti @ Film Journal International
- Excerpt: Tim Sutton’s gorgeously shot nomadic mood piece about a temperamental musician searching Memphis for God, inspiration, or both will bore most audiences but hypnotize a few looking for that magical symbiosis of Jim Jarmusch’s blank poetry and David Gordon Green’s early Southern Gothic.
Million Dollar Arm
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The November Man
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The One I Love
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Pride
Darren Mooney @ the m0vie blog
- Excerpt: A great deal of…
Sex Tape
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Starred Up
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
They Came Together
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Through a Lens Darkly
[New Today] Joshua Brunsting @ The CriterionCast
To Be Takei
Jerry Roberts @ Armchair Cinema
- Excerpt: For those who only know Takei as Sulu, the documentary To Be Takei comes as sort of a cold water treatment. It is a history lesson, the fascinating story of a man who fought a personal battle on three fronts, as an Asian, as an actor, and as an activist for gay rights.
The Trip to Italy
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
A Will for the Woods
[New Today] Joshua Brunsting @ The CriterionCast
Willow Creek
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
2013 Films In Theaters Now In Select Areas
I Am Divine
Gregory J. Smalley @ 366 Weird Movies
- Excerpt: The reverential interviews and clips meet, but don’t exceed, your expectations for a documentary about Divine
2014 Films (Coming Soon)
Attila Marcel
- Excerpt: Rich in whimsicality – at times, a little overbearingly so – there is still a charm to this piece, and it’s grounded effectively by its moving narrative.
Casualties of the State
Bev Questad @ It’s Just Movies
- Excerpt: If someone were in a position of potential, let’s say in the FBI, and had incontrovertible evidence of a blasphemous misuse of public funds, constitutional policy and military resources by select Cheney-like politicos, what would be the right thing to do?
L’enlèvement de Michel Houellebecq
Diego Salgado @ Guía del Ocio [Spanish]
Hal
Half-Brother
Bev Questad @ It’s Just Movies
- Excerpt: Three bad things coincide and our protagonist has to find a way to move on. Though everyone has crises, it’s how they are survived that makes lives meaningful.
I Believe in Unicorns
Bev Questad @ It’s Just Movies
- Excerpt: Many girls, blinded by love, lust and excitement, will let themselves be buried. In martyrdom women throughout time have accepted the pecking order, stayed with their man to “help” him, and swallowed their humiliation. But Davinia sees herself as smart – and what does “smart” do?
Raja Natwarlal
Kathy Gibson @ Access Bollywood
Second Opinion: Laetrile at Sloan-Kettering
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat @ SpiritualityandPractice.com
- Excerpt: Portrait of a thoughtful, articulate, and courageous whistle-blower.
Bev Questad @ It’s Just Movies
- Excerpt: “Second Opinion,” a documentary about cancer research and laetrile at Sloan-Kettering, shows what happened when one person, Ralph Moss, lifted up the pharmaceutical rock and was honest about what he saw.
Song of the New Earth
Bev Questad @ It’s Just Movies
- Excerpt: The foundation of Kenyon’s work is that “music and sound are both the language and architecture of the cosmos” and his message is about healing and survival.
Thou Wast Mild and Lovely
[New Today] Joshua Brunsting @ The CriterionCast
