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: Apr. 24-26, 2015
Wide (United States)
The Age of Adaline
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Little Boy
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Expanding (United States)
Ex Machina
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Limited (United States)
Adult Beginners
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: has the misfortune of being an awful lot like last year’s Sundance hit “The Skeleton Twins” without nearly as many laughs.
[New Today] Jeremy Kibler @ The Artful Critic
- Excerpt: Resolutely predictable and low-stakes but affable, “Adult Beginners” isn’t much. It’s more of a comfortable sit than a life-changing experience, but the actors makes it seem like a genuine effort.
[New Today] Betty Jo Tucker @ ReelTalk Movie Reviews
- Excerpt: Some movies deserve to be treasured — and “Adult Beginners” is high on my list.
After the Ball
Mike McGranaghan @ The Aisle Seat
The Water Diviner
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
2015 Films In Theaters Now In Select Areas
24 Days
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: Told from Ruth’s POV, the movie is nonetheless a tense police procedural as we keep company with the Halimi family undergoing confusion, fear, rage, hope and ultimately grief.
[New Today] Stacia Kissick Jones @ She Blogged By Night
[New Today] Donald Jay Levit @ ReelTalk Movie Reviews
About Elly
Ron Wilkinson @ Monsters and Critics
- Excerpt: This pot-boiler takes the viewer by surprise after a slow start, but the start is too long and the surprise too short.
Avengers: Age of Ultron
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Beauty and the Beast
[New Today] Amir Siregar @ Flick Magazine [Indonesian]
Beyond the Reach
- Excerpt: … a survival-of-the-fittest thriller than benefits from spectacular terrain and decent performances by the two principals …. Douglas makes up in sarcasm and animal cunning what he lacks in physical prowess.
Boychoir
[New Today] Sarah Ward @ artsHub
Child 44
Susan Granger @ www.susangranger.com
- Excerpt: Forbidding and forgettable, this adaptation of Tom Rob Smith’s suspenseful best-seller just doesn’t translate onto the big screen.
Closer to the Moon
Susan Granger @ www.susangranger.com
- Excerpt: A provocative, darkly comedic, absurdist drama – based on a true story.
Betty Jo Tucker @ ReelTalk Movie Reviews
Clouds of Sils Maria
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Cobbler
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Dead Lands
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Dior and I
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: This exceptional [cross cutting] structure allows the past to continue informing the present, reaching a climax after lights out in the ateliers, Tcheng projecting old Dior imagery over the white toiles that are the blueprints of Simons’ first collection.
The Face of an Angel
[New Today] Jason Pirodsky @ Expats.cz
- Excerpt: An overbearingly self-righteous diatribe that manages the neat feat of both exploiting the Amanda Knox trial and chastising viewers for having any interest in the case in the first place, The Face of an Angel is an incredibly misguided, positively excruciating experience to watch unfold on the screen.
The Farewell Party
Diego Salgado @ Guía del Ocio [Spanish]
Felix and Meira
[New Today] David Bax @ Battleship Pretension
- Excerpt: Giroux explores how what we believe and, sometimes more importantly, what we don’t believe lead us to align ourselves with similarly minded people, even when they may also hold a host of other beliefs that fail to match our own. Giroux and his cast do this with humor, pathos and aching beauty, all while juggling the French, Hebrew, Yiddish, English, Spanish and Italian languages.
It Follows
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Kidnapping of Michel Houellebecq
Jonathan Richards @ www.jonrichardsplace.com
- Excerpt: Houellebecq’s writing advice to Mathieu is “to have nothing to do, to be bored, and then something happens in your head.” The movie is a little like that.
Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Lambert & Stamp
[New Today] James Jay Edwards @ FilmFracture
Lost River
Daniel Lackey @ The Nightmare Gallery
- Excerpt: Ryan Gosling’s directorial debut may be a boondoggle but it’s a highly entertaining boondoggle.
Love at First Fight
Alan Mattli @ Facing the Bitter Truth [German]
- Excerpt: A fantastic debut feature.
Monkey Kingdom
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Monsters: Dark Continent
MaryAnn Johanson @ FlickFilosopher.com
- Excerpt: Suffers from a terrible case of cinematic aphasia. Clearly thinks it’s saying something important and deep, but makes no damn sense at all.
Northmen
Run All Night
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Skin Trade
- Excerpt: As the story spins its wheels, the audience grows bloodthirsty, and we must slake our cravings.
Taken 3
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
True Story
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Unfriended
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Walking Deceased
[New Today] Jeremy Kibler @ Diabolique Magazine
- Excerpt: The one high point about “The Walking Deceased” is that it at least doesn’t waste any talent.
While We’re Young
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
2014 Films In Theaters Now In Select Areas
Birdman
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Good Lie
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Imitation Game
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart
Diego Salgado @ Guía del Ocio [Spanish]
Tales of the Grim Sleeper
Cole Smithey @ colesmithey.com
- Excerpt: “Tales of the Grim Sleeper” throws another damning chapter of accusations at America’s openly racist authoritarian system that surreptitiously condones the murder of its black citizens. Call it what it is, genocide-by-degree.
2015 Films (Coming Soon)
All This Mayhem
Sarah D Bunting @ Tomato Nation
Dark Horse
Matt Looker @ TheShiznit.co.uk
- Excerpt: The nags-to-riches journey of Dream Alliance becoming a short-lived racing favourite doesn’t exactly set the world alight, but it makes for some triumphant moments.
The Deadly Alive
Vadym Grygoriev @ kinoblog.com [Ukrainian]
The Emperor’s New Clothes
- Excerpt: One of the most anger inducing feature films you’ll ever be witness to. In a good way.
The Falling
- Excerpt: Illusory and farcical, and while evidently aware of this fact, playing up to it somewhat, Morley doesn’t do so quite enough.
Finding Gaston
[New Today] Sarah Ward @ artsHub
Glassland
- Excerpt: It promises great things, important things from Reynor and Barrett and, if you’re able, you should watch.
Helios
- Excerpt: After the commercial success of their debut Cold War (the highest-grossing Hong Kong film in 2012) writer-director team Longman Leung and Sunny Luk set their sights higher with Helios, a pan-continental terrorism thriller that sees law enforcement agencies from South Korea, China and Hong Kong scramble to recover a stolen nuclear weapon.
Roar
Mike McGranaghan @ The Aisle Seat
- Excerpt: The craziest, most breathtakingly bizarre motion picture you are ever likely to see. Imagine Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom as reimagined by Stephen King.
Robot Overlords
- Excerpt: Robot Overlords may beat Hollywood at their own game but it is just as shallow.
Shaun the Sheep Movie
[New Today] Jason Pirodsky @ Expats.cz
- Excerpt: A delightful feature-length expansion of the popular UK TV show, Shaun the Sheep Movie might be primarily targeted to younger audiences but it has plenty to offer adults, too. Amiable and good-natured throughout, but still retaining its own unique brand of offbeat humor, this should be a hit with all ages.
