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: August 29-31, 2014
Wide (United States)
As Above / So Below
[New Today] Mark Dujsik @ Mark Reviews Movies
- Excerpt: As Above So Below earns its trek into the supernatural realm by creating a sense of dread for the natural one.
[New Today] James Jay Edwards @ FilmFracture
- Excerpt: ‘As Above/So Below’ Makes Up For Its Contrivances With Some Freaky Scares
[New Today] Stefan Pape @ HeyUGuys
- Excerpt: As with so many horror movies, the setup is entrancing and it’s the payoff which is hugely anticlimactic.
The November Man
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Limited (United States)
Life of Crime
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Notebook
[New Today] Nicholas Bell @ IONCINEMA.com
- Excerpt: A foreboding buzz promises an ever threatening violence, and danger seems to lurk in the corners of the frame at nearly every turn. –
Starred Up
[New Today] Kristy Puchko @ Cinema Blend
- Excerpt: It’s a supreme work of suspense set alight by fearless and flawless performances.
2014 Films In Theaters Now In Select Areas
14 Blades
Are You Here
- Excerpt: Weiner has gathered a cast built for comedy but there’s a breakdown suffered somewhere along the way.
Boyhood
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Calling
[New Today] Nicholas Bell @ IONCINEMA.com
- Excerpt: a lukewarm endeavor a bit warmed over by notable cast members flogging through a ludicrous plot .
Susan Granger @ www.susangranger.com
- Excerpt: A somber, supernatural meditation on ritualistic murder
Calvary
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Captivated: The Trials of Pamela Smart
- Excerpt: ‘Captivated’ is a riveting procedural, telling a fascinating story augmented by extensive archival footage (much of it weathered and fuzzy, as all old video should be), and if director Jeremiah Zagar had left it at that, I’d still recommend it. But this is a film with much more on its mind.
Cheap Thrills
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Cold in July
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Damned
[New Today] Nicholas Bell @ IONCINEMA.com
- Excerpt: as smooth as the set-up for many a Jean Rollin title, ridiculous dialogue lazily dubbed with awkward pipelaying
- Excerpt: From its first draw of blood onward, The Damned bolts down a foreseeable slasher-movie trajectory, laying on thick the dramatic irony while constantly inventing new reasons to punish its characters for old iniquities.
The Dance of Reality
Mathieu Li-Goyette @ Panorama-cinéma [French]
Edge of Tomorrow
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Expendables 3
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Frank
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Godzilla
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Grand Seduction
[New Today] Stefan Pape @ HeyUGuys
- Excerpt: Has a lot of heart and a certain charm to it which makes for an easy, gratifying experience
Guardians of the Galaxy
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
If I Stay
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Internet’s Own Boy
[New Today] MaryAnn Johanson @ FlickFilosopher.com
- Excerpt: An essential — and enraging — documentary about the life, career, and death of Internet activist Aaron Swartz, a danger to corporate hegemony whose work could not be allowed to continue.
Land Ho!
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Last of Robin Hood
- Excerpt: While the material is unerringly fascinating and features a trio of notable names, it’s a rendition that feels a bit too polished and hardly as seedy as it should be.
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: …the shoddy production [the directors] have constructed around their stars undermines a remarkable performance from Kline, who so slips into Flynn’s skin one forgets one is watching an actor playing an actor.
Betty Jo Tucker @ ReelTalk Movie Reviews
- Excerpt: Kevin Kline works acting magic here by becoming Errol Flynn after the booze and philandering have taken their toll.
A Letter to Momo
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
A Master Builder
[New Today] Jonathan Richards @ www.jonrichardsplace.com
- Excerpt: The title choice that most truly captures the spirit of the project would have been the one they started with: Wally and André Shoot Ibsen.
Night Moves
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The One I Love
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Only Lovers Left Alive
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Other Woman
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Purge: Anarchy
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Rich Hill
MaryAnn Johanson @ FlickFilosopher.com
- Excerpt: A portrait of small-town American poverty in which compassion for its subjects is matched only by a caustic undercurrent of rage at the utter collapse of the American dream.
The Rover
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
To Be Takei
Jordan M. Smith @ IONCINEMA.com
- Excerpt: With To Be Takei, director Jennifer M. Kroot compounds the actor’s life and career into a 94 minute portrait of virtuous celebrity, glorifying the man’s faith in humanity while reluctant to give any real critique of his public or private persona.
Transformers: Age of Extinction
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Trip to Italy
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Venus in Fur
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Veronica Mars
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
What Now? Remind Me
Paulo Peralta @ CinEuphoria [Portuguese]
- Excerpt: Latest film by Portuguese director Joaquim Pinto What Now? Remind Me
When the Game Stands Tall
Susan Granger @ www.susangranger.com
- Excerpt: This insipid, formulaic sports drama fumbles, even though it’s filled with earnest intentions.
2013 Films In Theaters Now In Select Areas
Oldboy
Daniel Lackey @ The Nightmare Gallery
2014 Films (Coming Soon)
Dekh Tamasha Dekh
[New Today] Kathy Gibson @ Access Bollywood
The Guvnors
[New Today] Stefan Pape @ HeyUGuys
- Excerpt: The Guy Ritchie influences are somewhat overwhelming in this title, as Turner crosses the line from offering affectionate nods in the direction of films such as Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, and then having blatant, unashamed influences.
Jacky in the Kingdom of Women
Mathieu Li-Goyette @ Panorama-cinéma [French]
The Keeper of Lost Causes
[New Today] Stefan Pape @ HeyUGuys
- Excerpt: There’s a wickedly dark, gritty tone to this picture, that’s both bleak and uncompromising.
Kite
Mathieu Li-Goyette @ Panorama-cinéma [French]
Mystery Road
David William Upton @ So So Gay
Norte, The End of History
[New Today] Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: Diaz has shaped his material with a mesmerizing rhythm, digital lenser Larry Manda’s imagery often stunning.
- Excerpt: A shorter, pacier film will move from plot point to plot point, but Diaz’ film has its own special appeal in the way that he captures life playing out. It is neither exciting nor boring, it just is.
The Paddy Lincoln Gang
- Excerpt: The finished film could be interpreted, begrudgingly, as a story about the pains of the creative process, but really it just seems to be a cheap, tacky drama about loyalty.
Smart Ass
- Excerpt: There is an interesting idea somewhere in the film, but the script is badly thought out, wholly unbelievable and misogynistic.
The World Belongs to Us
Mathieu Li-Goyette @ Panorama-cinéma [French]
