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: May 23-25, 2014
Wide (United States)
Blended
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
X-Men: Days of Future Past
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Expanding (United States)
Belle
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Chef
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Limited (United States)
Cold in July
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: The film isn’t wholly satisfying, raising questions it never answers, but the film boasts fine performances from Hall and especially Johnson, who’s turning into a character actor of note.
Henry Stewart @ The L Magazine
The Dance of Reality
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: Indulgent, Felliniesque, funny, sad, philosophical, political, religious and some might even say incestuous, Jodorowsky’s latest features the filmmaker as the compassionate guardian of his 8 year-old self
Gore Vidal: United States of Amnesia
MaryAnn Johanson @ FlickFilosopher.com
- Excerpt: A hugely entertaining biography of one of the great observers of the American century whose witty, bitter obstinance is essential in highlighting how far the U.S. has gone off the rails since WWII.
Words and Pictures
[New Today] Donald Levit @ ReelTalk Movie Reviews
2014 Films In Theaters Now In Select Areas
The Amazing Spider-Man 2
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Big Bad Wolves
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Beyond the Edge
[New Today] MaryAnn Johanson @ FlickFilosopher.com
- Excerpt: Through gorgeous archival footage and new re-creations, thrillingly places us amidst the first successful summit of Everest in 1953, taking true advantage of 3D to offer us dazzling mountain vistas.
Devil’s Knot
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Dom Hemingway
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Double
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Edge of Tomorrow
- Excerpt: Tom Cruise is on fine form in the high concept sci-fi thriller Edge of Tomorrow, playing a military spin doctor in a war torn near-future, who is caught in a time loop, re-living the same day of mass carnage over and over until the invading alien horde can be defeated.
The Fault in Our Stars
Stephen Saito @ The Moveable Fest
- Excerpt: This adaptation may not be all that different than effective screen tearjerkers of the past, but in staying true to its source material, its infinity is bound to be a little bigger than most.
Fed Up
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Frank
- Excerpt: Frank has nothing interesting in it and it isn’t as funny or as emotionally involving as it might think it is – assuming any thought went into it whatsoever. Taken as a whole, it is just gibberish, unfocused and annoying.
The Girl and Death
[New Today] Joshua Brunsting @ The CriterionCast
God’s Pocket
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Godzilla
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Hornet’s Nest
[New Today] Kevin Carr @ 7M Pictures
- Excerpt: “The Hornet’s Nest” is a powerful movie that shows what really happens on the ground during a conflict like this, and it’s very apropos to view around Memorial Day.
Horses of God
[New Today] Joshua Brunsting @ The CriterionCast
I, Frankenstein
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Immigrant
[New Today] Mark Dujsik @ Mark Reviews Movies
- Excerpt: The story is pure melodrama, but director James Gray approaches the material in such a subdued way that we might be fooled otherwise.
In Bloom
- Excerpt: It is a film of empathy and understanding, but also one that is refreshingly female in its focus, if not genuinely feminist, and a significant contribution to world cinema.
Like Father, Like Son
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Locke
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Love Punch
[New Today] Josh Spiegel @ Sound on Sight
Million Dollar Arm
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
A Night in Old Mexico
Carlos del Río @ El rincón de Carlos del Río [Spanish]
- Excerpt: Increíble y aburrida.
Next Year Jerusalem
[New Today] Joshua Brunsting @ The CriterionCast
Only Lovers Left Alive
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Pompeii
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Raze
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Sacrament
[New Today] Joshua Brunsting @ The CriterionCast
Stage Fright
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Tasting Menu
[New Today] Joshua Brunsting @ The CriterionCast
Whitewash
[New Today] Joshua Brunsting @ The CriterionCast
Wolf Creek 2
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
2013 Films In Theaters Now In Select Areas
100 Bloody Acres
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
12 Years a Slave
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
American Hustle
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Austenland
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Book Thief
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Closed Circuit
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Concussion
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Family
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Homefront
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Runner Runner
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Wind Rises
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Wish You Were Here
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
2014 Films (Coming Soon)
Another
Brent McKnight @ Beyond Hollywood
Bad Hair
[New Today] Joshua Brunsting @ The CriterionCast
Chefurs Raus!
Dragan Antulov @ Draxblog VI [Croatian]
- Excerpt: Ne samo dobar, nego i temom prilicno aktualan film
Difret
Stephen Saito @ The Moveable Fest
- Excerpt: It wouldn’t be surprising to discover that [Angelina] Jolie’s association with this Ethiopian drama was partially out of a desire to encourage more female roles such as the kind she typically plays herself – strong, smart and unafraid to kick some ass.
Firestorm
[New Today] Brent McKnight @ Beyond Hollywood
- Excerpt: “Firestorm” is an eye full of action, but not much more.
Five Star
Stephen Saito @ The Moveable Fest
- Excerpt: If “Pine Hill” was about a man looking for his place in the world onscreen and off, Keith Miller’s second feature “Five Star” has more confidence in telling the story of a man who lets the world come to him.
Hany
- Excerpt: Any discussion of Hany, the new movie from debut director Michal Samir and produced by 20-year-old enfant terrible Matej Chlupácek (Bez Doteku) will focus on one particular aspect: the film, which follows a diverse group of youths over the course of a single night, was shot in one long, virtuoso single take that comprises the length of the film.
Hold Fast
- Excerpt: Nice coming of age tale.
Love and Engineering
[New Today] Joshua Brunsting @ The CriterionCast
The Love Punch
Susan Granger @ www.susangranger.com
- Excerpt: Adventurously sweet ‘n’ silly, it’s light-hearted, feel-good fun that’s geared to amuse middle-aged audiences.
More Than the Rainbow
[New Today] Joshua Brunsting @ The CriterionCast
Olga
- Excerpt: We’re unlikely to see politicians like Václav Havel and Olga Havlová any time soon (at least, in this country), and we’re unlikely to see them portrayed in such a revealing, matter-of-fact manner. Olga is not a definitive biography of the former First Lady, but – like Obcan Havel – it manages to paint an intimate picture of its subject with a fitting warmth and humanity.
Overheard 3
James Marsh @ Screen International
- Excerpt: The third instalment of the successful Hong Kong surveillance/financial thriller franchise again employs the same big-name cast, but in entirely new roles. This time around writer-directors Alan Mak and Felix Chong target the controversial property syndicates of Hong Kong’s New Territories, but a relatively straightforward premise becomes increasingly convoluted in a web of deception and greed that too often mistakes confusion for genuine intrigue.
Speak the Music
[New Today] Joshua Brunsting @ The CriterionCast
Stand Clear of the Closing Doors
Henry Stewart @ The L Magazine
Sunshine on Leith
Simon Miraudo @ Quickflix
Teenage
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: Granted, the film’s title is taken from Savage’s book, but for a documentary which concludes that the teenager is all about the future, it spends too much of its time covering WWII. “Teenage” is a niche historical document.
Virunga
Stephen Saito @ The Moveable Fest
- Excerpt: What director Orlando Von Einsiedel and crew have created here will stand the test of time.
