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: Nov. 21-23, 2014
Wide (United States)
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Limited (United States)
V/H/S: Viral
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
2014 Films In Theaters Now In Select Areas
The Babadook
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Bad Hair
[New Today] Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: The film is a marvel of tone, dispensing cruel life lessons while charming us with a child’s point of view.
- Excerpt: Mariana Rondón’s narrative works through the many contradictions brewing inside Junior in the wake of his personal actualization without ever feeling like a dramatic checklist.
Before I Go to Sleep
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Beside Still Waters
- Excerpt: an honest film that thinks outside of the box for a story that could have easily been a rehash of something I’ve seen many time before
Beyond the Lights
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Big Eyes
- Excerpt: at its most prolific moments, a first-wave feminist sort of film.
Big Hero 6
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Birdman
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Boxtrolls
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Candidate
- Excerpt: Slovak political dramedy is sharp and incisive.
The Case Against 8
Dustin Jansick @ Way Too Indie
- Excerpt: Feels more like a pat-on-the-back for itself and a history lesson for those who know little about the subject.
The Circle
[New Today] Norm Schrager @ Film Racket
- Excerpt: Director Stefan Haupt has melded narrative and documentary, resulting in more dramatic potential than on-screen power.
Dumb and Dumber To
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Equalizer
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Force Majeure
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Foxcatcher
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Frank
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Fury
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Get on Up
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A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
Nicholas Bell @ Ioncinema
Candice Frederick @ Reel Talk Online
The Great Invisible
Happy Christmas
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Homesman
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Honeymoon
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
I Origins
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Imitation Game
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The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Interstellar
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Ivory Tower
Frank Ochieng @ Sound on Sight
- Excerpt: Thoroughly thought-provoking, insightful and steeped in revelation concerning the student debt crisis Ivory Tower cleverly investigates the country’s spiraling financial burdens of obtaining a college education
Jessabelle
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
John Wick
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The Judge
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Keep On Keepin’ On
- Excerpt: You don’t have to know jazz to enjoy the new music documentary Keep on Keepin’ On, though by the end of this story about trumpet player Clark Terry and one of his protégés, Keep on Keepin’ On will certainly give you a taste for it.
Let’s Be Cops
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Liberator
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Life Partners
Frank Ochieng @ Sound on Sight
- Excerpt: Charming, quirky and breezily spirited, Fogel presents a chippy but honest character study of female empowerment that is certainly infectious and relatable.
Listen Up, Philip
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Miss Meadows
Nicholas Bell @ Ioncinema
Jeremy Kibler @ The Artful Critic
- Excerpt: Largely tone-deaf and just strange to be strange, “Miss Meadows” would be more startling if weren’t so complacent with its own off-kilter cuteness, which becomes irritating in ten minutes. You can say toodle-oo to this odd bird.
My Old Lady
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
National Gallery
Nightcrawler
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Rocks in My Pockets
- Excerpt: Latvia’s submission for Best Foreign Language Film is a wry, funny, and insightful stroke of genius.
Rosewater
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The Skeleton Twins
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Starry Eyes
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The Theory of Everything
[New Reviews Today] For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Viktor
Whiplash
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Whitey: The United States of America v. James J. Bulger
Frank Ochieng @ Sound on Sight
- Excerpt: …[a] revealing, absorbing and troubling documentary. Berlinger brings Bulger’s wicked and warped world to the forefront enough so that we witness a breakdown of trust and a taste of tragedy to try and comprehend with disbelieving eyes.
Wild
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
2014 Films (Coming Soon)
Flamenco, Flamenco
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: a marvel of color, light, music and dance. Let it envelop you in the dark on the big screen.
The Guide
[New Today] Vadym Grygoriev @ kinoblog.com [Ukrainian]
Happy Ending
[New Today] Kathy Gibson @ Access Bollywood
Hermitage Revealed
Donald J. Levit @ ReelTalk Movie Reviews
I’m Ten, Then I’ll Catch Eleven
Andrew Wyatt @ Gateway Cinephile
- Excerpt: A quiet, lovely little film, one that conveys a child’s complex and elusive feelings with marvelous nuance.
Late Phases
Candice Frederick @ Reel Talk Online
Mark Harris @ About.com
The Salt of the Earth
Alan Mattli @ Facing the Bitter Truth [German]
- Excerpt: It’s a stirring, cathartic experience, seeing photographer Sebastião Salgado recount his adventurous life that made him lose faith in humanity and gain hope for combating the evils that haunt this beautiful planet.
Story of My Death
Carson Lund @ In Review Online
- Excerpt: Those familiar with the Catalan filmmaker’s work will recognize Story of My Death’s long-winded scenes and inflexible static shots as auteurist tics (though, to be sure, he’s hardly a game-changer in this regard), but here they register as mere affectation.
The Tribe
Andrew Wyatt @ Gateway Cinephile
- Excerpt: It’s tempting call the concept behind writer-director Miroslav Slaboshpitsky’s The Tribe a gimmick, but to do so would undersell the film’s merits as a bold formal and dramatic achievement.
2015 Films (Coming Soon)
Human Capital
- Excerpt: plays like an icily precise neo-noir, but it’s really an acidic black comedy as concerns the overriding selfish nature of humans.
What We Do in the Shadows
MaryAnn Johanson @ FlickFilosopher.com
- Excerpt: An absolutely hilarious mockumentary combination of utter silliness, social satire, pop-culture cramdown, and heartfelt pathos. And vampires.
