In Theaters. If it wasn’t for a couple of art titles, I’d frankly suggest you skip the movies altogether this week. There’s only one full-blown mainstream title (which looks pretty chancey) and two not-quite-wide releases (both of which look worse than chancey). Well, let’s go among them anyway. It is increasingly apparent that August is […]

Now we know that Fantastic Four wasn’t, which I guess surprised someone (you know who you are). Actually, I found last week generally kind of dispiriting — at least till Sunday’s press screening restored my faith in movies. This week…well, we’ll see.

In Theaters. Here’s a strange week in that it looked more crowded and potentially troublesome than it was. That doesn’t change the fact that we have four mainstream titles (one of which is a Wednesday opening, and as usual I have no idea why) and two art ones pointing directly at us and that’s certainly […]

In Theaters. It’s crapshoot week at the movies where the mainstream is concerned — and I kind of like it. The folks who like to tell us what a movie will make days before it opens appear to be completely flummoxed by the week’s three big — well, big-ish — offerings, which is to say […]

The big question on everyone’s mind — or so I’m told — is whether or not Der Arnold can take down those dinosaurs that have been ruling box office for three weeks.

In Theaters.  When the biggest thing — mainstream at least — this week is a Melissa McCarthy spy comedy you know that you’re still a week away from CGI dinosaurs. It is not, however, your only option. There are two other mainstream options — and two art titles. Frankly, I’d lean toward the art titles […]

In Theaters. So Der Arnold couldn’t take down either dinosaurs or animated emotions. I’m not sure what that tells us, but I feel certain it tells us something. Possibly it tells us that…no, that can’t be it…I mean Jurassic World takes a supposedly beloved series, puts a newish spin on it, and draws crowds. I […]

In Theaters.  Though there are three new movies opening this week, no one really expects to dethrone Jurassic World — a film that could be called the Saviour of the Summer — but I expect Pixar hopes to worry it a little. Otherwise, we have one art title and one film that probably should have […]

No battle of the titans in the mainstream this week, only a minor tussle between less high-call titles, but there’s also one good art title and one spectacularly good one, making the week more interesting than it might have been.

If it weren’t for the “art” titles, this is the sort of movie weekend that the pages of history teach us might be better spent in bed (or even under the bed). The good news is that there are more movies headed our way on July 1 — not that they look all that much more inspiring.

We only get two movies this week — one so mainstream that it hardly needs mentioning, and one art title you may have heard of, but I’m not betting on it. Before we get down to cases here, it’s worth noting that the summer has not been the world-beater that was expected.