Movie Reviews

The Story: An heiress goes on a hunt for her missing father, leading her into a dangerous quest to uncover the lost tomb of a mythical queen. The Lowdown: A thoroughly uninspired and redundant reboot of films based on a defunct video game franchise that serves no ostensible purpose and fails to deliver even the mindless fun its…

The Story: The (more or less) true story of the 1976 hijacking of an Air France flight from Tel Aviv that led to a seven-day hostage standoff in Uganda. The Lowdown: While stylish in places, the film flops in every conceivable way in tackling weighty philosophical elements against one of the most divisive political situations…

The Story: A biopic of Bart Millard, lead singer of Christian rock band Mercy Me, who survived an abusive upbringing to go on to write one of the biggest Christian rock singles ever recorded. The Lowdown: Or at least that's what they'd like you to believe.

In Brief: If anyone ever asks why Federico Fellini is one of the greats of filmmaking, all that should be necessary is to direct them to his 1973 film, Amarcord. (If that fails, I suppose you might try 8 1/2 (1963), and if that fails, give up trying to reason with them.) Amarcord and 8…

In Brief: While I may not find myself among the target demographic for this biopic about the world's worst opera singer, even I found it to be a largely entertaining diversion. It may not be my favorite of director Stephen Frears’ films, but it’s in the top 10 (if not the top five), and is an undeniably…

In Brief: My love for Alejandro Jodorowsky is difficult to overstate, and it all started with El Topo (1970). I'm not alone in that — John Lennon and George Harrison were early advocates of Jodorowsky's surrealist Kabbalistic Western — and there's good reason that it became the first true midnight movie, playing daily for over a year to perpetually…

The Story: Two wealthy teenage girls in a Connecticut suburb reconnect after years apart, but their strange friendship leads to a murder plot. The Lowdown: A pitch-black satire wrapped in the trappings of teen angst and film noir. Have you heard this one? A narcissist and a sociopath walk into a mansion ...

The Story: The night before their daughter leaves for boarding school, a family is terrorized by a trio of sadistic killers. The Lowdown: The best type of needless 10-years belated sequel that gets right down to its grisly business without stepping on its own feet (that pesky colon in the title notwithstanding).

The Story: Aliens staging an invasion of Earth attempt to understand the human experience so they can more efficiently take over the planet. The Lowdown: Sci-fi meets black comedy in a bizarre film that somehow manages to blend its tones effectively as it meanders through a lengthy narrative.

The Story: A middle-aged Japanese woman falls for a handsome American English instructor, but when he runs off with her much younger niece, she abandons her stable life to track them down. The Lowdown: A fascinating character study with a big heart and questionable story structure.

The Story: On the fourth anniversary of a quantum physicist’s mysterious disappearance, his daughter is recruited by time- and space-hopping beings to rescue him. The Lowdown: Ava DuVernay’s clunky but big-hearted adaptation is equal parts Madeleine L'Engle, Zack Snyder and David Lynch, with no single influence or perspective able to take hold and keep the…

The Story: An upper-class family must deal with a series of tragic and stressful events. The Lowdown: A humorless, detached film with no fun nor joy, and even less, style that screams "art" without really ever saying anything of note.

The Story: As a massive storm touches down, a federal agent attempts an inside-job robbery of an Alabama currency shredder, while his partner enlists a hotshot meteorologist in her efforts to stop him. The Lowdown: An absurdly over-the-top action spectacle that doesn't overcome an overstuffed script and uneven cast.

The Story: A scheming pharmaceutical exec sends his unwitting friend into a potentially deadly situation when he tries to cover up illicit drug sales in Mexico. The Lowdown: A tepid throwback to Tarantino knockoffs that weren't good enough to exist in 1998, much less 20 years later.

In Brief: World Cinema revisits Pedro Almodóvar's Volver (2006) — perhaps the filmmaker's most accessible and mellow work. It should be noted, however, that mellow is a relative term. The film contains child abuse and no fewer than three murders (understandable murders), but when put up against such Almodóvar fare as Bad Education (2004) or…

In Brief: Unabashedly sentimental and nostalgic, Giuseppe Tornatore’s Cinema Paradiso (1988) is one of those rare subtitled art-house movies that — at least in its shorter crowd-pleasing version (the one being screened) — managed to enter the broader public consciousness. People who normally say things like, “I don’t go to the movies to read,” have been…

In Brief: The first of three attempts to adapt Richard Matheson's novel I Am Legend — and easily the most successful — The Last Man on Earth stars Vincent Price as the lone survivor of a plague that turns the afflicted into vampiric ghouls. A far more faithful adaptation of Matheson's story than The Omega…

The Story: When a transgender singer's boyfriend dies suddenly, she must confront the intolerance of both his family and a societal establishment that marginalizes her gender identity and denies her fundamental human rights. The Lowdown: A deeply moving film that represents the trans experience without relegating it to a sense of Otherness, distinguished by a remarkable star turn from actress…

The Story: Screen icon Hedy Lamarr's life is examined in detail, including a surprising aptitude for invention that demands a re-evaluation of her legacy. The Lowdown: An uneven documentary treatment that succeeds on the basis of its intriguing subject.

The Story: A Russian spy trained in seduction is assigned to target a CIA agent. The Lowdown: A brutal, grim and sometimes shocking spy yarn that's just not fun or trashy enough to really be enjoyable.

The Story: After a home invasion that kills his wife and lands his daughter in a coma, surgeon Paul Kersey goes on a killing spree across Chicago in his hunt for the men responsible. The Lowdown: All those who still think Three Billboards was a racist, boot-licking film should go see Death Wish and then…