Reviews

Entertainment 04/17/19, 13:15

We'll call it the "Garfield Rule" — not the comic, the actor. It holds that any performance by Andrew Garfield, on screen or stage, will be worth seeing, no matter the content.After watching "Under the Silver Lake," a self-described "neo-noir thriller" by writer-director David Robert Mitchell ("It Follows"), I'm still ...

Entertainment 04/10/19, 17:00

Hellboy is back and he's got a dirty mouth and a man bun.The third film in the comic adaptation franchise has a new director, a new writer and a new look — led by a swashbuckling hellion who uses expletives and wears one of the most ridiculed hair styles in ...

Entertainment 04/04/19, 14:15

If you didn't know that "The Best of Enemies" was based on a true story, you'd likely find the premise preposterous, and for a movie, probably ill-advised: A lowbrow Klan leader in North Carolina and a black single mom/community activist are forced into dialogue and become lifelong friends and allies. ...

Entertainment 03/23/19, 17:01

Holy superhero fatigue, Batman, "Shazam!" is actually good.OK, so it's basically "Big" with superheroes and villains instead of businesspeople and girlfriends, but director David F. Sandberg has infused his film with so much heart and charm that it hardly matters. Even the deficiencies, like the sluggish beginning and the random, ...

Entertainment 02/27/19, 14:39

The 1969 mission to the moon has been seen in many phases before but never with the shining, crystal-clear fullness of Todd Douglas Miller's extraordinary "Apollo 11," a documentary culled from archival footage and audio recordings that in heart-stopping, minute-by-minute detail, recaptures the propulsive force of man's most glorious feat, ...

Entertainment 02/19/19, 11:56

Born in the 3-D land rush, "How to Train Your Dragon" has never quite shrugged off the bland corporate sheen attached to it from the start. But almost a decade since taking flight in 2010, these movies have made up for their lack of fire with enough sincerity and genuine ...

Entertainment 02/07/19, 13:05

Not to kick off this review with a spoiler alert, but after seeing "What Men Want" the answer to what men want is probably the same as what women want: Not to be ripped off by yet another dubious rom-com like this.Taraji P. Henson tries a little too hard in ...

Entertainment 02/05/19, 09:54

There are few more seductive things to watch onscreen than a big, wine-soaked, multi-generational family wedding like the one that happens early in "Everybody Knows," Asghar Farhadi's new thriller set in a picturesque Spanish village.But as good as Farhadi is at portraying the infectious revelry binding a family together, he's ...

Entertainment 01/03/19, 12:42

In retrospect, it's actually kind of surprising that there hasn't been an escape room-themed horror movie until now. The popular interactive mystery games are kind of mini films. There's a built-in set, stakes, opportunities for conflict and teamwork and a logical start and finish. It's certainly a more obvious fit ...

Entertainment 12/19/18, 17:07

It took "Aquaman" two and a half hours just to put a fancy trident in its hero's hands. Pawel Pawlikowski's latest, "Cold War," follows a doomed romance over 15 years and across much of mid-century Europe in a mere 88 minutes. And you're telling me the guy who can swim ...

Entertainment 11/14/18, 11:19

Michael Buble, "love" (Reprise Records)When people claim they are stepping away from it all to spend more time with their family, it's usually a front. When Michael Buble said he'd do the same, it really was to take care of son Noah, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2016.With his ...

Entertainment 11/07/18, 13:16

Come closer, children, and listen to the tale of what politics was like before TMZ. Back in those dark ages, reporters simply didn't dig around and ask embarrassing questions of people running for office. They certainly did not bring up infidelity. I know, right?According to the fascinating new film "The ...

Entertainment 10/23/18, 18:02

There's nothing really new or fresh or bold in "Johnny English Strikes Again," the third installment of Rowan Atkinson's bumbling-spy saga/James Bond spoof.And for some of us, maybe that's not such a terrible thing. Sometimes you don't want the hip new cocktail. Sometimes you just want the same beer at ...

Entertainment 10/15/18, 14:17

The early 1990s New York of Marielle Heller's "Can You Ever Forgive Me?" isn't so long ago but it already feels staggeringly distant. It's a New York of publishing industry cocktail parties, of book stores, lots of them, and of scheming, foul-mouthed eccentrics.Lee Israel (Melissa McCarthy) and her partner-in-crime Jack ...

Entertainment 09/19/18, 22:19

Wash Westmoreland's "Colette" is a very British movie about a very French feminist icon. A handsome and lively period film, it's too timid to capture the ravenous appetites of the literary force that was Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette. But with Keira Knightley playing the prolific and trailblazing author, "Colette" has nimbly condensed ...