Reviews10/9/19Oct 9 2019SaveReviews10/9/19B-ReviewsWill Smith fights himself in Ang Lee’s dopey but thrilling Gemini ManIgnatiy Vishnevetsky110Ang Lee’s sci-fi action movie Gemini Man, which stars Will Smith as a government assassin who discovers that he was…
Reviews10/8/19Oct 8 2019SaveReviews10/8/19C+ReviewsTim Heidecker’s On Cinema hits the big screen in the underwhelming Mister AmericaIgnatiy Vishnevetsky27The On Cinema universe, made up of the series and specials that star Tim Heidecker and Gregg Turkington (a.k.a. the…
Reviews10/1/19Oct 1 2019SaveReviews10/1/19C+ReviewsMemory is a superficial look at the origins of AlienIgnatiy Vishnevetsky16In the 40 years since the crew of the Nostromo first awakened from hypersleep to investigate that fateful…
Reviews9/25/19Sep 25 2019SaveReviews9/25/19B-ReviewsThere’s no shortage of shocks in Swiss Army Man follow-up The Death Of Dick LongIgnatiy Vishnevetsky13Dick Long is dead, and his friends Zeke (Michael Abbott Jr.) and Earl (Andre Hyland) are at their wit’s end. They’re…
Reviews9/20/19Sep 20 20191Reviews9/20/19C-ReviewsLet’s hope Last Blood is the last we see of John RamboIgnatiy Vishnevetsky162Sylvester Stallone’s restless all-American killing machine John J. Rambo is back, though one would be forgiven for…
Reviews9/17/19Sep 17 20192Reviews9/17/19A-ReviewsBrad Pitt journeys into inner and outer space in James Gray’s sci-fi stunner Ad AstraIgnatiy Vishnevetsky221When we go to space, how much of our baggage will we bring with us? The question hangs over James Gray’s Ad Astra, a…
Reviews9/3/19Sep 3 20191Reviews9/3/19CReviewsSuper Size Me 2 isn’t much better for you than the chicken sandwiches it condemnsIgnatiy Vishnevetsky146Have you heard the good word about Popeyes’ chicken sandwich, the king of fried fowl on bread? Over this past few…
Reviews8/27/19Aug 27 2019SaveReviews8/27/19CReviewsA time-traveling phone call is the most convincing part of Don’t Let Go Ignatiy Vishnevetsky15When Los Angeles homicide detective Jack Radcliff (David Oyelowo) starts getting phone calls from his beloved niece,…
Reviews8/21/19Aug 21 2019SaveReviews8/21/19CReviewsOnly in a franchise this bad could Angel Has Fallen look like an improvementIgnatiy Vishnevetsky151Mike Banning (Gerard Butler), the protagonist of the Has Fallen movies, isn’t just a Secret Service agent. He is the …
Reviews8/14/19Aug 14 2019SaveReviews8/14/19B-ReviewsIn Cold Case Hammarskjöld, a gonzo journalist spins a wild conspiracy theoryIgnatiy Vishnevetsky1What really happened to Dag Hammarskjöld? Was the plane crash that killed the United Nations secretary-general and…
Reviews7/31/19Jul 31 20191Reviews7/31/19CReviewsHobbs & Shaw is the silliest Fast & Furious movie yet, but far from the bestIgnatiy Vishnevetsky187The Fast & Furious series has, since 2011’s Fast Five, successfully retooled itself it as a multi-billion-dollar…
Reviews7/24/19Jul 24 20191Reviews7/24/19CReviewsStrong performances can’t save the manipulative white-supremacist redemption drama SkinIgnatiy Vishnevetsky43“What if I take all of this stuff off and I’m still a piece of shit?” wonders Bryon “Babs” Widner (Jamie Bell)…
Reviews7/17/19Jul 17 20191Reviews7/17/19B-ReviewsRadu Jude tackles a history of antisemitism with an ambitious, ironic satireIgnatiy Vishnevetsky4How do we reckon with history? And to what extent do we bear its guilt? These questions, not uncommon in countries…
Reviews7/12/19Jul 12 20191Reviews7/12/19CReviewsTwo Marvel alums race through the grating Netflix chase thriller Point BlankIgnatiy Vishnevetsky19The bullets are already flying by the time the gun-toting burglar Abe (Frank Grillo) tumbles into the opening shot…
Reviews6/25/19Jun 25 20192Reviews6/25/19B-ReviewsThe lo-fi comedy The Plagiarists has a deceptive literary twistIgnatiy Vishnevetsky6The Plagiarists, a no-budget, lo-fi comedy of millennial manners and neuroses, is one of those movies a critic hates…
Reviews6/21/19Jun 21 20191Reviews6/21/19C-ReviewsLuc Besson descends into self-parody with the bland, trashy AnnaIgnatiy Vishnevetsky107Luc Besson has devoted his long career to showing the world that French movies can be even dumber than their…
Reviews6/14/19Jun 14 20191Reviews6/14/19C+ReviewsThere's Murder but no Mystery in Adam Sandler's Netflix whodunitIgnatiy Vishnevetsky21Adam Sandler’s latest Netflix release, Murder Mystery, isn’t going to dispel the longstanding rumor that the Sandman…
Reviews6/12/19Jun 12 20192Reviews6/12/19CReviewsWe can't dig this Shaft Ignatiy Vishnevetsky166Shaft. The name conjures up images of the classic blaxploitation hero, in a turtleneck and leather coat with jumbo…
Preview6/6/19Jun 6 20194Preview6/6/19PreviewJune brings a Dark Phoenix, the Men In Black, and lots of living toys to theaters everywhereA.A. Dowd, Katie Rife, William Hughes, Jesse Hassenger, and 2 more60So many movies, so little time. Every week brings a new crop of them, opening in multiplexes and arthouse theaters…
Reviews6/5/19Jun 5 20191Reviews6/5/19C+ReviewsRon Howard’s opera documentary Pavarotti can’t find the man behind the voiceIgnatiy Vishnevetsky9Luciano Pavarotti the superstar, the popularizer, the sell-out. By the 1990s, the bajillion-record-selling Italian…