The Lego Batman Movie review: give a minifig
A great Batman movie, a great superhero movie, and a gloriously bonkers expression of the sublime silliness of crime fighters in capes, and our love of them.
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Live by Night movie review: criminal tedium
Commits the cardinal sin of cinema: it’s boring. Feels like two hours of highlights from a 20-episode miniseries that only hint at a rich story tapestry.
Monster Trucks movie review: what a car-tastrophe
What if “monster trucks” actually meant — wait for it — that there were monsters in the trucks? From an idea by a four-year-old (really), and it shows.
Passengers movie review: lost in sexist space
After a few quick nods to the profoundly unethical act at its core, it shrugs it off and uses it as the basis for its fairy-tale romance. This is not okay.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story movie review: the high price of hope
There’s genuine fun here, but the humor is cynical, the heroics are tinged with regret, and it’s all delivered with a cold smack of — yes — political relevance.
Moana movie review: the hero with a thousand faces finally has a female one
A wonderful mythology of demons and demigods. A heroine who embodies the bold spirit of her people. Another sweet, funny, exciting triumph from Disney.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them movie review: reparo movens ad imaginem
Forget about magical creatures: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them could use some help finding itself, and in figuring out who its protagonist is.
The Accountant movie review: by the numbers but outside the lines
So convoluted, confusing, and overly crammed that it’s overwhelming, and not in a pleasant way. But Ben Affleck’s autistic action hero is fascinating.
Doctor Strange movie review: even Marvel is now tired of origin stories
Busy with CGI to hide the emptiness where the emotional core should be. Even the mechanics of getting a man from mere mortal to demigod-in-a-cape are rote.
Keeping Up with the Joneses movie review: no, let them go
Take True Lies and Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Remove wit, sexy charm, and satire on marriage. This is a recipe for a movie anyone wants to see?
