The Green Inferno movie review: kill it with fire
If there is a target for the pitiless cynicism of this brutal exercise in cannibalistic gore, I can’t figure out what it is. Inhumane in multiple directions.
adventure
The Finest Hours movie review: that sinking feeling
See this for Casey Affleck: he exudes a classic cinematic masculinity here. Alas, the rest of the film is old-fashioned in ways that are downright stodgy.
Oddball and the Penguins (aka Oddball) movie review: dogs and birds living together
Sweet, silly, charming. A true story about an unlikely canine-assisted project to protect endangered birds, goofily fictionalized to engage kids.
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip movie review: born to be mild
Instantly forgettable but inoffensive fluff… you know, for kids. And “inoffensive” is better than can be said for many movies aimed at children.
Racing Extinction documentary review: the asteroid this time is humanity
A horror flick about the blundering of humanity on a scale so enormous that global warming is only a small part of it. But its monster is not unconquerable.
When Marnie Was There movie review: girls have adolescent angst too
Enchanting, startling; a rare story about a girl at a precarious age. Full of that exquisite Studio Ghibli sorcery that captures the beauty of the ordinary.
Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts (88th Academy Awards) review
The wonderfully weird, hilariously morbid “World of Tomorrow” crams in more disturbing, sinister science-fiction ideas than a decade’s worth of blockbusters.
Boy & the World movie review: urban chaos and color
Paints an impressionistic canvas of unease and disquiet, of hope and wonder, filled with glorious music. Magical… though sometimes it’s black magic.
The 33 movie review: swallowed up by the earth
A missed opportunity to tell what should be a captivating real-life disaster tale that is instead plodding, scattershot, and lacking in dramatic impetus.
The 5th Wave movie review: disaster movie, in more ways than one
Lazy and trite, with a passive protagonist. It’s as if no one here understands the appeal of the postapocalyptic YA genre it is attempting to piggyback on.
