We Are Your Friends movie review: straight outta the Valley
Not so much a movie as an advertisement for a soft drink or tampons or sneakers or a cell phone for fresh! active! fun! young! people.
music
Danny Collins movie review: the tragedy of the filthy rich rock star
Listen as the world’s tiniest violin plays on the soundtrack of this utterly obvious and clichéd three-quarter-life crisis dramedy.
Jackie & Ryan (aka Love Me Like You Do) movie review: in the moment
A romance of a gentle, bittersweet, grownup variety that doesn’t pretend that every connection has to be a grand, sweeping, happily-ever-after thing.
Amy documentary review: how the music dies
An immense film, looming in tragedy, an infuriating portrait of how celebrity warps artistry and how wealth warps love and how suffering trumps everything.
Pitch Perfect 2 movie review: out of tune
Some sweet sisterhood and truly fantastic musical performances get dragged down by awkward, lazy, embarrassing attempts at humor.
Beyond the Lights movie review: blitz the glitz
Smart and passionate, this is one of the ultimate Hollywood fantasies: an adult romance performed by gorgeous actors with palpable onscreen chemistry.
Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me documentary review: music hath power
A harrowing yet also inspiring portrait of the American pop music icon as he copes with the rapid deterioration of Alzheimer’s.
The Devil’s Violinist movie review: all the wrong notes
A hilariously histrionic depiction of 19th-century superstar violinist Niccolò Paganini’s rise to fame, far more Monty Python than Mozart.
Whiplash movie review: music as a savage beast
If you didn’t think music could involve actual blood, sweat, and tears, this breathtakingly visceral coming-of-artistic-age drama will set you straight.
Get on Up movie review: James Brown’s bad self
Solid biopic of the godfather of funk and soul, but there’s not much genuinely memorable about it beyond Chadwick Boseman’s stunning breakout performance.
