Searching movie review: real virtuality
With smarts, warmth, and humanity, this mystery that unfurls entirely on computer screens becomes an ode to the new digital lives we are all leading, from how we use our devices to what they say about us.
teen
Alpha movie review: dog tired
The remarkable Ice Age setting is all that distinguishes — and not by much — a depressingly conventional boy-and-his-dog story.
The Darkest Minds movie review: seeking a prom date for the end of the world
The YA dystopia is now just another fantasy setting for teen romance. We have normalized the apocalypse. Superpowered kids are being held in concentration camps, but OMG, will Ruby and Liam get together?!
Dog Days movie review: a mangy mongrel of a movie
Two rom-coms, a grossout comedy, a family drama, and a platonic May-December melodrama, all connected by stilted humor, sloppy schmaltz, implausible human interaction, and — least convincingly — dogs.
Sicilian Ghost Story movie review: grim failing tale
A cruel film that hopes to use its fantastical surreality to find some sort of redemption in the senseless, violent, and real-life abuse of a child. There is no magic here, and no meaning.
Teen Titans Go! To the Movies movie review: the last action heroes (to get a movie)
The superhero movie we need, and also the one we karmically deserve. A riot of hilariously zippy animation that gleefully shreds the clichés of the genre while also lovingly embracing its self-referential geek experience.
Apostasy movie review: witness to the oppression of religion
A scathing critique of inhumanity in the name of religion — in this case, Jehovah’s Witnesses — made all the more chilling by its drab colorlessness and mute suffocation.
Boundaries movie review: family lies
Mildly wacky road-trip shenanigans meet mildly uncomfortable family dramedy. The saving grace? The cast is a joy to spend time with.
Hereditary movie review: the haunting is coming from inside the family (Sundance London 2018)
The sinister ambiance has a terrible grace, but its raw and honest portrait of grief and guilt is ultimately diminished by the supernatural horror that is also at play.
Deadpool 2 movie review: kryptonite for superheroes
This is the death of the comic-book movie. Or it should be. The savage, inhumane nihilism here says, Yup, comics haters are right: this is dangerous nonsense with no morality or redeeming qualities.
