Spotlight movie review: all the pope’s men
An elegy for old-school reportage and the people who pursue it, and a journalistic procedural with a snappy rush of urgent discovery and consequence.
reviews by year
Captive movie review: prisoner of boredom
So inept a film, so bland and monotonous, that it fails even to serve as the blatant ad for the certain Christian motivational book it would appear to be.
Do You Believe? movie review: nope
Crash, but Jesus-y. Scoffers and doubters will get their smackdown, but even believers should be skeptical at how this ridiculous roundrobin plays out.
War Room movie review: to the Devil with it
Slick production values cannot overcome a preachy script full of strained metaphors delivered by wooden actors. Like a corporate promo video for God.
90 Minutes in Heaven movie review: God-awful
So deeply terrible that it will make you question the existence of God. The dialogue is the least natural I’ve ever seen in a film not made by Ed Wood.
The Revenant movie review: an extreme walk in the woods
High-toned body horror that emotionally and tonally starts on one note and never deviates from it, which becomes rather exhaustingly dull.
Joy movie review: a mess to be mopped up
Even the miscasting of Jennifer Lawrence takes a backseat to the forced quirkiness, which David O. Russell cannot get his cast on the same page with.
45 Years movie rating: green light
Keenly observed drama about a couple shaken by an unexpected blast from the past, featuring a career-best performance by Charlotte Rampling.
Pawn Sacrifice movie rating: red light
Yawningly dull Cold War chess drama squanders the charms and talents of Tobey Maguire (as Bobby Fischer) and Liev Schreiber (as Boris Spassky).
The Big Short movie review: first thing we do, let’s kill all the bankers
An infuriating yet entertaining look at the “other guys” of the 2008 financial crash. You will want to weep. While you’re laughing! *sob*
