Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates movie review: a meeting of childish minds
A sweetly silly trounce of the idea that overgrown frat boys are charming. Shakes up the subgenre in a way remarkably, if perhaps accidentally, feminist.
reviews by year
Pete’s Dragon movie review: big friendly dragon
More like a pleasant walk in a redwood forest with a boy and his dragon than a rollicking adventure, but its serenity and warm heart are infectious.
Suicide Squad movie review: sh*t squad
Should be grim, bitter, and as horrifyingly alluring as Hannibal Lecter. But it’s nothing but a teen-friendly ad for toys, Ts, and other disposable merch.
Microbe & Gasoline movie review: adolescent angst (subtitled)
Michel Gondry’s latest is charming but slight, and its typical teen-boy obsessions about boobs and bullies are already well-trod ground.
The Legend of Tarzan and Free State of Jones movies review: enough with the white saviors
Filtering other people’s stories through the eyes of white men is tedious and offensive, and it feels like a desperate hedge against fresh perspectives.
Miss Sharon Jones! documentary review: get up, get on back up
Cheer-worthy portrait of a singer for whom overcoming adversity has been a mainstay, and a testament to the power of music and family to keep a gal going.
Into the Forest movie review: end of the world, not as we’ve known it
An atypical disaster movie, less about the failure of technology than the failure — and perhaps the resurgence — of the human spirit in the face of that.
Jason Bourne movie review: Bourne again, but why?
Everything looks great on paper here: Damon’s brawny presence; the smartly staged action, etc. And it’s not unfun. But it feels less black ops than old hat.
Disorder (aka Maryland) movie review: security blank
Moments of genuine tension are few in this would-be suspenseful thriller, which can’t settle on a state of mind for its protagonist, or for its own story.
Train to Busan (Busanhaeng) movie review: delays due to zombies
This South Korean hit is an oozy doozy of a horror-thriller; confidently spins out its own unique — and breathless — take on familiar genre tropes.
