Home Again movie review: imitation of life
Precious, fatuous, Nancy Meyers–lite rom-com about a privileged rich white lady with no real problems who can’t help but mom her much-younger new boyfriend. Barf.
Los Angeles
Ingrid Goes West movie review: an antisocial-media story
Bitter, snide, and ultimately brutal, exactly the movie about social media we deserve; a satire that is barely satirical. Aubrey Plaza is hashtag savage.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day 3D movie review: he said he’d be back…
An action masterpiece newly remastered in gorgeous 4K (and rejiggered for superfluous 3D) reveals how fresh it remains not only technically but thematically.
The Wedding Invitation movie review: regrets only
This strained comedy might have been progressive in the 1960s, but today it reeks of an infantilization of women that warrants squashing, not celebrating.
Lowriders movie review: slow and furious
This melodrama about men unable to express themselves emotionally except through heavy machinery isn’t only clichéd: it doubles down on the clichés.
CHiPs movie review: they promised chip would happen, and it did
Toilet humor, cars exploding for no reason, random naked boobies, and gay panic… although, weirdly, also lots of awkward, unerotic nearly naked Dax Shepard.
La La Land movie review: city of stars, shining just for us
A marvel. Funny and exuberant and bittersweet and cliché-busting and unexpected as hell. We are going to need more movies like this one.
The Nice Guys movie review: not-so-nice comic noir
Two fun characters played by two great actors with fantastic chemistry together go in search of a movie, and — spoiler! — never quite find it.
The Invitation movie review: do not turn this one down
A chillingly crafted portrait of quiet menacing uncertainty. Balefully replicates the precariousness of not being able to trust one’s own instincts.
The Jungle Book movie review: welcome to the jungle
Goes right up to the bleeding edge of cinema to tell a story that is strapping yet simple, and hugely appealing. Disney found a good reason to redo an old film.
