Skip to content
Entertainment
Link copied to clipboard

Movies: New and Noteworthy

Also Opening This Week Citizen Jane: Battle for the City This documentary looks at Jane Jacobs, a civic activist who fought New York City's urban development during the 1960s.

Also Opening This Week

Citizen Jane: Battle for the City

This documentary looks at Jane Jacobs, a civic activist who fought New York City's urban development during the 1960s.

The Dinner Richard Gere, Steve Coogan, and Laura Linney star in this drama that looks at the depth of parents' concern for their children.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2 The team from the original continue their adventures in this sci-fi action sequel.

Excellent (****)

Reviewed by Shawn Brady (S.B.), Tirdad Derakhshani (T.D.), and Gary Thompson (G.T.). W.S. denotes a wire-service review.

I Am Not Your Negro A stunning documentary about James Baldwin's work as an artist and civil rights activist by celebrated Haitian-born director Raoul Peck (It's Not About Love; Lumumba). The film has an ambitious goal: to use footage and narration (read by Samuel L. Jackson) to reconstruct Baldwin's unfinished opus Remember This House, a study of the life and death of assassinated civil rights activists, including Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 1 hr. 35 PG-13 (disturbing violent images, thematic material, profanity, and brief nudity) - T.D.

Very Good (***1/2)

Graduation

Father-daughter drama directed by Cristian Mungiu about a father's actions when his daughter is attacked the day before her final exams. 2 hrs. 8

No MPAA rating

(adult themes)

- W.S.

Their Finest Funny and moving period drama about a woman (Gemma Arterton) in wartime London who stumbles into a job as a screenwriter on a propaganda movie. Witty, borderline screwball feminist comedy, wrapped in an emotionally powerful look at the uses of art. With Sam Claflin. 1 hr. 57 PG-13 (violence) - G.T.

Also on screens

Beauty and the Beast ***

Live-action version of the 1991 animated classic, starring Emma Watson and Dan Stevens in the title roles. Competently staged by Bill Condon, but does not improve on the 2D Disney original. With Luke Evans and Josh Gad. 2 hrs. 9

PG

(action violence, peril) -

G.T.

Born in China *** Cuddly Disney documentary focusing on a year in the life of a number of animal species, most notably pandas. 1 hr. 16 G - G.T.

The Boss Baby *** Who needs a movie about a tyrannical infant - or an infantile tyrant? You might be surprised to learn that you do. Although advertisements seem to promise little more than an animated comedy about a bratty baby in a business suit (voiced by Alec Baldwin), this is a sweet adventure tale about sibling rivalry that becomes a tribute to family and brotherhood. 1 hr. 37 PG (potty humor) - W.S.

Colossal **1/2 Ann Hathaway is an out-of-control Manhattan woman who loses her job and boyfriend (Dan Stevens), then ends up back working in the bar run by an old friend (Jason Sudeikis). Meanwhile, a monster shows up in the Far East. An enjoyably outlandish comedy, until it suddenly curdles into something unpleasant and violent. Hathaway, though, is good in a tricky role. 1 hr. 50 R (language) - G.T.

The Fate of the Furious **1/2 In this stunt-filled sequel, a hacker (Charlize Theron) blackmails Gino (Vin Diesel) while his buddies (Michelle Rodriguez, Dwayne Johnson) try to extricate and exonerate him. Also starring Tyrese, Ludacris, Helen Mirren, and Jason Statham. 2 hr 15 PG-13 (violence) - G.T.

Free Fire *** Brie Larson and Armie Hammer are middlemen in a cash-for-guns deal that goes bad, and the movie become a bleak, black comedy shootout. With Cillian Murphy, directed by Ben Wheatley. 1 hr. 25 R (violence) - G.T.

Ghost in the Shell *** A live-action remake of the Japanese anime classic stars Scarlett Johansson as an antiterror cyborg with escalating questions about her latest mission and her own identity. Conventional action and story, but some interesting and sometimes dazzling visual ideas. With Juliette Binoche, Michael Pitt. 1 hr. 44 PG-13 (violence) - G.T.

Gifted **1/2 A custody drama featuring Chris Evans as a bachelor assigned to raise his late sister's math genius daughter (McKenna Grace). A nice performance by Evans, who elevates the so-so material. With Octavia Spencer, Jenny Slate. 1 hr. 41 PG-13 (language) - G.T.

Going in Style ** Three retired steelworkers (Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Alan Arkin) plot to rob the bank complicit in getting rid of their pensions. Good-natured slapstick, but almost infallibly unfunny. With Ann-Margret. Directed by Zach Braff. 1 hr. 37 PG-13 (drug use, language) - G.T.

Kong: Skull Island *** Rousing matinee-style fun about scientists (John Goodman, Corey Hawkins) and soldiers (Samuel L. Jackson, Tom Hiddleston) and an Oscar winner (Brie Larson) mapping an island that has a large inhabitant. Things get hairy. With John C. Reilly. 1 hr. 55 PG-13 (sci-fi violence, brief strong language) - G.T.

Life **1/2 In this Alien knockoff, space station astronauts (including Ryan Reynolds, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Rebecca Ferguson) try not to get knocked off by the strange organism their probe has brought back from Mars. Sometimes exciting, never original. 1 hr. 44 R (violence) - G.T.

The Lost City of Z **1/2 British explorer Percy Fawcett (Charlie Hunnam) surveys the South American jungle in this languid epic, a nice-looking movie that nevertheless finds itself up the Amazon without a paddle. 2 hrs. 21 PG-13 (violence) - G.T.

The Promise ** Well-intentioned epic about the Armenian genocide of 1915 has history, but its central love story is flat, and the movie suffers. With Oscar Isaac, Charlotte La Bon and Christian Bale. 2 hr. 10 PG-13 (violence) - G.T.

Saban's Power Rangers (Not previewed) The resurrected kiddie show about teens-turned-superheroes that has a seemingly endless shelf life gets a big-screen reboot with the help of Bryan Cranston and Penn's Elizabeth Banks. Distributed by Lionsgate. 2 hrs. 4 PG-13 (sci-fi violence, action and destruction, language, and some rude humor).

The Sense of an Ending **1/2 Divorced loner (Jim Broadbent) is forced to reconsider faulty "memories" of his past, making him abandon self-constructed ideas of himself. Based on Julian Barnes' novel, with Charlotte Rampling and Michelle Dockery. 1 hr. 48 PG-13 (sexuality) - G.T.

Smurfs: The Lost Village *1/2 The third theatrical feature centering on a tiny blue humanoid forest has enough bright colors and slapstick humor to enchant its target audience of small children, but anyone much taller than a Smurf may turn blue long before the final credits. 1 hr. 21 PG (Contains mild action, rude humor, a color palette offensive to the eye) - W.S.

Song to Song ** The latest from visual stylist Terrence Malick is a movie about lovers and musicians – Ryan Gosling and Rooney Mara in the thrall of a wicked producer (Michael Fassbender). Malick makes another argument for the divine, and, as usual, it's infernally hard to watch. 2 hrs. 10 mins. R (sexual content) - G.T.

Truman ** Foreign buddy road-trip movie. Truman is the dog who joins them on their journey. 1 hr. 40 No MPAA rating (adult themes) - W.S.

Unforgettable * Katherine Heigl goes all psycho girlfight on Rosario Dawson in a revenge thriller that would be completely forgettable except it's so ridiculously bad. 1 hr. 40 R (sex, violence) - G.T.

The Zookeeper's Wife **1/2 Jessica Chastain stars in this dutiful if sometimes mechanical true story of Antonina Zabinski, a Polish woman who helped save hundreds of Jews from the Warsaw ghetto during the Nazi occupation of WWII. With Daniel Bruhl. 2 hrs. 6 PG-13 (violence) - G.T.