Film guide for box-office releases and ongoing movies.
Film guide for box-office releases and ongoing movies
From news services
NEW THIS WEEK
‘Blade Runner 2049’: (R) (for violence, some sexuality, nudity and language) This reboot stays is visually gorgeous and stays true to the dystopian and futuristic feel of the original, but an overly elaborate script results in a film too enraptured by its own headiness. (The Associated Press) 2 hour, 43 minutes. Grade: **/*
‘The Mountain Between Us’: (PG-13) (for a scene of sexuality, peril, injury images, and brief strong language) Kate Winslet and Idris Elba turn in strong performances in a survival tale that avoids many of the genre’s potential pitfalls. Although it may be a bit slow-moving for some tastes, the film is a rewarding experience. (Mark Meszoros, The News Herald) 1 hour, 43 minutes. Grade: ***
CONTINUING
‘American Assassin’: (R) (for strong violence throughout, some torture, language and brief nudity) Dylan O’Brien brings a youthful freshness to the role of a counterterrorism operative in this international thriller whose holes are compensated for with action. (The Associated Press) 1 hour, 51 minutes. Grade: */**
‘American Made’: (R) (for language throughout and some sexuality/nudity) This smart and zippy action flick is a fiendishly perfect vehicle for Tom Cruise, who plays a thrill-seeking pilot who flies clandestine missions for the CIA. (The Associated Press). 1 hour, 55 minutes. Grade: ***
‘Atomic Blonde’: (R) (for sequences of strong violence, language throughout, and some sexuality/nudity) Charlize Theron is terrific as an MI6 agent ordered to Berlin to break up a spy ring in this largely vacant, hyper-stylistic romp that trades on the Cold War atmosphere of far better films. (The Associated Press) 1 hour, 55 minutes. Grade:*/*
‘Battle of the Sexes’: (PG-13) (for some sexual content and partial nudity)This fictionalized rendering of the 1973 tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs is well-intentioned, but thinly drawn and suspiciously Hollywood-ized. (The Associated Press) 2 hours, 1 minute. Grade: **/*
‘Crown Heights’: (R) (for language, violence and some sexuality/nudity) This true story of a man wrongly convicted of murder in 1980 is full of good intentions and compelling performers but misses the chance to delve deeper into its characters. (The Associated Press) 1 hour, 39 minutes. Grade: */*
‘Death Note’: (R) (for language, nudity, and violence) Thriller about a teen who stumbles across a notebook that has the power to kill anyone whose name he writes in it is hamstrung by clunky dialogue and its own insanity. (The Associated Press) 1 hour, 41 minutes. Grade: **
‘Detroit’: (R) (For strong violence and pervasive language): This account of the murders of three unarmed black men that took place in Detroit’s Algiers Motel during the city’s 1967 race riots is an all-out assault on the senses and the soul. (The Associated Press) 2 hour, 23 minutes. Grade: */*/*
“Dunkirk”: (PG-13) (for intense war experience and some language) Writer-director Christopher Nolan’s World War II tale about British and Allied forces pinned down on the French coast and facing long odds is a stone-cold masterpiece. (The Associated Press) Grade: */*/*/*
‘Girls Trip’: (R) (for crude and sexual content throughout, pervasive language, brief graphic nudity, and drug material) Tiffany Haddish runs away with this hilarious ode to female friendships in which a group of college friends from the ‘90s reunite at the Essence Festival in New Orleans. (The Associated Press)
‘Good Time’: (R) (for language throughout, violence, drug use and sexual content) Robert Pattinson gives the performance of his life in this pulse-pounding tale of a man on a desperate odyssey to bail his mentally challenged brother out of jail after a botched bank robbery. (The Associated Press) 1 hour, 40 minutes. Grade: */*/**
‘The Hitman’s Bodyguard’: R (for strong violence and language throughout) Samuel L. Jackson and Ryan Reynolds team up in this subpar action comedy about a top agent assigned to guard his arch enemy, a notorious hitman. (The News-Herald) 1 hour, 58 minutes. Grade: **
‘Home Again’: (PG-13) ( for some thematic and sexual material) Reese Witherspoon and Candice Bergen are wasted in this romantic comedy about a woman in the midst of a divorce who takes in three struggling young filmmakers. (The Associated Press) 1 hour, 37 minutes. Grade: */*
‘Ingrid Goes West’: (R) (for language throughout, drug use, some sexual content and disturbing behavior) A dark satire about two young women, a social media celebrity and her stalker, who find validation in likes and followers and equate social media experiences with real-life ones.(The Associated Press) 1 hour, 37 minutes. Grade: */*/*
‘It’: (R) (for violence/horror, bloody images, and for language) This film based on the Stephen King novel about a group of children in the ‘80s who are haunted and hunted by a clown only they can see is a deeply hateful, unforgivable mess. (The Associated Press) 2 hours, 15 minutes. Grade: */*
‘Kidnap’: (R) (for violence and peril) This latest B-movie vehicle for Halle Berry, who plays a working-class single mom who chases down her little boy’s abductors, is a serviceable thriller: nothing more, nothing less. (The New York Times) 1 hour, 34 minutes. Grade: */*
‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle’: (R) (for sequences of strong violence, drug content, language throughout and some sexual material) This sequel to the 2015 hit action-spy-comedy romp “Kingsman: The Secret Service” sticks to the original’s winning formula while going bigger, though not necessarily better. (The News-Herald) 2 hours, 21 minutes. Grade: **/*
‘LEAP!’: (PG) (for some impolite humor, and action) Despite the occasional stumble, this animated adventure about an aspiring ballerina who, over the course of the tale, becomes increasing graceful, has plenty to love. (The News-Herald) 1 hour, 29 minutes. Grade: ***
‘The Lego Ninjago Movie’: (PG) (for some mild action and rude humor) The biggest problem with this fast-paced, family-friendly tale constructed with digital versions of Lego blocks is that it comes so soon after this year’s enjoyable “Lego Batman Movie.” (The News-Herald) 1 hour, 41 minutes. Grade: **/*
‘Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House’:(PG-13) (for some language) The fictionalized story of Deep Throat, the Watergate whistleblower who guided Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein’s reporting, features an understated and convincing performance by Liam Neeson, but the film as a whole never rises to the level of its own story.
