xXx: Return of Xander Cage
This is the sort of movie that makes your standard shoot-em-up videogame look subtle, the Fast and Furious franchise (star Vin Diesel’s other claim to fame) look like a Jane Austen novel.
Split
Shyamalan relishes peeling back the layers of an unsettling storyline with disturbingly creepy savor.
20th Century Women
This raw, dialogue-heavy slice-of-life story is all aflutter with unmoored musings about self-actualization, rebellious teens, parental frustration and unanswered questions.
The Founder
The Founder tells Ray Kroc’s story, a tale of oversized success built on beef and buns. And in its cautionary subtext, it asks us, the folks in the audience, what we value.
The Bye Bye Man
The Bye Bye Man is a dumb depository of derivative death-dealing that anyone who’s ever watched a movie of this ilk will see coming from a mile away.
Patriots Day
To realistically convey their vision of this tragedy, the filmmakers show us vivid, gaping wounds and dismembered limbs. And they immerse us in a Boston police force that’s rampant with vulgarity.
Sleepless
Sleepless is pretty much a standard-issue R-rated corrupt cop caper. It’s not terrible, by genre standards. Nor is it memorable. What it is, however, is chock-full of violence and profanity.
Live by Night
For 98% of this movie, Ben Affleck’s character is a heartless, selfish monster. The fact that he’s slightly less monstrous than his enemies doesn’t make him any less culpable … or any more likable.
Underworld: Blood Wars
“I have seen so much killing, so much war. I cannot bear more.” So says the heroine Selene near the end of Underworld: Blood Wars. And you know what? I feel exactly the same way about this franchise.
A Monster Calls
A boy’s journey through grief uncovers some surprising truths by the time the credits roll.