MISTRESS AMERICA Opening Friday The latest collaboration between director Noah Baumbach and actress Greta Gerwig is a fast and funny indie comedy with a heart of looming darkness. Mistress America is packed with charming, narcissistic people doing reckless, selfish things in the name of self-actualization and creativity. Gerwig plays Brooke, a 30-something New York City […]
Glenn McDonald
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Movie review: Not even a shockingly ripped Donnie Darko can punch up Southpaw’s soapy script
Southpaw★★ ½ Now playing Costarring Jake Gyllenhaal and his torso, Southpaw is a technically competent but largely uninteresting boxing movie with the soapiest script this side of the daytime Emmys. The movie’s main appeal is watching Gyllenhaal muscle his way through it with a powerful physical performance. Directed by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day), Southpaw chronicles […]
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Movie review: Amy Schumer’s brilliant sketch comedy goes off the rails in Trainwreck
Trainwreck ★★Now playing Trainwreck, the much-anticipated collaboration between director Judd Apatow and writer/star Amy Schumer, is a new twist on an old scam. It’s a bait-and-switch in which the viewer is promised one kind of film in the marketing blitz and then finds an inferior product in the theater. Schumer plays a version of her […]
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Movie review: Amy is an exceptional documentary you might not want to see
Amy ★★★ Now playing In her short career, Amy Winehouse stunned the music world as a genius-level jazz vocalist and natural-born songwriter. She was an artist of massive wattage—a feisty North Londoner with a smart mouth and a fragile heart. In the devastating documentary Amy, director Asif Kapadia tells the story of Winehouse’s tilt-a-whirl life […]
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Sundance darling Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is a mischievously meta teen-cancer comedy
ME AND EARL AND THE DYING GIRL Now playing Authenticity is a slippery substanceat the movies, anyway. You can’t manufacture it. It emerges from the process of filmmaking, somewhere in that unknowable alchemy of collaborative art. A sense of authenticity is key to Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, an indie sensation slowly rolling […]
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Jurassic World and Inside Out show that digital wizardy can’t shine without smarts and heart
JURASSIC WORLD Now playingINSIDE OUT Opening Friday When the original Jurassic Park hit theaters in 1993, it was blockbuster movie-making done right. The special effects were like nothing we’d ever seen, and director Steven Spielbergthe planet’s leading expert in this sort of thingprovided humor and heart along with all the shock and awe. Twenty-two years […]
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Movie review: Layers of metafiction can’t conceal Gemma Bovery’s lightweight core
Gemma Bovery★★ ½ Now playing Martin Joubert is profoundly bored. A humble baker in a small Normandy town, he has little to occupy his days. His wife doesn’t like him much and his teenage son has disappeared into hoodies and headphones. Each day, Martin’s work is done by dawn. All he has is his books. […]
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Movie review: Melissa McCarthy powers the action spoof Spy
Spy ★★★ Now playing When she’s on her game, Melissa McCarthy is one of the funniest people on the planet. A seasoned improv veteran, her extemporaneous comedy instincts are off the charts—check out the gag reel from Bridesmaids for instant evidence. But so far, McCarthy’s headlining roles in feature films haven’t played out so great. […]
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The Queue: Netflix picks for sci-fi haters
Perhaps you’re familiar with this dilemma: There’s a certain genre of movie that you adore and your significant other hates. Science fiction, say. When it comes to movie night at home, this becomes an issue. You explain to your partner—slowly, gently, as to a child—the many fine qualities of the genre, its rich history, and […]
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Sick of reading about Jurassic World? We suggest some summer-movie alternatives and a brainy beach read
Here’s the thing about summer blockbusters: If you’re interested in them, then you’re probably already sick of reading about them by the time summer preview features roll around. So rather than join the chorus of echoes, we’re suggesting some relatively under-the-radar movies you might like instead. Note that smaller films could reach the Triangle a […]
