Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Blended, Chinese Puzzle, Cold in July, The Dance of Reality, Half of a Yellow Sun, Words and Pictures, The Love Punch

Blended
Chinese Puzzle



Cold in July
The Dance of Reality



Half of a Yellow Sun
Words and Pictures




The Love Punch




Brief capsules from another mediocre week in what has been an unimpressive movie year to date:

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Young & Beautiful, The Retrieval


Young & Beautiful (Jeune & Jolie)
The Retrieval







Another pedestrian title, "Young & Beautiful (Jeune & Jolie)," lines the marquee for French auteur François Ozon's latest halfhearted attempt at scandal.

Monday, May 19, 2014

The Immigrant






James Gray's "The Immigrant" is just as generic and uninspired as its title, and looks like it was shot through pickle juice.

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Neighbors, Cyber-Seniors, God's Pocket

God's Pocket
Neighbors
Cyber-Seniors




Rose Byrne scores the biggest laughs in the frat-versus-family comedy smash "Neighbors," including a line so unexpected and politically incorrect I almost fell over when it came out of her mouth.

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Palo Alto





In Gia Coppola's debut feature "Palo Alto," Emma Roberts plays April, a hard-working and conscientious high school student who spends most Saturday nights babysitting for her soccer coach, Mr. B (James Franco, looking edible in his black tracksuit).

Monday, May 12, 2014

The Double





In Richard Ayoade's new stunt of a movie, "The Double," Jesse Eisenberg plays Simon James, a mouse of a man employed in data entry in a dimly lit, windowless, seemingly subterranean sea of cubicles overseen by fast-talking Mr. Papadopoulos (Wallace Shawn), a conceit that owes as much to Jeunet and Caro as to Dostoevsky.

Chef






You can't say Jon Favreau lacks for chutzpah.

Friday, May 9, 2014

The Cold Lands





Tom Gilroy directed a little gem called "Spring Forward" that snuck onto my top-ten list at the tail end of 2000.

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Bicycling with Moliѐre





Gauthier (Lambert Wilson), the distinguished and dashing middle-aged star of a hit French medical series, day-trips to the picturesque île de Ré, where he surprises his old acting buddy Serge (Fabrice Luchini) with a proposition.

Monday, May 5, 2014

For No Good Reason, Belle, Ida



Ida
For No Good Reason




Belle






Capsule reviews on the weekend's art-house offerings:

The Amazing Spider-Man 2





Almost all the joy that Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone brought to the rebooted "The Amazing Spider-Man" two years ago has been sucked out of the fun-free zone that is "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," which makes up in volubility what it lacks in coherence and dramatic thrust.