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Tuesday, June 30, 2015

The Best (and Worst) Films of the First Half of 2015





Here, in alphabetical order, are my top five, each of which earned 3.5 out of 4 stars:

Ted 2, A Little Chaos, Infinitely Polar Bear, Eden, Glass Chin, 3 ½ Minutes 10 Bullets, Batkid Begins

Ted 2
A Little Chaos




Infinitely Polar Bear
Eden



Glass Chin
3 ½ Minutes 10 Bullets




Batkid Begins
Ted 2 (Scruffies' rating)









Ultra-quick capsules (sounds like an antihistamine ad) on a mostly poor week of movies:

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

The Wolfpack, The Face of an Angel

The Wolfpack
The Face of an Angel






Shall I be the first one to say it? Okay, I will, but when I do, remember this: I love documentary film.

Here goes: there are too many of them.

Dope






So, by way of "Dope," let me tell you about a little Scottish movie from ten years ago or so called "Dear Frankie."

The Overnight





Writer-director Patrick Brice's fragile and ephemeral 80-minute "The Overnight" walks a daring and transgressive line through the minefields of marriage, sexual attraction and the loosening of inhibitions. Exciting, full of truth, and so funny I almost choked at one point, it's sure to make my list of the year's best films.

Monday, June 22, 2015

Inside Out





The best sequence in the Pixar oeuvre is the montage of Carl and Ellie’s life together early in “Up,” four wordless minutes (even the music grows ever quieter) of brilliantly curated moments that can reduce the most hulking brute to mush. 

Monday, June 15, 2015

Jurassic World, Madame Bovary, Live from New York!, Love at First Fight


Jurassic World
Madame Bovary




Live From New York!
Love at First Fight





Capsules on a mostly poor week of movies:

Saturday, June 13, 2015

Friday, June 12, 2015

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared, The Farewell Party, Results, Testament of Youth


The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared
The Farewell Party




Results
Testament of Youth






Just quick capsules on the week's arthouse releases (or I'd never catch up):

Thursday, June 11, 2015

Love & Mercy






To borrow a quip from Manohla Dargis' review of "Boyhood," co-starring her un-favorite Ethan Hawke, Bill Pohlad's "Love & Mercy" seems to achieve the impossible: it makes Paul Dano bearable.

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Spy





You'll laugh your head off at "Spy," in which the team of star Melissa McCarthy and director Paul Feig, who've given us "Bridesmaids" and "The Heat," again prove to have their fingers on the pulse of contemporary comedy. "Spy" is at once familiar and fresh, profane and tender, slapstick and subtle. It's richly conceived, with a heaping handful of memorable characters inhabited by gifted actors.

Thursday, June 4, 2015

Entourage





Doug Ellin should call Steve Pink to thank him personally.

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

San Andreas





"San Andreas" illustrates the difference between camp (yucky) and cheese (yummy).

Monday, June 1, 2015

Gemma Bovery





Anne Fontaine, the director of the scandalous and sexy “Adore” (2013), takes us to provincial northern France, near Rouen in Normandy, for the clever (if slight) “Gemma Bovery.”