Groucho Reviews
Home
Reviews
Interviews
Features
More
All Films
Theatrical
Home Video
DVD Video
Blu-Ray Video
Soundtracks
Books
Latest Theatrical Reviews
« Previous
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
…
45
46
Next »
Keeping Up with the Joneses (2016)
Only in a well-populated movie theater can one truly appreciate the sound of silence when Gadot’s character boasts she could crack a walnut with her vagina. And that, my friends, is the funniest joke in the picture.
The Accountant (2016)
The running-gag emotional expression of another of the film’s autistic characters pretty much sums it up: 'Heavy sigh.'
The Girl on the Train (2016)
A mental-health exploitation picture.
The Birth of a Nation (2016)
Unsettlingly, Parker’s historical film depicts a tragic uncivil war that bears comparison to our modern racial struggles, and while it’s history not to be forgotten, it’s also not to be mischaracterized.
Queen of Katwe (2016)
A co-production of Disney and ESPN Films,
Queen of Katwe
unsurprisingly has a calculated quality to it...What’s thrilling is the story’s girl power, with Phiona described as an aggressive player of 'astonishing power.'
Storks (2016)
Samberg’s jittery-nerdy energy comes through, and Stoller applies a level of taste and restraint to the film’s use of source music and amusingly awkward pauses.
The Dressmaker (2015)
Part slow-burn mother-daughter drama, part slow-burn suspense thriller, and part slow-burn romance, with a few twists for good measure as the town begins to come apart at the seams.
Bridget Jones's Baby (2016)
As artless as it can be—and as thuddingly predictable about the baby’s parentage and whom Bridget will end up with—even grumps will admit to scattered amusing bits...and the likeability of Zellweger and Firth.
Sully (2016)
The so-called 'untold story' is essentially nonsense...The struggle is real for screenwriter Todd Komarnicki...
Hell or High Water (2016)
Old-school bank robbery meets the new economy—and the New West—in
Hell or High Water
, a lean tale of cops and robbers, cowboys and Indians, and customers and bankers.
War Dogs (2016)
Captures something of runaway modern greed, played out as a bro movie from bro stars and a bro filmmaker...[but] might have been a fresh classic of political satire instead of a crime comedy that plays as sub-Scorsesean riff.
Anthropoid (2016)
While
Anthropoid
tends to the sober and dour, it also breaks into the brutal, the intense, and the emotionally devastating, all the right 'moves' for a war story of moral heft compromised by Pyrrhic victory.
Florence Foster Jenkins (2016)
A legitimately fascinating central character...Not surprisingly, Streep expertly shades every eccentricity, embodying Jenkins in her musical waywardness...
Suicide Squad (2016)
A novel but muddled supervillain action movie...Some comic-book fans will lap it up, but
Suicide Squad
is all sauce and no meat.
Nerve (2016)
When this thriller has to turn the screws of its climax, its fundamental stupidity surfaces.
Jason Bourne (2016)
Terrified to do anything different (which, believe it or not, would be entirely possible)...it only takes a moment of awareness to step outside the movie and see how poorly written, insultingly recycled, and anti-creative
Jason Bourne
is.
Star Trek Beyond (2016)
What works (marginally) in this instantly forgettable entry: a few diverting character moments...fan-serving fairy dust...action, action, action.
Ice Age: Collision Course (2016)
The mammoths and their mammalian buddies...take direction from [a] lunatic weasel...to SAVE THE WORLD by DIVERTING THE PATH OF AN ASTEROID (emphasis mine).
Captain Fantastic (2016)
The film’s saving graces are the uniformly strong performances...and its intriguing subject matter...[but it] develops third-act problems as it devolves into calculated contrivances, didacticism, and sentiment.
Our Little Sister (2015)
Moves at a rhythm akin to the gently lapping waves...yet somehow swiftly establishes the personalities of the three sisters, a contradiction that speaks to the resonance of the performers and Koreeda’s skill at eliciting emotional truth.
Ghostbusters (2016)
Should you see Sony’s new
Ghostbusters
remake? Yes. Yes, you should. Will you be entertained? Yes. Yes, you will. Will you also be a little annoyed? Well, yeah, probably...it’s all a bit too self-consciously self-conscious...
Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016)
Has more genuinely funny moments than most so-called comedies at the multiplex, abetted by Waititi’s now-practiced comic sensibility, his stylized snap of performance and editing.
Eat That Question: Frank Zappa in His Own Words (2016)
From the evidence of Thorsten Schütte’s found-footage documentary...Zappa saw the interview as sometime endurance test, sometime amusement, and all-the-time chess match he could never lose, played as it was against lesser lights.
Central Intelligence (2016)
Even if the material's not always up to the title's ironic reference to wit, the cast and their director carry the day with a good stock of laughs.
Finding Dory (2016)
If the plotting at first feels overly familiar (and, in many ways, is), its elegance becomes apparent in the reinvigorating final movements, which also confirm
Finding Dory
's ultimate theme of building self-confidence through self-discovery.
The Conjuring 2 (2016)
When there’s somefin strange...in your neighbor’ood...’oo you gonna call?
Me Before You (2016)
The sort of film to starkly divide audiences: hard cases will wince at the clichés and Clarke’s performance; starry-eyed weepie fans will get what they came for.
X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)
For all its failings, including the crime of not being exhilarating,
X-Men: Apocalypse
remains a competent sci-fi actioner.
Maggie's Plan (2015)
A not-unpleasant 98 minutes that’s nevertheless understocked with comic zest and thematic incisiveness.
The Lobster (2015)
Investigates the nature of our need for a partner (who else will apply that pain-relief cream to the small of your back?), how we cling to superficial similarities to justify our matches, and our denial, at our peril, of our animal nature.
The Angry Birds Movie (2016)
Even though 'Anger is not always the answer,' sometimes it has to be, or there’s no movie, and here’s where
The Angry Birds Movie
will divide audiences.
Dark Horse (2015)
Osmond doesn't belabor style in any way, opting to shape the story simply and directly through the new interviews, available archive materials, and efficient montage.
The Man Who Knew Infinity (2016)
Can repeat its formula by rote, but develops no breakthrough theory of its own.
The Meddler (2015)
A delightfully humane comedy...doesn’t insist upon the meddling as a 'premise' but as an important part of the film’s psychological reality.
Dough (2015)
Tastes awfully stale...those with a high tolerance for 'nice' movies will happily roll with this
Dough
. But know that it is proudly unsophisticated in its storytelling.
Elvis & Nixon (2016)
A story of great power and great delusion, of the absurdities of politics and the strange effects and arguably undue reach of celebrity. These potentially heady themes are really beside the point of a movie that’s a hoot and knows it.
Miles Ahead (2015)
Not everyone will agree with how Cheadle answers the key questions, but only a fool would say his take lacks creativity, heart, energy, and a gutsy willingness to take risks (as Davis says in the film, 'Be wrong strong').
Demolition (2015)
The hero of the new dramedy
Demolition
at one point muses, 'For some reason, everything’s becoming a metaphor.' Boy, you can say that again.
Everybody Wants Some!! (2016)
An arthouse
Animal House
.
I Saw the Light (2015)
It’s all so dully realized that we grow starving for idiosyncratic detail, desperately latching on to Williams’ love of ketchup or his drunkenly being tickled pink by his new garage-door opener.
« Previous
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
…
45
46
Next »