Movie Reviews

Free Fire

An arms deal goes hilariously wrong in this spirited spoof

Diana Beechener

In the 1970s, the IRA needs weapons to fight the English. Chris (Cillian Murphy: Anthropoid) and Frank (Michael Smiley: Rogue One) are charged with procuring machine guns. Gun broker Justine (Brie Larson: Kong: Skull Island) makes arrangements with fellow broker Ord (Armie Hammer: Nocturnal Animals) to meet with notoriously odd gun dealer Vernon (Sharlto Copley: Powers).

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– by Diana Beechener – 4/27/17

The Promise

Silly romance mars an important subject

Diana Beechener

In the mountain villages of Turkey, Mikael Boghosian (Oscar Isaac: X-Men: Apocalypse) is an apothecary with dreams of earning a medical degree. Financing his studies with the dowry from an arranged marriage, he promises to return to his fiancée in two years as a doctor.

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– by Diana Beechener – 4/20/17

Smurfs: The Lost Village

Bright colors and silly humor will entertain children but test adults' fortitude

Diana Beechener

The Smurfs are pretty bored. Seeking adventure are best friends Brainy (voiced by Danny Pudi: Powerless), Clumsy (Jack McBrayer: The Middle), Hefty (Joe Maganiello: Drunk Parents) and Smurfette (Demi Lovato: From Dusk Til Dawn: The Series). Papa Smurf (Mandy Patinkin: Homeland) tries to keep them from getting into too much trouble. It’s a simple life, until an accident shows the young Smurfs a world outside.

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– by Diana Beechener – 4/13/17

The Zookeeper’s Wife

Humans prove to be the real animals in this dramatic war film

Diana Beechener

In 1939 Warsaw, the Zabinski family — Jan (Johan Heldenbergh: The Tunnel) and Antonina (Jessica Chastain: Miss Sloane) — run a popular zoo. Their world is destroyed by invading German tanks and planes. Carpet bombings of the city empty cages, loosing wild animals on the city to be shot down by the Nazis.

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– by Diana Beechener – 4/6/17

Life

With astronauts this dumb, it’s hard not to root for the alien

Diana Beechener

The astronauts aboard the International Space Station expect to make history. Hurtling toward them is a probe that has collected what may be proof of life on Mars. Station biologist Hugh Derry (Ariyon Bakare: Rogue One) finds a long-dormant single-cell organism among the dust samples. After cursory study, he tries to do the impossible: Resurrect a creature that has been dead for millennia. After a few tweaks to the shuttle’s environment and some nourishment, the cell, named Calvin, comes to life.

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– by Diana Beechener – 3/30/17

Beauty and the Beast

This remake is doomed by its very concept; transforming the characters from cartoons into actual people kills the magic

The original it isn’t Belle (Emma Watson: Regression) is stifled in her provincial French town. She’s smart, progressive and inventive. The village is repressive, and the villagers mock her. Only the town meathead Gaston (Luke Evans: The Girl on the Train) seems to appreciate Belle, though she repeatedly rejects his offers of marriage.

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– by – 3/23/17

Kong: Skull Island

If only the people were as interesting as the monsters

Diana Beechener

Bill Randa (John Goodman: Patriots Day) believes in monsters. Now he’s got the funding to prove it. Joining the Vietnam War-era exploration of an uncharted island in the Pacific are geologists, biologists and former S.A.S. officer James Conrad (Tom Hiddleston: The Night Manager). Anti-war photographer (Brie Larson: Room) manages to crash the top-secret mission, for no apparent reason. Completing the company is a helicopter platoon led by Col. Packard (Samuel L.

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– by Diana Beechener – 3/16/17

Get Out

Meeting the parents is a real nightmare

Diana Beechener

Chris (Daniel Kaluuya: Sicario) is a successful photographer with a promising future and a beautiful girlfriend. Rose (Allison Williams: Girls) is hip, culturally aware and unafraid to call out other people’s racial biases. Still, Chris is nervous when Rose wants to take him home to meet her folks. Rose promises her parents are as liberal as they come. They voted for Obama! They protested in the 1960s! They’re supporters of the ACLU! Hoping that Rose is right, Chris agrees to spend the weekend at their country home.

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– by Diana Beechener – 3/9/17

Logan

Wolverine finally finds his purpose in this excellent action drama

Diana Beechener

In the year 2029, mutants are dying out. None have been born in decades, and survivors hide from the world. They live on in comic books that fictionalize their powers and exploits.

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– by Diana Beechener – 3/2/17

Salesman

An actor playing Willy Loman descends into madness as he fixates on revenge

Diana Beechener

Rana (Taraneh Alidoosti: Shahrzad) and Emad (Shahab Hosseini: Shahrzad) wake in the middle of the night as their house crumbles. In the midst of producing Arthur Miller’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Death of a Salesman, they must make time to find a new home. A costar seemingly solves their problem by offering an apartment in a building he manages. There the last tenant, and her profession, come back to haunt Rana and Emad. A former client looking for the prostitute finds Rana alone and assaults her in the shower.

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– by Diana Beechener – 2/23/17

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