A great canine acting talent is wasted in The Friend, a tale of Naomi Watts adopting a Great Dane that is heavy on the schmaltz, but lacking in punch.
It’s a Wonderful Dog!
Category: Reviews
Sometimes we just review new and upcoming releases.
The Wedding Banquet. Boring Gay Asians.
The Wedding Banquet is a broad remake of Ang Lee’s 1993 work that drains the rich cultural specificity of the subject matter into boring slop.
Sex, Spies and Satellite Tapes
A witty, low-key riff on the intersection between love and espionage, Black Bag is one of the best spy films to come out in recent years.
Death of a Unicorn Flogs a Dead Cast
A24’s broadest comedy yet, Death of a Unicorn feels woefully miscast, providing another eat-the-rich satire that has nothing interesting to say.
Drop It
Try as it may, Drop is hampered by its central conceit, with its surprise smartphone messages more of a pain than a genuine source of tension.
Wolf Man. Toxic Lycanthropy.
Universal Remake their classic horror movie The Wolf Man to diminishing returns in Leigh Whannell’s weak follow-up to The Invisible Man.
The Accidental President. Strength Through Vulnerability.
With unfettered access, The Accidental President paints a deeply human portrait of Belarus’ reluctant opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya.
Master Gardener. Master(ful) Filmmaking.
Paul Schrader finds a more tender angle on his tried-and-tested formula in the touching Master Gardener, completing his most recent trilogy.
Suzume Soars, Shines, then Sinks.
While the 2D observational moments of Suzume are keenly felt, the overall message is lost in a morass of muddled storytelling and messy CGI.