News Muncher - searching for drafthouse

3 weeks ago

Review: ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 3’ keeps franchise spinning at frenetic pace

LA Times

The thing about the “Sonic the Hedgehog” movies is that they continue to surprise — with how humorous, self-referential and even insightful they can be. Helmed at a breakneck pace by Jeff Fowler, “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” is loud, chaotic and often corny, with a visual style that can only be described as “retina-searing,” but the script by Pat Casey, …

Shadow Sonic Sonic The Hedgehog 3 Carrey Sonic The Hedgehog Hedgehog Robotnik

4 weeks ago

Review: Heading abroad, a stranger decides to stay awhile in gently funny ‘The Black Sea’

LA Times

I’ve never been to Bulgaria and mostly know it as a picturesque Balkan country, affordable as a location for action films, and the birthplace of tennis star Grigor Dimitrov and Oscar nominee Maria Bakalova. But a movie that’s put me in mind of wanting to visit — if only to locate the scrappy sociability and beauty it displays so winningly …

Black Movie Khalid Ina Harden

1 month ago

Review: Reconceiving the scare that wasn’t, ‘Y2K’ is horror-comedy for nostalgic millennials

LA Times

“Saturday Night Live” alum Kyle Mooney’s directorial debut, “Y2K,” makes for a fascinating test case of Gen Z’s appetite for all things 2000s. Mooney and co-writer Evan Winter fuse the “let’s throw a big party” plot formula to “The Terminator” for their “Y2K” script, but it also feels like they just wrote down everything they could remember from the late …

Movie Mooney Y2K Review Reconceiving

1 month ago

Review: ‘Day of the Fight’ connects with an old combo, a down-and-out boxer seeking redemption

LA Times

The dark romance of boxing movies gets dusted off and sentimentalized anew in the New York-set drama “Day of the Fight,” actor Jack Huston’s writing and directing debut. Huston, meanwhile, introduces Pitt’s Mike as if already a last-chance icon, waking up in his dingy but silhouette-friendly apartment — Peter Simonite’s monochrome cinematography already working overtime — to do some moody …

Fight Movie Mike Huston Day Of The Fight

1 month, 1 week ago

The casual moviegoer is a thing of the past. That’s a big problem for Hollywood

LA Times

Casual moviegoing has declined, particularly since the pandemic. It was on a spontaneous trip to the movie theater that James Young took a chance on “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.” Same with 2004’s “Garden State.” And the quirky “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.” They weren’t movies he had on his radar, but he enjoyed …

Film Theater Movies Office Young Corcoran Theaters

1 month, 2 weeks ago

Review: ‘Bonhoeffer,’ a dramatization of a celebrated theologian’s life, makes him a superhero

LA Times

For filmmakers with points to make about good versus evil, World War II would seem a safe space. But writer-director Todd Komarnicki’s aggressively lionizing, faith-driven movie about Bonhoeffer seems uninterested in any complexity about pacifism and violence coexisting in one man. It’s also not enough that this eager white ally is the one to get punched by a spitting bigot …

Man Movie Christian Bonhoeffer

1 month, 2 weeks ago

Review: Animals brave the ‘Flow’ of rising waters in a wordless, animated triumph

LA Times

Animal welfare becomes the responsibility of the animals themselves in the gorgeous, hypnotic Latvian animated feature “Flow,” in which a solitary cat encounters a catastrophic flood and, along with a dog, a bird, a capybara and a lemur, learns about more than mere survival. It’s never explained what caused the rising waters that spur the film’s action, but “Flow” itself …

Flow

2 months ago

Review: A family of misfits tests the spirit of charity in ‘The Best Christmas Pageant Ever’

LA Times

There’s no shortage of seasonal films that claim to extol the “true meaning of Christmas” and this year, the holiday comes early with Dallas Jenkins’ “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,” based on the 1972 novel by Barbara Robinson. Playing Beth’s mother, Grace, she volunteers to direct their small town’s famed Christmas pageant after an incident befalls the longtime director. “The …

Film Christmas Pageant Best Jenkins Beth Herdmans

2 months, 1 week ago

Review: Civic duty leads to an inconvenient moral quagmire in Clint Eastwood’s ‘Juror #2’

LA Times

Does a small-scale human drama now qualify as an eccentric, unclassifiable studio release? Taking in the nonagenarian’s latest film, “Juror #2,” starring a no-slouch cast including Nicholas Hoult, J.K. Simmons and Toni Collette, one is struck by what’s not in it: star-mugging, superheroes, physics-defying brawls, branded messaging and CGI. While homicide is the charge being adjudicated in this handsome, midsize …

Movie Justin Clint Eastwood Juror Hoult

2 months, 2 weeks ago

Review: In ‘Conclave,’ a quest to elect a new pope leads down some less-than-holy pathways

LA Times

Soon, voters will have a choice: Do you go for the candidate you believe in? Ideally, those goals and desires will overlap, and while a version of this question may already be on your mind, the specific electorate I’m referring to happens to be a group of cardinals, sequestered in the Vatican in Edward Berger’s “Conclave.” Adapted by Peter Straughan …

Vatican Quest Conclave Cardinal Lawrence

2 months, 3 weeks ago

Review: Diplomacy goes primal in the satiric ‘Rumours,’ set in a political wilderness

LA Times

If you’re curious what really happens when world leaders assemble to reach consensus about global problems, go read a book about it. Hosting the lakeside roundtable dinner is Cate Blanchett’s elegant, cool-headed and manipulative German chancellor Hilda, who sits next to her temperamental opposite, the Canadian PM Maxime, a passionately brooding, overly sensitive and scandal-tinged gray fox. Rounding out this …

Rumours Goes Primal

2 months, 4 weeks ago

Review: Surrounded by beauty, the world mysteriously unravels in ‘The Universal Theory’

LA Times

As fun or scary as it is to ponder, we are likely not living inside the Matrix. But cinematically speaking, we are certainly living in a post-“The Matrix” world intoxicated by the possibility of a multiverse, as evidenced not just by noisy superhero fare and the Oscar-winning “Everything Everywhere All at Once” but also the more lush air of enchantment …

Johannes Movie Theaters

3 months, 2 weeks ago

Review: In the deeply felt ‘All Shall Be Well,’ grief gives way to a family’s pettiness

LA Times

As Ray Yeung’s “All Shall Be Well” opens, the gently moving camera both observes the affectionate routines of a Hong Kong lesbian couple in their 60s, Angie and Pat, at the same time it seems to be caressing their life of four decades together like a precious fabric. “Aunty” Angie couldn’t be closer to the grown kids of Pat’s brother, …

Family Pat Mei Yeung Movie Theaters Angie Shing

3 months, 3 weeks ago

Review: Long before Optimus Prime and Megatron, robots yearn for better jobs in ‘Transformers One’

LA Times

Leave it to the medium of animation to infuse new life into an intellectual property that has diluted itself with each sequel spawned for the big screen. “Transformers One,” which serves as a prequel to the entire narrative universe about an alien race of metallic humanoids with the ability to morph into vehicles, traces the origin of the conflict between …

Movie Transformers Orion Pax

3 months, 3 weeks ago

Review: While not a howler, ‘Wolfs’ struggles to summon the easy charm its stars once had on tap

LA Times

Wherever a story goes with our precious viewing hours, we’ll gladly follow it if there are real movie stars in it, even when those locations are just a smattering of hotel rooms, car interiors, alleyways and garages. That truism is needlessly tested in the comic thriller “Wolfs,” which should feel like a celebratory reunion of George Clooney and Brad Pitt …

Stars Movie Pitt Ryan Movie Stars Wolfs

4 months ago

Review: A nightmarishly good character actor obscures everything else about ‘The Front Room’

LA Times

“Are you f— kidding me?” a character whispers to herself, disbelievingly, in “The Front Room”. Andrew Burnap and Brandy Norwood in the movie “The Front Room.” Hunter’s character is introduced at the funeral covered in a black veil and holding onto two sturdy canes. The frightful premise of “The Front Room” doesn’t nearly prepare you what it delivers: laugh-out-loud punchlines, …

Movie Room Norman Hunter Solange Belinda Eggers

4 months, 1 week ago

Review: In ‘Close Your Eyes,’ a Spanish master returns, still obsessed with the power of movies

LA Times

The first feature that Victor Erice directed, 1973’s “The Spirit of the Beehive,” begins in the 1940s, when a traveling cinema arrives in a small rural town in Spain to project “Frankenstein.” In the crowd of moviegoers, a child with eager eyes stands out, Ana, whose sister will later reassure her that in cinema nobody dies and everything is but …

Film Cinema Movie Close Eyes Your Eyes Julio

4 months, 2 weeks ago

Review: ‘Blink Twice’ plunges us into a potent fantasy island with a dark side that’s less clear

LA Times

In her daring directorial debut, “Blink Twice,” actor turned writer-director Zoë Kravitz doesn’t flinch once — not even when her film might be served by looking away. “Blink Twice” opens with a dead-eyed scroll in a dingy bathroom; our protagonist, Frida, thumbs her phone screen on the toilet catatonically, observing the lives of others on Instagram, before she and her …

Film Slater Kravitz Jess Tatum Blink Twice Twice

4 months, 3 weeks ago

Recut "Caligula": Less sex and more plot will "right one of the greatest wrongs in cinema history"

Salon

The 1979 version of “Caligula” was notorious upon its initial release. “Caligula” was a troubled production, eventually disowned by director Tinto Brass, who was fired, and screenwriter Gore Vidal, who sued to have his name removed, because producer Bob Guccione, of “Penthouse” fame, inserted hardcore pornography into the film and reedited it. This version, produced by Thomas Negovan, adheres to …

History Film Sex Power Movie Gore Think

5 months ago

Review: ‘Borderlands’ is a game-to-screen misfire so thoroughly bad, it’s breathtaking

LA Times

In writer-director Eli Roth’s atrociously uninspired sci-fi fantasy escapade “Borderlands,” Claptrap, an acerbic droid voiced by Jack Black, calls to mind the humor of “Mystery Science Theater 3000,” the parody TV show in which a group of sentient robots comment on unintentionally risible B-movies. Black’s similarly acid quips — aimed at the story’s pack of misfit protagonists searching for “keys” …

Tina Blanchett Lilith Review Borderlands

5 months, 1 week ago

Review: Matt Damon and Casey Affleck play half-smart criminals in overfamiliar ‘The Instigators’

LA Times

Moviegoers and critics often say that what they want more from films is originality. In a sense, a superb subpar film is similar to pulling off a heist — a minor crime, perhaps, but one that’s better executed than the bungled robbery at the center of “The Instigators,” a shaggy action-comedy almost good enough to forgive its shopworn elements. Never …

Movie Play Rory Liman Damon Cobby Instigators

6 months, 1 week ago

Review: In the underpowered ‘Daddio,’ the proverbial cab ride from hell could use more hell

LA Times

The art of conversation has been a casualty in these deeply divided days of ours, and the poor state of talk in the movies — so often expositional, glib or posturing — is an unfortunate reflection of that. Johnson’s coolly elegant, nameless traveler, a computer programmer returning to New York’s JFK airport from a trip visiting a big sister in …

Movie Johnson Clark Underpowered Daddio

6 months, 2 weeks ago

Review: In sun-dappled ‘Summer Solstice,’ old frictions re-emerge, as does a belated independence

LA Times

The genre of attractive, heartsick people wriggling in sun-kissed discomfort — a legacy extending from Eric Rohmer through Nicole Holofcener — has an appealing new portraitist in Brooklyn-based writer-director Noah Schamus, if their debut feature “Summer Solstice,” a deftly arranged bundle of neuroses trigger-released over a woodsy weekend, is any indication. But it turns out Eleanor’s unbottled theatricality is its …

Leo Eleanor Movie Theaters Summer Solstice Menuez Schamus Old Frictions

6 months, 3 weeks ago

‘Inside Out 2’ hits record $155m on opening weekend in dire year for the movie industry

The Independent

Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Inside Out 2, the sequel to Pixar’s 2015 movie set inside …

Film Movie Free Inside Comscore Inside Out Pixar

Filters

Search results for drafthouse

Review: ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 3’ keeps franchise spinning at frenetic pace

Review: Heading abroad, a stranger decides to stay awhile in gently funny ‘The Black Sea’

Review: Reconceiving the scare that wasn’t, ‘Y2K’ is horror-comedy for nostalgic millennials

Review: ‘Day of the Fight’ connects with an old combo, a down-and-out boxer seeking redemption

The casual moviegoer is a thing of the past. That’s a big problem for Hollywood

Review: ‘Bonhoeffer,’ a dramatization of a celebrated theologian’s life, makes him a superhero

Review: Animals brave the ‘Flow’ of rising waters in a wordless, animated triumph

Review: A family of misfits tests the spirit of charity in ‘The Best Christmas Pageant Ever’

Review: Civic duty leads to an inconvenient moral quagmire in Clint Eastwood’s ‘Juror #2’

Review: In ‘Conclave,’ a quest to elect a new pope leads down some less-than-holy pathways

Review: Diplomacy goes primal in the satiric ‘Rumours,’ set in a political wilderness

Review: Surrounded by beauty, the world mysteriously unravels in ‘The Universal Theory’

Review: In the deeply felt ‘All Shall Be Well,’ grief gives way to a family’s pettiness

Review: Long before Optimus Prime and Megatron, robots yearn for better jobs in ‘Transformers One’

Review: While not a howler, ‘Wolfs’ struggles to summon the easy charm its stars once had on tap

Review: A nightmarishly good character actor obscures everything else about ‘The Front Room’

Review: In ‘Close Your Eyes,’ a Spanish master returns, still obsessed with the power of movies

Review: ‘Blink Twice’ plunges us into a potent fantasy island with a dark side that’s less clear

Recut "Caligula": Less sex and more plot will "right one of the greatest wrongs in cinema history"

Review: ‘Borderlands’ is a game-to-screen misfire so thoroughly bad, it’s breathtaking

Review: Matt Damon and Casey Affleck play half-smart criminals in overfamiliar ‘The Instigators’

Review: In the underpowered ‘Daddio,’ the proverbial cab ride from hell could use more hell

Review: In sun-dappled ‘Summer Solstice,’ old frictions re-emerge, as does a belated independence

‘Inside Out 2’ hits record $155m on opening weekend in dire year for the movie industry