Thursday, September 15, 2016

Arch Campbell's Weekend Movie Guide (9/16/16)

Renee Zellweger, Patrick Dempsey & Colin Firth (r) star in Bridget Jones's Baby

From our friend, Arch Campbell...

Hell or High Water - 4 Stars. A modern day western with Jeff Bridges as a Texas Ranger pursuing Chris Pine and Ben Foster, bank robbers hoping to steal enough money to avoid foreclosure on their family ranch. A brilliant portrait of the last days of the “Texas myth.”

Sully - 3½ Stars. Clint Eastwood directs and Tom Hanks stars as U.S. Air "hero pilot" "Sully" Sullenberger. The recreations of landing the crippled jet and the aftermath paint a fascinating picture of calm, life-saving leadership. One of the year's best.

Finding Dory - 3½ Stars. Pixar’s follow-up to “Finding Nemo” provides fine and funny moments, and even a tear or two.

CafĂ© Society - 3½ Stars. Nostalgic Woody Allen story of lost love in glamorous 1930’s New York and Los Angeles. Nice roles for Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart.

Arch with Will Ferrell & Zach Galifianakis (r)

Best New Opening > Bridget Jones's Baby - 3 Stars. Surprisingly charming and funny. Rene Zellweger, in a love-and-pregnancy triangle with her Mr. Darcy (Colin Firth) and a new McDreamy guy (Patrick Dempsey.) So who's the father?

Florence Foster Jenkins - 3 Stars. Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant make sweet comedy of the true story of a tone deaf Manhattan society matron and her love of performing.

Little Men - 3 Stars. Best friends Michael Barbieri and Theo Taplitz find their friendship in ruins because of a dispute between their parents.

Indignation - 3 Stars. Logan Lerman as brilliant, angry young man who leaves his parent’s butcher shop for college, but loses focus in an affair with an experienced, blonde Goddess.

Kubo and the Two Strings - 3 Stars. A most unusual stop-motion film, the adventures of a small boy's quest to end a curse and connect with feuding family both dead and alive.

Love & Friendship - 3 Stars. Jane Austen adaptation of seductive, conniving Kate Beckinsale looking for a new husband for both her and her daughter.

The Light Between Oceans - 2½ Stars. Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander find a baby in a boat, and the plot thickens.

War Dogs - 2½ Stars. Miles Teller falls under the spell of alpha male Jonah Hill in a less-than-moral scheme to sell guns and ammo to the government. Good acting, but nothing new as “Wolf of Wall Street” meets “American Hustle.”

Ghostbusters - 2½ Stars. Update of the 80’s comedy with Melissa McCarthy & Kristen Wiig and breakout performers Kate McKinnon & Leslie Jones. The first hour sparkles with hilarious one-liners. The last hour sags with tiresome CGI effects.

Jason Bourne - 2 Stars. Matt Damon Bourne again. Not enough.

Suicide Squad - 2 Stars. Fun at first, but gradually tedious. The government recruits a group of super bad comic book characters to save the world. Yawn.

Ben-Hur - 2 Stars. The chariot race sizzles, but the rest is not so hot.

Visit Arch's website for his (unrivaled) take on movies. He remains the only other (we're not self-hating) critic, whose opinion we admire and respect.