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| Diane Lane stars in Paris Can Wait |
From our friend, Arch Campbell...
The Lost City of Z - 4 Stars. Classic film epic based on the life of British explorer Percy Fawcett and his obsession with the Amazon. A grand experience with echoes of "Heart of Darkness" and "Lost Horizon."
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 - 3½ Stars. Delightful follow-up to the original summer blockbuster action movie starring Chris Pratt. Funny, ironic and a lot of fun.
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| Arch with Will Ferrell & Zach Galifianakis (r) |
Get Out - 3½ Stars. Breakthrough satire/comedy/horror tale. Black kid visits white girlfriend's secluded home, and suspects something weird. Comic Jordan Peele directs with a sure hand.
Their Finest - 3½ Stars. A young woman comes of age during the World War II London Blitz as a script writing working on morale boosting government films. A winning mix of oddballs and romance, amidst the daily threat of death.
Norman - 3 Stars. Richard Gere as a New York sharpie. A brilliant character study in the style of "Being There," about a guy who just has to be in the action, and the price he pays,once he gets in it.
Snatched - 3 Stars. Amy Schumer teams with Goldie Hawn as a daughter & mother, kidnapped in the jungle. The laugh-out-loud moments come early and often. Usually "R" rated and great fun.
I Am Not Your Negro - 3 Stars. James Baldwin’s haunting writings brought to life with the voice of Samuel Jackson.
The Lovers - 2½ Stars. Inspiring story of three brilliant black women who faced prejudice and gender discrimination working in the space program in 1961. They kept John Glenn aloft.
Gifted - 2½ Stars. Family custody drama over a math prodigy. The kid is cute; but the story's familiar. and I didn't buy the resolution.
Going in Style - 2½ Stars. Better-than-expected remake of 1979 George Burns comedy, with Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, and Alan Arkin as angry senior citizens, turned bank robbers.
Best New Bet > Paris Can Wait - 2 Stars. Diane Lane travels the French countryside with Arnaud Viard, while her husband (Alec Baldwin) goes to Budapest for business. Will she or won't she?
Colossal - 2 Stars. Anne Hathaway stars as a millennial trainwreck, somehow connected with a Godzilla-style monster terrorizing Seoul. Full of metaphors, but not nearly as cool as some would have you think.
The Zookeeper's Wife - 2 Stars. A Warsaw family uses their zoo to protect Jewish refugees during the Nazi reign. Falls short of better Holocaust stories.
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword - 1 Star. Exhausting King Arthur "origin" story goes long on special effects and CGI monsters, and short on good storytelling.
The Circle - Zero Stars. Cliche-ridden high-tech thriller in which Emma Watson does a lot of speechifying, as she dreams up ideas for an evil high-tech outfit. With Tom Hanks and Patton Oswalt, both poorly used.
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.
