Critics Consensus: Ant-Man Is Certified Fresh

Ant-Man

83%

Guardians of the Galaxy proved that even Marvel’s second-string heroes could shine on the big screen. Critics say Ant-Man continues the trend — it’s an energetic, tongue-in-cheek caper flick that builds to a thrilling climax, even if it doesn’t deviate much from Marvel’s established template. Rudd stars as Scott Lang, an ex-con looking to go straight who’s recruited by the brilliant scientist Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) to execute a daring heist. Donning a suit that allows him to change size, Lang must iinfiltrate Pym’s old lab in order to ensure that a revolutionary technology doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. The pundits say the Certified Fresh Ant-Man‘s B-movie sensibility and Rudd’s puckish humor carry the day over the movie’s more conventional superhero elements. (Watch our video interviews with Rudd, Douglas, and co-stars Evangeline Lilly, Corey Stoll, Michael Pena, David Dastmalchian, T.I., and director Peyton Reed.)

Trainwreck

84%

Raucous, raunchy, and insightful, Inside Amy Schumer is TV sketch comedy that soars on its star’s irrepressible charisma. Critics say Schumer’s personality shines through in Trainwreck, a sharp romantic comedy that’s both laugh-out-loud funny and occasionally quite touching. Schumer stars as a hard-partying magazine writer who has spent her life avoiding romantic entanglements — until she meets Aaron (Bill Hader). He’s successful , he’s earnest, and he really, really likes her; can our heroine find it in herself to settle down? The pundits say the Certified Fresh Trainwreck gets many of its biggest laughs from its wide range of supporting players, but it’s ultimately Schumer who ties the whole thing together. (Check out our video interviews with Schumer and co-star Vanessa Bayer.)
 

What’s On TV:

True Detective: Season 2 (2015) 47%

Though the final scene of True Detective‘s “Down Will Come” (52 percent) is spectacular, the events hardly feel earned after a brooding, clunky hour of storytelling.

 

Masters of Sex: Season 3 (2015) 69%

With a six-year leap forward in the timeline, season three of Masters of Sex (Certified Fresh at 76 percent) takes an intriguing dramatic turn, but may leave a few viewers feeling frustrated.

 

Ray Donovan: Season 3 (2015) 77%

Ray Donovan (77 percent) expands its canvas, delves deeper into its flawed characters, and grows more compelling as it goes along.

 

Also opening this week in limited release:

• Court, an Indian legal drama about the labyrinthine trial of a political activist on trumped-up charges, is at 100 percent.
• The Look of Silence, a documentary about the survivors of the Indonesian killings of 1965-66 and a companion piece to The Act of Killing, is Certified Fresh at 95 percent.
• A Hard Day, a Korean thriller about a detective whose involvement in a hit-and-run becomes part of a tangled criminal investigation, is at 85 percent.
• Alleluia, a thriller about a man who enlists a lonely widow to join his criminal hustle, is at 85 percent.
• Mr. Holmes, starring Ian McKellen and Laura Linney in a drama about an aging Sherlock Holmes in deep rumination about an unsolved case, is at 83 percent (check out this week’s Total Recall, in which we count down McKellen’s best-reviewed films).
• The Stanford Prison Experiment, starring Billy Crudup and Ezra Miller in a fictional recreation of the infamous psychological study, is at 81 percent.
• Woody Allen‘s Irrational Man, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Emma Stone in a dramedy about a philosophy professor who devises a murder plot to help a student in need, is at 41 percent.
• Lila & Eve, starring Viola Davis and Jennifer Lopez in a drama about a woman who vows to track down her son’s killers, is at 40 percent.
• The Ardor, starring Gael García Bernal and Alice Braga in a drama about a mysterious man who defends an Argentinean family from mercenaries who want their land, is at 28 percent.
• Jellyfish Eyes, an animated/live-action hybrid about a group of children who bond with fantastical monsters, is at 25 percent.
• Ooops! Noah is Gone…, an animated comedy about the animals that were unable to secure passage on Noah’s Ark, is at 20 percent.
• Safelight, starring Evan Peters and Juno Temple in a drama about the bond between a teenager and damaged prostitute, is at zero percent.