TAGGED AS: Certified Fresh
This week at the movies, we’ve got an army of minions (Despicable Me 2, with voice work by Steve Carell and Kristen Wiig) and a legendary masked man (The Lone Ranger, starring Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer). What do the critics have to say?
Those jovial, irrepressible minions are back. Critics say Despicable Me 2 isn’t as fresh as its predecessor, but it’s goofy, colorful, and often very funny. This time out, erstwhile bad guy Gru (voiced by Steve Carell) is recruited by the Anti-Villain League agent Lucy Wilde (Kristen Wiig) to stop a criminal mastermind. Gru takes a shine to Lucy, and the minions make plenty of mischief. The pundits say the Certified Fresh Despicable Me 2 should delight the kiddies, and though it isn’t particularly deep, it’s sweet, silly, and energetic.
Bad news, Kemosabe: critics say Gore Verbinski‘s big-budget adaptation of The Lone Ranger is bombastic, overlong, and altogether misguided, stranding its strong cast in a plot that succumbs to jarring tonal shifts. Tonto (Johnny Depp) narrates the tale of the Lone Ranger (Arnie Hammer), a lawyer-cum-masked vigilante who vows revenge after a murderous psychopath kills his brother; what follows is a series of shootouts and chases against the picturesque backdrop of the old West. The pundits say Depp and Hammer are charming leads, but they’re surrounded by a film that can never decide whether it’s an action flick, a comedy, or a revisionist drama.
Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me, a documentary about the influential and under-heralded power pop band, is at 100 percent.
The Way, Way Back, starring Sam Rockwell and Steve Carell in a dramedy about a lonely teenager who befriends the manager of a water park, is at 85 percent.
The Look of Love, starring Steve Coogan and Anna Friel in a biopic of British porn mogul Paul Raymond, is at 67 percent.
Stuck in Love, starring Greg Kinnear and Jennifer Connelly in a dramedy about a once-celebrated writer who still pines for his ex-wife, is at 56 percent.
Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain, a concert doc featuring footage from the comedian’s sold-out Madison Square Garden show, is at 50 percent.
