Critics Consensus

The Witch and Eye in the Sky are Certified Fresh

Plus, I Saw the Light is a disappointing biopic, and God's Not Dead 2 and Meet the Blacks were not screened for critics.

by Tim Ryan , Ryan Fujitani | March 31, 2016

This week at the movies, we’ve got demonic happenings (The Witch, starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Ralph Ineson), a muddled military mission (Eye in the Sky. starring Helen Mirren and Aaron Paul), cheatin’ hearts (I Saw the Light, starring Tom Hiddleston and Elizabeth Olsen), a contentious courtroom (God’s Not Dead 2, starring Melissa Joan Hart and Jesse Metcalfe), and a family under siege (Meet the Blacks, starring Mike Epps and Charlie Murphy). What do the critics have to say?

The Witch (2015)

91%

The Witch returns to exactly 666 theaters this weekend, so audiences will get another chance to bask in its sinister glow. Set in New England in the 1600s, The Witch is the tale of a family that establishes a homestead in a remote wooded area after being exiled from their Puritan community. But when they are threatened by otherworldly horrors, the family members accuse each other of consorting with the demonic. Critics say the Certified Fresh The Witch conjures a mood of profound dread that will linger long after the lights go up in the theater.

Eye in the Sky (2015)

95%

Eye in the Sky has earned praise for its thoughtful, tense depiction of the moral hazards of drone warfare, and now, this Certified Fresh thriller expands to wide release this weekend. A thriller about a military mission to capture a terrorist that escalates to dangerous levels, the film stars Helen Mirren, Aaron Paul, Barkhad Abdi, and, in his final role, Alan Rickman.

I Saw the Light (2015)

19%

Hank Williams remains one of popular music’s most beloved and influential figures, but critics say that, despite a fine lead performance from Tom Hiddleston, I Saw The Light is too episodic and cliched to do justice to the astonishing songs and colorful life of its subject.

God's Not Dead 2 (2016)

10%

Neither God’s Not Dead 2 nor Meet the Blacks were widely screened for critics prior to their releases in theaters Friday. The former is a loose sequel to the wildly profitable eveangelical hit, and stars Melissa Joan Hart as a teacher on trial for teaching the Bible in her public school classroom; the latter stars Mike Epps in a comedy about a family whose relocation to a posh new neighborhood coincides with violent looting and burglary a la The Purge.

What’s Hot on TV

The Path: Season 1

78%

With strong performances, deep writing, and skilled direction, The Path offers an absorbing observation of the human condition, even if a rushed pace occasionally blunts the impact.

Also Opening This Week In Limited Release

The Dark Horse (2014) 97% , starring Cliff Curtis as a mentally ill former chess champion who attempts to rescue his nephew from a life of crime, is at 97 percent.
Everybody Wants Some!! (2016) 87% , Richard Linklater‘s freewheeling comedy about a party-hearty college baseball team, is at 97 percent.
Francofonia (2015) 87% , a documentary tour of the Louvre museum through a historical lens, is at 93 percent.
Standing Tall (2015) 81% , a French drama about a troubled youth and the adoptive family who attempts to keep him out of trouble, is at 88 percent.
Thank You for Playing (2015) 90% , a documentary about a programmer who develops a cancer-themed video game with his wife after their infant son is diagnosed with the disease, is at 88 percent.
Marinoni: The Fire in the Frame (2015) 70% , a documentary about bicycle craftsman Giuseppe Marinoni’s attempt to break a world record, is at 83 percent.
Darling (2015) 69% , a psychological thriller about a lonely woman who loses her grip on reality after moving into a purportedly haunted mansion, is at 73 percent.
Miles Ahead (2016) 74% , directed by and starring Don Cheadle in a biopic of legendary jazz trumpeter Miles Davis, is at 70 percent.
Pandemic (2016) 47% , starring Rachel Nichols and Alfie Allen in a sci-fi thriller about a doctor searching for the cure to a virus that has overtaken the planet, is at 43 percent.
Kill Your Friends (2015) 24% , starring Nicholas Hoult in a dark comedy about a despicable, ambitious A&R man attempting to keep his career afloat in the 1990s, is at 27 percent.
The Girl in the Photographs (2015) 17% , starring Claudia Lee and Kal Penn in a thriller about a woman who begins receiving gory photographs from a pair of serial killers, is at 14 percent.