After a decade of bit parts, many of them within the gainful employ of Steven Soderbergh’s production company, Viola Davis broke into the mainstream with a movie-stealing turn – and from Meryl Streep! – in 2008’s Catholic Church child abuse drama Doubt. Davis has all of 10 minutes of screen time in Doubt but earned an Oscar nomination for her work, joining the likes of Ruby Dee for American Gangster or Ned Beatty for Network of Oscar nominees who made the most out of their single-scene appearances. Yet, Davis forms Doubt’s emotional pillar, powerfully delivering social and cultural history that further obfuscates the film’s central mystery.
Davis has been releasing multiple movies a year ever since, frequently playing women of power or high up in their professions, in the likes of Law Abiding Citizen, Knight & Day, Ender’s Game, and Suicide Squad, as Amanda Waller, one of that movie’s rare bright spots. And Davis has frequently reached the same heights as Doubt in Certified Fresh films like Widows, The Help (receiving a Lead Actress nomination), and Fences, for which she won a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award. Davis got another Lead Actress nom for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, and she returned as Waller for James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad. And now, we’re ranking all Viola Davis movies by Tomatometer! —Alex Vo
Critics Consensus: Framed by a pair of powerhouse performances, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom pays affectionate tribute to a blues legend -- and Black culture at large.
Synopsis: Tensions and temperatures rise at a Chicago music studio in 1927 when fiery, fearless blues singer Ma Rainey joins her [More]
Critics Consensus: From its reunited Broadway stars to its screenplay, the solidly crafted Fences finds its Pulitzer-winning source material fundamentally unchanged -- and still just as powerful.
Synopsis: Troy Maxson (Denzel Washington) makes his living as a sanitation worker in 1950s Pittsburgh. Maxson once dreamed of becoming a [More]
Critics Consensus:Widows rounds up a stellar ensemble for a heist thriller that mixes popcorn entertainment with a message - and marks another artistic leap for director Steve McQueen.
Synopsis: A police shootout leaves four thieves dead during an explosive armed robbery attempt in Chicago. Their widows -- Veronica, Linda, [More]
Critics Consensus: Enlivened by writer-director James Gunn's singularly skewed vision, The Suicide Squad marks a funny, fast-paced rebound that plays to the source material's violent, anarchic strengths.
Synopsis: Welcome to hell--a.k.a. Belle Reve, the prison with the highest mortality rate in the US of A. Where the worst [More]
Critics Consensus: A taut, well-acted political thriller, State of Play overcomes some unsubtle plot twists with an intelligent script and swift direction.
Synopsis: Congressman Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck) is a rising star in Washington; handsome, unflappable and seemingly honorable, he's seen as his [More]
Critics Consensus: Director David Schwimmer gets some gut-wrenching performances out of his actors but he still lacks the chops to fully ratchet up story tension.
Synopsis: A man (Clive Owen) has difficulty coping with the knowledge that his 14-year-daughter (Liana Liberato) was assaulted by a sexual [More]
Critics Consensus: Though it fails to fully engage with its racial themes, The Help rises on the strength of its cast -- particularly Viola Davis, whose performance is powerful enough to carry the film on its own.
Synopsis: In 1960s Mississippi, Southern society girl Skeeter (Emma Stone) returns from college with dreams of being a writer. She turns [More]
Critics Consensus: Led by strong performances from Jessica Chastain and James McAvoy, The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby is a hauntingly original rumination on love and loss.
Synopsis: Following the death of their child, a woman (Jessica Chastain) leaves her husband (James McAvoy) and flees to the suburban [More]
Critics Consensus: If it isn't quite as thought-provoking as the book, Ender's Game still manages to offer a commendable number of well-acted, solidly written sci-fi thrills.
Synopsis: When hostile aliens called the Formics attack Earth, only the legendary heroics of Mazer Rackham (Ben Kingsley) manage to attain [More]
Critics Consensus: It's amiable, and it does a surprisingly good job of sidestepping psych ward comedy cliches, but given its talented cast and directors, It's Kind of a Funny Story should be more than just mildly entertaining.
Synopsis: Stressed by adolescence, 16-year-old Craig Gilner (Keir Gilchrist) checks himself into a mental-health clinic. Unfortunately, the youth wing is closed, [More]
Critics Consensus: It's pure formula, but thanks to its breezy pace and a pair of charming performances from Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz, Knight and Day offers some agreeably middle-of-the-road summer action.
Synopsis: June Havens (Cameron Diaz) chats up her charming seatmate on a flight out of Kansas, but she doesn't realize that [More]
Critics Consensus: Charming romantic leads and esteemed supporting cast aside, Beautiful Creatures is a plodding YA novel adaptation that feels watered down for the Twilight set.
Synopsis: In the small town of Gatlin, S.C., teenage Ethan Wate (Alden Ehrenreich) sees his static world shaken by the arrival [More]
Critics Consensus:Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close has a story worth telling, but it deserves better than the treacly and pretentious treatment director Stephen Daldry gives it.
Synopsis: Oskar (Thomas Horn), who lost his father (Tom Hanks) in the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center, is convinced [More]
Critics Consensus:Lila & Eve gets some mileage out of its formidable stars, with Viola Davis in particular proving that she will commandingly commit to any material, but this is a revenge flick served stale due to a lackluster script.
Synopsis: After the senseless murder of her son (Aml Ameen), a grief-stricken mother (Viola Davis) joins forces with another woman (Jennifer [More]
Critics Consensus:The Unforgivable proves Sandra Bullock is more than capable of playing against type, but her performance is wasted on a contrived and unrelentingly grim story.
Synopsis: Released from prison after serving a sentence for a violent crime, Ruth Slater (Sandra Bullock) re-enters a society that refuses [More]
Critics Consensus: The scenery is nice to look at, and Julia Roberts is as luminous as ever, but without the spiritual and emotional weight of the book that inspired it, Eat Pray Love is too shallow to resonate.
Synopsis: Liz Gilbert (Julia Roberts) thought she had everything she wanted in life: a home, a husband and a successful career. [More]
Critics Consensus: Despite the best efforts of its talented leads, Won't Back Down fails to lend sufficient dramatic heft or sophistication to the hot-button issue of education reform.
Synopsis: Jamie Fitzpatrick (Maggie Gyllenhaal) and Nona Alberts (Viola Davis) are two women from opposites sides of the social and economic [More]
Critics Consensus: Derivative and schmaltzy, Nicholas Sparks' Nights in Rodanthe is strongly mottled by contrivances that even the charisma of stars Diane Lane and Richard Gere can't repair.
Synopsis: When Adrienne Willis (Diane Lane) arrives at the coastal town of Rodanthe, N.C., her life is in chaos. There, she [More]
Critics Consensus: Divided between sincere melodrama and populist comedy, Madea Goes to Jail fails to provide enough laughs -- or screen time -- for its titular heroine.
Synopsis: After a high-speed car chase, Madea (Tyler Perry) winds up behind bars because her quick temper gets the best of [More]
Critics Consensus:Suicide Squad boasts a talented cast and a little more humor than previous DCEU efforts, but they aren't enough to save the disappointing end result from a muddled plot, thinly written characters, and choppy directing.
Synopsis: Figuring they're all expendable, a U.S. intelligence officer decides to assemble a team of dangerous, incarcerated supervillains for a top-secret [More]
As Thanksgiving approaches, stuff yourself on this platter of the 24 biggest, most famous movie turkeys — movies audiences had anticipated, expected, and even hoped to be Fresh on the Tomatometer, only to come out Rotten as branded by the critics. (Only movies made after Rotten Tomatoes came into existence, though! Because, Ishtar, we’re nice people.)
The Tourist (2010, 20%)
The amazingly monikered Florian Henckel Von Donnersmark made a huge debut on the world stage with Berlin Wall
thriller The Lives of Others, which scored 93% with critics. His splashy American follow-up, The
Tourist with Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie, bombed at 20%. The movie was then mocked at the Golden Globes by host Ricky Gervais after its, ahem,
prestigious and non-suspicious Best Picture nomination.
The Snowman (2017, 8%)
Tomas Alfredson, who directed beloved vampiric Let the Right One In and the Certified Fresh Tinker
Tailor Soldier Spy, was able to attract a stacked cast for Snowman (including Michael Fassbender,
Rebecca Ferguson, J.K. Simmons, and Charlotte Gainsbourg), only for its critical hopes to melt away at 8%.
Alfredson attributes the failure
to having too much money and not enough time during production, leaving whole crucial passages of the book
unfilmed.
Assassin’s Creed (2016, 17%)
Speakin’ of the Fassbend, Michael has had seven movies come out over the last two years, all but one Rotten
(Alien: Covenant was Fresh, but didn’t seem like anybody really enjoyed it). We were hoping that
Assassin’s Creed would break the video game movie curse, especially if you consider Fassbender produced
it, the guy who did 2015’s Macbeth directed it, and Marion Cotillard was there somewhere, too. Alas,
the film spends too much time in the present and not enough action scenes in old Spain jumping
off church steeples into bales of hay.
Warcraft (2016, 28%)
2016, in fact, was the year that the video game movie curse could’ve been laid to waste. Four major
adaptations were released into theaters — couldn’t just one of them have been Fresh? Beyond Assassin’s
Creed, nobody was expecting much out of The Angry Birds Movie or Ratchet & Clank, so the
waypoint was then pinned on Warcraft. It was directed by professed superfan Duncan Jones
(Moon, Source Code), which turned out to be a detriment — too much fan service and granular
lore with a truncated runtime left mainstream audiences in the lurch.
Suicide Squad (2016, 26%)
After two dour Superman movies from Zack Snyder, comic book fans were hoping to hang their cape on
Suicide Squad for a little levity in the world of DC. Squad was the live-action debut of fan
favorite Harley Quinn, it had Will Smith, the promotional material and trailers were on point, and director
David Ayer had proven himself in other tough genres. Alas, it had the same incomprehensible plotting and muddled
character treatment that plagued the preceding DCEU efforts.
The Counselor (2013, 35%)
Ridley Scott! Directing from an original script by Cormac McCarthy! What could go wrong? How about the fact
that, despite his A-list status, every other movie Scott directs is actually Rotten? Or that McCarthy had never
written a screenplay before, and his trademark gritty pontificating does not a good script make?
Live By Night (2017, 35%)
At one point, each Ben Affleck-directed movie was ranked 94%. That’s even
more impressive than winning the big Oscar for a movie about a fake science-fiction movie (the closest that
genre will ever get to Best Picture). So Live by Night, Affleck’s gangster period piece, had all the
trappings of another success. And that’s all the more alarming when critics riddled it with a 35% score, leading
to a $10 million domestic gross.
Star Wars: Episode 1 – The
Phantom Menace (1999, 56%)
Patience measured by decades. An entire Expanded Universe created from the ashes of Alderaan by fans and
professionals alike. A couple good video game tie-ins. For Jar Jar Binks and an early death for Darth Maul? Good
thing The Matrix came out the same year.
Blackhat (2015, 33%)
Michael Mann’s made some spotty movies in his career, which would be more forgivable if he actually made more of
them! As such, Blackhat, Mann’s dunderheaded technothriller and his first movie in six years (after the
just-okay Public Enemies), remains his last statement in the film world. At least, until Enzo
Ferrari comes out, which starts production next year.
The Beach (2000, 19%)
Just two years into Rotten Tomatoes’ infancy, and four years after the groundbreaking
Trainspotting, Danny Boyle’s The Beach was a high-profile embarrassment that caused the
director and his star Leonardo DiCaprio — still in the suffocating afterglow of Titanic — to hit the
comeback trail. Boyle’s next movie would be zombie flick-revitalizer 28 Days Later, while DiCaprio
bided his time subjugating
Don’s Plum. Oh, and starting a
fruitful working relationship with Martin Scorsese.
A Good Day to Die Hard (2013,
14%)
Nobody was clamoring for a new Die Hard, especially a PG-13 take 12 years after With a
Vengeance. But it came. And it was pretty good! Even with Justin Long! So when another Die Hard
reared its shiny head, audiences met it with…not excitement, exactly, but not nearly the trepidation that’s
been attached to Bruce Willis movies of recent years. But how foolish were we! It would soon be clear as the
color of night that here came another phoned-in Willis performance, a sad yippie-kai-meh to one of America’s
most vital action icons.
John Carter (2012, 51%)
“Is it just me, or do we actually know how to do this better than live-action crews do?” Finding
Nemo director Andrew Stanton humbly pondered in a New Yorker piece during production
of John Carter (née Mars). Hopes were high for these Pixar directors to make good on breaking
free of the animation “ghetto” (Brad Bird made Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol the year before),
and rival executives were anticipating they’d be taken down a notch, especially for having the gall to adapt
something as difficult and weird as Edgar Rice Burroughs’ books. John Carter‘s anemic marketing and
failure to break past the Fresh barrier led to a cosmic box office bust.
Tomorrowland (2015, 50%)
Brad Bird himself needed to prepare for a rough landing with Tomorrowland. Up to that point, every movie
he directed had been Certified Fresh, including famously troubled Ratatouille, which he took over mid-
production. The mysterious marketing campaign drummed up a lot of intrigue and interest for some classical sci-
fi, though when critics and audiences planted themselves in theaters, they got a curiously empty, curiously Objectivist trifle.
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017, 29%)
H’wood has been drawing from the public domain well hardcore these past few years (think Jungle Book,
think Tarzan, think too many movies with the word Origins in the title), so what did this
movie with Charlie Hunnam as chav Arthur have going for it? Well, the director was Guy Ritchie, who was coming
off of cult pleaser Man From U.N.C.L.E. and did a bang-up job updating Sherlock Holmes. (That one time,
at least.) Did we mention Arthur as a chav? Oi! Ultimately, we’re calling this a major turkey because it
presaged for all the turkeys that would quickly follow: Summer 2017 was a tastefully apocalyptic season as
multiple Rotten blockbusters bombed in a row: Baywatch, Transformers: Is It The Fifth One?,
and Pirates: The One That Just Came Out. Naturally, when we got covered in The New
York Times, a major studio chief executive “declared flatly that his mission was to destroy the review-
aggregation site.”
Home on the Range (2004, 54$)
The year is 2004. It’s been 10 years since Walt Disney Animation’s last masterpiece, The Lion King. The
Pixar new wave had changed the industry, and traditional animation was on its way out. Home on the
Range was Disney’s attempt to match the high irreverence of 3D cartoons, which only alienated critics and
audiences. The studio produced only computer animation from there on, save for 2009’s The Princess and the
Frog, which, though Certified Fresh, would again fail to find a global audience.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014,
52%)
A Spidey reboot so soon after Sam Raimi’s infamous Spider-Man 3? Sony ran the risk of audiences
getting fed up being whipped around like so much wrist web around Manhattan, but that was before seeing how well
Andrew Garfield slipped into the role in the Certified Fresh Amazing Spider-Man.. Then came the sequel,
which, fittingly, had the same faults of Spider-Man 3: indifferent direction and way too many villains.
It was enough to get Sony to tie a complicated knot with Marvel, and bring the character over to the MCU.
Cowboys and Aliens (2011, 44%)
Harrison Ford back in a fedora? Daniel Craig in a major blockbuster post-Casino Royale? And if there
was a director that could bring all this together in the high concept Cowboys & Aliens, why not Jon
Faverau, the guy who turned a B-list Marvel superhero like Tony Stark into moviedom’s #1 attraction? Alas,
C&A took its concept way too seriously.
The Happening (2008, 18%) The Village has its defenders, but Lady in the Water was a total dud. Maybe what M. Night
Shayamalan needed was a less restrictive sandbox to mess around in. The marketing for The Happening
played up that this was his first R-rated feature and kept the premise under wraps. As though Mark
Wahlberg talking to a plastic plant is a joy that needed to be hidden from the world.
The Last Airbender (2010, 6%)
Okay, maaaaybe what Shayamalan needed was to make an epic! With lots of money! Based on a beloved
television property! Just watch this to see how that
turned out.
Gigli (2003, 7%)
Like a case of collective Stockholm Syndrome, America was getting used to “Bennifer,” the pagan portmanteau
denoting the holy unity of Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez. “Bennifer Spotted at Venice Farmers Market, Rejecting
Wrinkled Squash,” the headlines read. “Bennifer Snorkeling Off Point Dume,” “Bennifer Anticipates Rise of Silver
Lake Neighborhood as Hipster Enclave, Escorted Out of HOA Meeting,” and so on. So when negative chatter arose
over Gigli, a monument to Bennifer’s enduring love, that the movie was actually a complete
embarrassment, we thought, “Could it be? Truly? Gobble,
gobble.”
Battlefield Earth (2000, 3%)
The post-Pulp Fiction comeback of John Travolta came to an official, screeching, Dutch-angled end with
Battlefield Earth, a supremely hokey sci-fi epic adapted from Scientology mastermind L. Ron Hubbard.
The Book of Henry (2017, 21%)
After directing Jurassic World to $1.5 billion and signing on to do the ninth Star Wars movie,
Colin Trevorrow took a quick detour to make passion project The Book of Henry. It’s a
manipulative, misconceived movie involving adult predators, dead kids and brain tumors, and Naomi Watts prowling
the neighborhood with a sniper rifle. The movie choked on a 21% Tomatometer, and three months later, Trevorrow
exited from directing Star Wars.
Collateral Beauty (2016, 13%)
Another movie that informs us how to live, truly live, courtesy of characters who are afflicted with
everything. Will Smith has a dead kid, and wears a beanie. Michael Pena has handsome man cancer. Kate
Winslet is too old to have kids. Edward Norton is a cold and distant person. He’s also in this movie. The latter
three team up to oust Smith from his own company, turning to three thespians pretending to be Death, Time, and
Love. In a mawkish twist, they actually are those concepts in the flesh. Collateral Beauty is
the feel good movie from Hollywood execs numb to reality.
Cars 2 (2011, 39%)
This movie ended Pixar’s unprecedented 16-year Certified Fresh streak. Kachow!
We meet again. Here, on the internet. What are the odds? You, me, at this junction in this series of tubes, when we could be anywhere else online: Watching a movie, scattering reasonable comments on news, or ordering replacement Encarta 95 discs. All just wonderful stuff.
But were you aware of the internet’s dark side? This Friday, Friend Request plays on every parent’s worst online fears: That their daughter will become Snapface friends with a thing that looks like a man but the thing is really the devil!! Welcome to the darkest web, triggering this week’s gallery of 24 best and worst movies about the internet by Tomatometer!
The Social Network (2010, 96%)
The story of Facebook…Sorkinized! Scintilating drama, paced as a David Fincher thriller with a loose interpretation of actual events got one big ‘like’ from critics and audiences alike.
Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World (2016, 94%)
Werner Herzog filters our online revolution through his trademark humanist lens, in-between eating shoes and absorbing bullets. Is there anything this man can’t do?
The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz (2014, 93%)
The life of the open access and online freedom trailblazer, from childhood to suicide from government prosecution case.
We Live In Public (2009, 81%)
Get lost in the post-privacy world with another Internet pioneer: Josh Harris, who infamously got 100 acquaintences to live in an underground hamlet whose every movements were captured and broadcast online.
Catfish (2010, 80%)
You can give Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman a fish and they’ll eat for a day, but if you give them Catfish, then they’ll have a Hollywood career: After this documentary of meeting strangers IRL, the pair went on to direct two Paranormal Activites and the internet-themed Nerve.
Life In A Day (2011, 80%)
Where were you July 24, 2010? See what everyone else was up in this documentary culled from 4,500 hours of home footage uploaded onto YouTube on that day.
Trust (2011, 78%)
Director David Schwimmer gets some gut-wrenching performances out of the actors in this cautionary tale of a family dealing with the aftermath of an online predator targeting their kid.
You’ve Got Mail (1998, 69%)
A volcano didn’t kill them, and Seattle Freeze couldn’t keep apart Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, America’s pre-2000 sweethearts. Here, they conquer the scourge of dial-up connection.
Disconnect (2013, 67%)
It’s didactic in spots and melodramatic in others, but Disconnect‘s strong cast helps make it a timely, effective exploration of modern society’s technological overload.
Nerve (2016, 65%) Nerve‘s fast pace and charming leads help overcome a number of fundamental flaws, adding up to a teen-friendly thriller with enough energy to occasionally offset its muddled execution.
Unfriended (2015, 62%) Unfriended subverts found-footage horror clichés to deliver a surprisingly scary entry in the teen slasher genre with a technological twist.
Snowden (2016, 61%) Snowden boasts a thrilling fact-based tale and a solid lead performance from Joseph Gordon-Levitt, even if director Oliver Stone saps the story of some of its impact by playing it safe.
Middle Men (2010, 40%)
Porn wasn’t always on the internet: it took the hard work of good, decent men to will it into existence.
The Fifth Estate (2013, 37%)
Heavy on detail and melodrama but missing the spark from its real-life inspiration, The Fifth Estate mostly serves as a middling showcase for Benedict Cumberbatch performance as WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange.
The Net (1995, 36%)
It was the year after Speed and America was clamoring for more Sandy; what we got was this tech-inaccurate thriller where Bullock has her identity stolen and erased online.
Blackhat (2015, 34%)
Michael Mann’s first movie in six years wasn’t exactly cause for celebration; the convoluted plot, techie jargon, and lack of Mannly action caused audiences to steer clear.
Men, Women, and Children (32%)
A film about the deletrious effects of constant connection, though critics were unimpressed with director Jason Reitman’s blunt, overbearing approach.
Hackers (1995, 32%)
Hack the planet! Critics have always found this cheesy and now dated, though audiences have been more forgiving: what was once state-of-the-art tech now has a nostalgic patina.
Antitrust (2001, 24%)
Due to its use of cliched and ludicrous plot devices, this thriller is more predictable than suspenseful. Also, the acting is bad.
Untraceable (2008, 16%)
It’s 2008, the height of torture porn, and even Diane Lane got in on the action: She plays an FBI agent chasing a psycho who tortures and murders his victims live if his website gets enough traffic. Death by Google Analytics!
Halloween: Resurrection (2002, 12%)
Jamie Lee Curtis, Busta Rhymes, and Tyra Banks are trapped in Mikey Myers’ childhood home as he stalks his victims while the proceedings are broadcast live on the internet.
Pulse (2006, 10%)
Cordcutting takes on new urgency for Kirsten Bell when the dead use the internet, phones, and TVs to return and menace the living.
Strangeland (1998, 6%)
Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider stars as Captain Howdy, who lures teenagers in chatrooms over to his place and subjects them to involuntary body art and torture.
FeardotCom (2002, 3%)
The only site more damaging to your health than the early versions of Rotten Tomatoes.
It’s another thin week on home video, but we’ve at least got one Oscar-winning drama, followed by a couple of movies with big stars that flopped at the theaters in early 2015. You can watch those at your own risk, but for better or worse, read on for all the details:
Since the other big releases coming out this week were fairly heavy misfires, let’s start with the smaller movie that actually earned critical acclaim. Julianne Moore earned her fifth Oscar nomination and first Best Actress Academy Award for her work in Still Alice, a drama based on the Lisa Genova novel of the same name about a linguistics professor (Moore) struggling with the effects of early onset Alzheimer’s disease. The film earned a Certified Fresh 89 percent on the Tomatometer, thanks largely to Moore’s stellar, heartbreaking performance and a gentle touch with some sensitive themes. Moore’s career is filled with accolades, and most critics felt that Still Alice was a worthy choice to win her the Oscar. It’s not a feelgood story by any means, but it’s a touching, well-acted, sincere vehicle for an outstanding veteran actress to demonstrate her considerable talents.
And now, for the not so acclaimed movies. Chris Hemsworth is undeniably a star, especially when you consider the number of people online crying foul over the limited screentime Thor got in the new Avengers movie. But Hemsworth’s star power wasn’t enough to generate a fat box office take or good reviews for Blackhat, an espionage thriller that opened during the January dead zone, even with Michael Mann at the helm. The story revolves around a brilliant criminal hacker (Hemsworth) whose talents are called upon by the FBI and the Chinese government to help track down a network of cyberterrorists. Pretty timely stuff, right? Unfortunately, critics found the film stale and mostly lifeless, benefiting little from Mann’s typically stylish direction and mistaking the frantic click-clack of a keyboard for suspense. At just 33 percent on the Tomatometer, it’s a false step for Hemsworth and another unfortunate blemish on Mann’s recent filmography.
As a screenwriter, David Koepp’s got a few heavy hitters on his resume (Jurassic Park, Mission: Impossible, Spider-Man), and his last two films as director (Ghost Town, Premium Rush) were both Certified Fresh. So what happened with Mortdecai? Johnny Depp stars as the titular art dealer and “part time rogue,” who embarks on a globetrotting adventure to retrieve a painting that may hold the key to secret Nazi gold. It seems like a hoot of a caper, which is probably why folks like Gwyneth Paltrow, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Goldblum, Paul Bettany and more signed up for it. Talk to most of the critics who saw it, though, and they’ll tell you that it feels dated, it’s more than a little weird, and it isn’t particularly funny. There’s gagging, potential testicle electrocution, and a manservant named Jock Strapp. It’s also at 13 percent on the Tomatometer. Take that information and do with it what you will.
ALSO AVAILABLE THIS WEEK:
Make Way for Tomorrow(1936) (100 percent), Leo McCarey’s 1936 drama depicting a Depression-era family’s troubles, as told through the elderly mother and father, is Criterion’s offering this week in a new Blu-ray. These Final Hours(2015) (78 percent), an apocalyptic drama about a man desperate to reach his girlfriend amidst societal chaos as the end of the world draws near. The Cobbler(2015) (9 percent), starring Adam Sandler and Method Man in Tom McCarthy’s magical realist fable about a cobbler who is able to experience other people’s lives when he wears their shoes.
Blackhat is a cyber-thriller from director Michael Mann. Grae Drake finds out if star Tang Wei has ever been a victim of identity theft, and gets Chris Hemsworth to share his experience preparing for his role as a convicted hacker (hint: it involves going to an actual prison where the inmates have seen his superhero movies).
As a director, Clint Eastwood is one of cinema’s greatest chroniclers of troubled tough guys. Critics say American Sniper is a tense, kinetic drama that has much to say about the emotional toll of war — even if it fudges some of the facts about its real-life subject. Bradley Cooper stars as Chris Kyle, a Navy SEAL sniper who achieved near-legendary status for his fearlessness and shooting accuracy. But when he left the service, Kyle’s place in the world became less certain. The pundits say American Sniper avoids some of the more controversial aspects of Kyle’s life, but it’s still a bracing, tense, powerfully acted portrait of a supremely talented soldier at war with himself.
The bear from darkest Peru is one of the brightest lights of the young movie year. Critics say Paddington is the best kind of family film — it’s funny, thoughtful, deeply heartfelt, and filled with strong characters. After stowing away on a boat, the titular bear arrives in London and is discovered by the Brown family, who bring him into their home. Paddington is a stranger in a strange land, but he does his best to adjust to city life; unfortunately, he also draws the attention of a devious taxidermist. The pundits say the Certified Fresh Paddington maintains the cheer and whimsy of Michael Bond’s books, while teaching children a gentle lesson in tolerance. (Check out star Hugh Bonneville’s Five Favorite Films, as well as our interviews with the cast and crew.)
It’s tough to make computing look cool on the big screen. Critics say even a talented director like Michael Mann can only add so much to something like Blackhat, a cyberthriller that’s long on visual razzle-dazzle but short on tension and believability. Chris Hemsworth stars as Nick Hathaway, a brilliant hacker who’s serving prison time. However, when U.S. intelligence agents team up with the Chinese government to investigate a devastating act of cyberterrorism, they spring Hathaway from the joint to help solve the case. The pundits say Blackhat squanders its timely premise on a silly plotting and dialogue, though it does have a sense of visual panache.
Kevin Hart is one of the funniest men on the planet, but critics say his comic exuberance can’t save The Wedding Ringer, a thoroughly so-so bromance with a few good gags but a whole lot of dead spots. Hart stars as Jimmy, who provides an unusual service: he serves as the best man for socially awkward, soon-to-be-wedded guys. While giving Doug (Josh Gad) instructions on how to act cool, Jimmy stars to actually like the big galoot. The pundits say Hart tries his best, but the pace is slack and too many of the jokes are of the gross-out variety. (Check out our interviews with Kevin Hart, Josh Gad, and Kaley Cuoco.)
What’s Hot On TV:
Critics say Togetherness (Certified Fresh at 94 percent) is a delightful surprise that interweaves day-to-day life with moving, dramatic characters who have an affinity for deprecating, squirmy humor.
The critics say Man Seeking Woman (92 percent) is easy to fall for, taking a ridiculously funny approach to a common theme with amusingly surreality and enjoyable oddness.
The pundits say Girls (Certified Fresh at 86 percent) is familiar after four seasons, but its convoluted-yet-comical depiction of young women dealing with the real world still manages to impress.
Also opening this week in limited release:
Appropriate Behavior, a comedy about a film teacher trying to pick up the pieces after being dumped by her girlfriend, is at 94 percent.
Gangs of Wasseypur, a drama about the rise and fall of an Indian crime family over the course of several decades, is at 93 percent.
Human Capital, a thriller about two prominent Italian families whose fortunes take an unfortunate turn after a devastating car accident, is at 76 percent.
Match, starring Patrick Stewart and Carla Gugino in a drama about a legendary Juilliard dance professor who agrees to be interviewed by a grad student, is at 72 percent.
Joy of Man’s Desiring, a cinéma vérité portrait of factory workers and their feelings about their jobs, is at 71 percent.
Still Life, starring Eddie Marsan and Joanne Froggatt in a drama about a beaurocrat who develops a bond with the daughter of a man who died alone, is at 62 percent.
Spare Parts, starring George Lopez an Marisa Tomei in a drama about a robotics club from an inner city high school that took on Ivy League schools in a national robot competition, is at 50 percent.
Loitering With Intent, starring Marisa Tomei and Sam Rockwell in a comedy about screenwriters who are rudely interrupted while working on a script in a rural cabin, is at 40 percent.
Vice, starring Bruce Willis and Thomas Jane in a sci-fi action film about a cyborg who seeks revenge against the owner of a robot-staffed resort, is at zero percent.
97%
69%
58%
