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Movie Reviews

How A 1981 Sondheim Flop Turned Out To Be The 'Best Worst Thing'

Then and now: In his new documentary Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened, director Lonny Price, left, reconnects with fellow cast members — including Ann Morrison and Jim Walton — from the 1981 Broadway flop, Merrily We Roll Along. DKC/O&M hide caption

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DKC/O&M

How A 1981 Sondheim Flop Turned Out To Be The 'Best Worst Thing'

January 17, 2017 • Most musicals that close after 16 performances barely prompt memories, let alone documentaries. But Merrily We Roll Along rolled along so bizarrely, it became the stuff of Broadway legend.

How A 1981 Sondheim Flop Turned Out To Be The 'Best Worst Thing'

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Hilarity And Hostility Converge In The Family Comedy 'Toni Erdmann'

Fresh Air

January 13, 2017 • The German film centers on a prankster father who barges into the life of his business consultant daughter. Critic David Edelstein says Toni Erdmann keeps you guessing — in a good way.

Hilarity And Hostility Converge In The Family Comedy 'Toni Erdmann'

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Claire (Betsy Brandt) and son Connor (Zev Haworth) search for closure in Claire in Motion. Breaking Glass Pictures hide caption

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Breaking Glass Pictures

'Claire In Motion,' Movie In Stasis

January 12, 2017 • Betsy Brandt plays a woman whose husband goes missing in this underwritten, willfully ambiguous film from writer-directors Lisa Robinson and Annie J. Howell.

'Patriots Day': A Painful, Painstaking Depiction Of The Boston Marathon Bombing

Mark Wahlberg in Peter Berg's Patriots Day. Karen Ballard/CBS Films hide caption

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Karen Ballard/CBS Films

'Patriots Day': A Painful, Painstaking Depiction Of The Boston Marathon Bombing

January 12, 2017 • The third collaboration between director Peter Berg and actor Mark Wahlberg offers a detail-rich and nuanced examination of the 2013 bombing and its chaotic aftermath.

'100 Streets' Tells Familiar Stories That Cross Race, Class And Generational Lines

Emily (Gemma Aterton) and Max (Idris Elba) in 100 Streets. Tristan Fewings/Getty Images hide caption

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Tristan Fewings/Getty Images

'100 Streets' Tells Familiar Stories That Cross Race, Class And Generational Lines

January 12, 2017 • Idris Elba stars in a London-set ensemble drama our critic calls "soapy, rote stuff," but it's representative of the new generation of filmmakers taking Britain's multiracial society as their subject.

'Alone In Berlin': A Grieving German Couple Sets Out To Undermine The Nazi Movement

Otto (Brendan Gleeson) and Anna (Emma Thompson) are Alone in Berlin. IFC Films hide caption

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IFC Films

'Alone In Berlin': A Grieving German Couple Sets Out To Undermine The Nazi Movement

January 12, 2017 • Brendan Gleeson and Emma Thompson deliver strong performances, but director Vincent Perez's staid historical drama swathes its subjects' radical actions in too much art-house-reverence.

'20th Century Women' Mixes Comedy With Disappointment And Loss

Fresh Air

January 12, 2017 • Set in 1979 Santa Barbara, Mike Mills' new film is the story of a teenage boy and the three women who teach him about life. Critic John Powers calls it an "amusing, deeply-felt work."

'20th Century Women' Mixes Comedy With Disappointment And Loss

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'Paterson' Paints A Delicate Portrait Of A Bus Driver Who Writes Poetry

Fresh Air

January 6, 2017 • Jim Jarmusch's new film, Paterson, was loosely inspired by William Carlos Williams' epic poem of the same name. Critic David Edelstein says the film expertly evokes the inner state of an artist.

'Paterson' Paints A Delicate Portrait Of A Bus Driver Who Writes Poetry

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Two Brothers Head Into 'The Ardennes' But Find Little That's Original

L to R: Sylvie (Veerle Baetens), Kenneth (Kevin Jannsens) and Dave (Jeroen Perceval) in The Ardennes. Film Movement hide caption

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Film Movement

Two Brothers Head Into 'The Ardennes' But Find Little That's Original

January 5, 2017 • Belgium's submission for the 2017 best-foreign-film Oscar is a visually stylish but highly derivative crime drama.

Betwixt And 'Between Us': Hipster Newlyweds Struggle To Stay Cool

Joined At The Tragically Hip: Dianne (Olivia Thirlby) and Henry (Ben Feldman) in Between Us. IFC Films hide caption

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IFC Films

Betwixt And 'Between Us': Hipster Newlyweds Struggle To Stay Cool

January 5, 2017 • A couple takes pride in rejecting the trappings of a conventional married life — but the form their rejection takes is so marked by cliché that the film fails to sustain interest.

In This Surprisingly Mature Kids' Movie, 'A Monster Calls' And A Boy Answers

Agony Ent: A grieving Conor (Lewis MacDougall) confronts his local monster (voiced by Liam Neeson). Travis Topa/Focus Features hide caption

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Travis Topa/Focus Features

In This Surprisingly Mature Kids' Movie, 'A Monster Calls' And A Boy Answers

January 5, 2017 • Screenwriter Patrick Ness adapts his YA novel about a monster who helps a boy deal with his mother's illness. The result is a film that confronts grief in a gratifyingly unsentimental way.

'Neruda' Affectionately Dismantles The Myth Surrounding The Chilean Poet

Luis Gnecco as Pablo Neruda in Pablo Larrain's Neruda. The Orchard hide caption

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The Orchard

'Neruda' Affectionately Dismantles The Myth Surrounding The Chilean Poet

December 29, 2016 • Director Pablo Larrain digs beneath the poetry to offer a warm, humorous and revealing biopic of Pablo Neruda, neatly avoiding the genre's tendency to lionize its subjects.

Affleck's 'Live By Night': An Ambitious, Frenetic But Overstuffed Gangster Film

Ben Affleck and Sienna Miller in Live by Night. Claire Folger/Warner Bros. Pictures hide caption

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Claire Folger/Warner Bros. Pictures

Affleck's 'Live By Night': An Ambitious, Frenetic But Overstuffed Gangster Film

December 29, 2016 • Ben Affleck wrote the screenplay, directed and stars in this bloated genre exercise, which never slows down enough to pack any real emotional impact.

Studios And Audiences Had Lots To Celebrate In 2016

I Am Not Your Negro uses the words of James Baldwin to analyze American attitudes toward race. Bob Adelman/Courtesy of Magnolia Pictures hide caption

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Bob Adelman/Courtesy of Magnolia Pictures

Studios And Audiences Had Lots To Celebrate In 2016

December 29, 2016 • This is the time of year when critics release their best-of lists. Usually, they pick the 10 best — but our film critic Bob Mondello couldn't narrow it down that much. He picked 18 of his favorites.

Studios And Audiences Had Lots To Celebrate In 2016

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'Toni Erdmann': A Practical-Joking Dad And His Too-Practical Daughter

Peter Simonischek and Sandra Hüller in the German-Austrian film Toni Erdmann. Sony Pictures Classics hide caption

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Sony Pictures Classics

'Toni Erdmann': A Practical-Joking Dad And His Too-Practical Daughter

December 28, 2016 • Shadow of a Doubtfire: In this "silly yet profoundly moving" German-Austrian comedy, a father uses disguises, a false identity and a whoopie cushion to get his corporate-minded daughter to loosen up.

A Sweet, Sleepy Fable Full Of Poetry And Zen: Jarmusch's 'Paterson'

Adam Driver and Golshifteh Farahani in Jim Jarmusch's Paterson. Mary Cybulski/Amazon Studios hide caption

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Mary Cybulski/Amazon Studios

A Sweet, Sleepy Fable Full Of Poetry And Zen: Jarmusch's 'Paterson'

December 27, 2016 • Adam Driver is a bus driver named Paterson in Paterson, a film set in Paterson, New Jersey, in which William Carlos Williams' epic poem "Paterson" figures largely. Keep up.

'Fences' And 'Hidden Figures' Explore Race, And More, In Midcentury America

December 26, 2016 • Hidden Figures is a true story about the African-American women of America's space program, and Fences is based on a play by August Wilson.

'Fences' And 'Hidden Figures' Explore Race, And More, In Midcentury America

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'Daniel Blake' Skewers The Red Tape That Keeps The Downtrodden Down

It's more than just the titular character in I, Daniel Blake who get stuck in the red tape. Joss Barratt/Courtesy of Sixteen Films hide caption

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Joss Barratt/Courtesy of Sixteen Films

'Daniel Blake' Skewers The Red Tape That Keeps The Downtrodden Down

December 23, 2016 • British director Ken Loach is both an award-winning filmmaker and a social activist. His latest film combines those passions.

'Daniel Blake' Skewers The Red Tape That Keeps The Downtrodden Down

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Scorsese's 'Silence': A Clash of Cultures — And Creeds — In 16th Century Japan

Liam Neeson is Father Ferreira in Martin Scorsese's Silence. Kerry Brown/Paramount Pictures hide caption

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Kerry Brown/Paramount Pictures

Scorsese's 'Silence': A Clash of Cultures — And Creeds — In 16th Century Japan

December 23, 2016 • Two Portuguese priests travel to Japan to find their mentor in Martin Scorsese's fairly conventional historical drama, which our critic calls "the director's most punishing film since Raging Bull."

'Passengers' Has A First-Class Sci-Fi Premise, But The Script Flies Coach

A Wake-Up Call Comes 90 Years Early: Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt in Passengers. Columbia Pictures hide caption

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Columbia Pictures

'Passengers' Has A First-Class Sci-Fi Premise, But The Script Flies Coach

December 22, 2016 • The Chris Pratt/Jennifer Lawrence film about two beautiful people alone on a vast spaceship doesn't have the courage of its creepy convictions, and devolves into rote rom-com sentiment.

Sex And Death, Shot Through A Colorful Lens: Almodovar's 'Julieta'

Strangers on a Train: Julieta (Adriana Ugarte) and Xoan (Daniel Grao) share a compartment. Sony Pictures Classics hide caption

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Sony Pictures Classics

Sex And Death, Shot Through A Colorful Lens: Almodovar's 'Julieta'

December 22, 2016 • Pedro Almodovar brings his lush visual exuberance to this adaptation of three Alice Munro stories marked by spare, interior struggles. The odd fusion results in a surprisingly quiet, somber film.

In Mike Mills' Rich, Brilliant Comedy, Three '20th Century Women' Raise A Teenager

December 22, 2016 • Our critic adores this small, sharply observed film starring Annette Bening, Elle Fanning and Greta Gerwig as boarding-house residents who shape the life of a young man (Lucas Jade Zumann) in 1979.

The 'Hidden Figures' Who Crunched The Numbers In The Space Race

Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae, left), Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson) and Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) in Hidden Figures. Hopper Stone, SMPSP hide caption

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Hopper Stone, SMPSP

The 'Hidden Figures' Who Crunched The Numbers In The Space Race

December 22, 2016 • Janelle Monae, Taraji P. Henson and Octavia Spencer star in this drama about the brilliant African-American women whose mathematical skills NASA eagerly exploited ... without publicly acknowledging.

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How A 1981 Sondheim Flop Turned Out To Be The 'Best Worst Thing'

Hilarity And Hostility Converge In The Family Comedy 'Toni Erdmann'

'20th Century Women' Mixes Comedy With Disappointment And Loss

'Paterson' Paints A Delicate Portrait Of A Bus Driver Who Writes Poetry

Studios And Audiences Had Lots To Celebrate In 2016

'Fences' And 'Hidden Figures' Explore Race, And More, In Midcentury America

'Daniel Blake' Skewers The Red Tape That Keeps The Downtrodden Down