reviews

And now, your love-it-or-loathe-it movie of 2020. The film that will either have you dissecting the plot for hours with friends or make you storm off to your bedroom to tweet insults at Netflix’s social-media intern. It’s Charlie Kaufman’s latest, “I’m Thinking of Ending Things.” Kaufman, one of just a few star screenwriters in the …

Fox’s 20-year, 13-film X-Men series goes out not with a bang or a whimper . . . but a bear attack. Yes, every camper’s worst fear is the asinine conclusion of a two-decade stretch of mutant movies that earned both Oscar nominations (“Logan”) and critical ire (“Dark Phoenix”). It also gave us big stars. Before 2000’s “X-Men,” Hugh …

Since Keanu Reeves last played Ted in “Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey” in 1991, we have watched him brutally kill hundreds of people. In the “Matrix” trilogy, his Neo was a Zen murder machine who could level whole cities with a little karate and a trenchcoat. Later, in “John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum,” he borrowed …

Teens going back to school: Do not watch the movie “The Personal History of David Copperfield” for class in lieu of reading the book. You will fail your exam. However, the many, many liberties Scottish director Armando Iannucci takes with Charles Dickens’ story — from flashback projections on walls to a newfound farcical sense of …

Disney just can’t quit the realistic CGI animals. Since 2016’s “The Jungle Book,” it’s the less magical, the better when it comes to speaking and singing critters at the House of Mouse. Lovable cartoons have been swapped for claws, fangs and beady eyes on nearly expressionless faces, and, without fail, the trick is always more …

Actors, have I got an audition monologue for you! Let’s set the scene: The world is crumbling, there’s violence in the streets and you’re a sadsack peon who’s led a meaningless life. So one day, you decide, “I give up,” and go on a bloody rampage through the city. Got it? Here are your lines. …

Does a film need to be based on a comic book to be a comic book movie? Not anymore! The genre has become so ubiquitous on-screen that original flicks are snapping up its capes-and-world-domination tropes to tell new tales. Netflix’s enjoyable “Project Power,” which is not inspired by any graphic novel, joins the club with …

Has Rob Zombie directed “The Secret Garden”? Sure, the 1911 book’s roots lie in gothic literature, shrouded in gloom, but I have never watched an adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s novel and repeatedly thought, “Is someone going to get murdered?!” Until now. Everything screams horror. The giant Yorkshire manse that the orphaned Mary Lennox (Dixie …

Whoever put the new film “The Secret: Dare To Dream” on their vision board should be locked up. Inspired by the kooky 2006 positive-thinking book by Rhonda Byrne, the movie has Katie Holmes play a Louisiana crab fisherman whose life is forever changed by a traveling gent who spouts New Age wisdom. This schlock belongs …

Regina Hall is always extraordinary — even in projects that are mediocre. When the actress takes on comedies, such as the new “Tijuana Jackson: Purpose Over Prison” and the much better “Support the Girls,” she treats every line with the high-stakes seriousness of a breakup. Hall gives consistently real performances that are, as a result, …