The Philadelphia Inquirer –
ARBITRAGE 3 stars. Slick and suspenseful financial-world thriller, with Richard Gere as a hedge fund king whose world is collapsing under the weight of a huge accounting scam and a fatal car accident and its coverup. With Susan Sarandon, Tim Roth, Nate Parker and Laetitia Casta. 1 hr. 40 R (sex, profanity, violence, adult themes) — Steven Rea
BACKWARDS 2 stars. Pleasant but unemphatic film about an Olympics rower who opts to have a life rather than be an alternate for Team USA. Shot mostly in Philadelphia. Written and starring Sarah Megan Thomas. 1 hr. 29 PG (mild profanity) — Carrie Rickey
BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD 4 stars. Benh Zeitlin’s intensely strange and wonderful film, about a girl named Hushpuppy, her defiant but deathly ill father, and the ragged Louisiana delta community they inhabit is dreamlike and full of grand emotional swells. Moviemaking as outsider art. 1 hr. 31 PG-13 (intense imagery, violence, adult themes) — Steven Rea
THE BOURNE LEGACY 3 stars. Jeremy Renner stars in the momentum-driven “Bourne” spinoff, a thriller that dispenses with the hero’s amnesia issues and that is less about star power than the power of an epically staged action sequence. (Lots of them!) With Rachel Weisz as a brilliant biochemist, and Edward Norton barking orders back at HQ. Smart, relentless, suspenseful, fun. 2 hrs. 05 PG-13 (profanity, violence, intense action, adult themes) — Steven Rea
BROOKLYN BROTHERS BEAT THE BEST 3 stars. A pair of misfit hipsters hit the road in this likably goofy, lo-fi indie propelled by the syncopations of a cheesy keyboard — and the cheesy dreams of its hapless heroes. Ryan O’Nan wrote, directs and stars, joined on a cross-country concert tour by the nutty Michael Weston. Catchy songs, too. 1 hr. 38 No MPAA rating (profanity, adult themes) — Steven Rea
THE CAMPAIGN 2 stars. Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis star in intermittently amusing but mostly interminable political comedy about candidates vying for a Congressional seat — and the scandals, mud-slinging and baby-punching that ensues. 1 R (sex, profanity, adult themes) — Steven Rea
CELESTE AND JESSE FOREVER 3 1/2 stars. Rashida Jones and Andy Samberg co-star in this offbeat comedy about events that either will drive a wedge between a separated couple or further reinforce their bond. 1 hr. 31 R (drug use, profanity, sexual candor) — Carrie Rickey
CHICKEN WITH PLUMS 2 1/2 stars. Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud’s lyrical live-action adaptation of Satrapi’s 2004 graphic novel set in 1950s Iran begins with a crescendo and can’t sustain its lyricism. 1 hr. 33 PG-13 (smoking, drugs, mature themes) — Carrie Rickey
DARK HORSE 3 stars. Todd Solondz’ latest suburban chamber of horrors is a wonderfully realized and surprisingly understated dark satire, an odd — and, at times, oddly endearing — love story between rude, obese, unlikable Abe and narcissistic, depressive Miranda. 1 hr. 24 No MPAA rating (mature themes, profanity) — Tirdad Derakhshani
DREDD 3D 2 1/2 stars. Karl Urban is judge, jury and executioner in this futuristic blast-’em-up as a cop with a license to snuff. Olivia Thirlby and Lena Headey co-star. 1 hr. 38 R (graphic violence, profanity, drugs, adult themes) — David Hiltbrand
END OF WATCH 3 1/2 stars. Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña are best friends and patrol car partners, cruising the meaner streets of South Central L.A. in David (“Training Day”) Ayer’s visceral and violent cop thriller. 1 hr. 49 R (violence, profanity, adult themes) — Steven Rea
THE EXPENDABLES 2 2 stars Sly, Jason, Arnold, and the rest of the big galoots are back for more action against really bad guys. 1 hr. 42 R (vulgar language, heavy violence, gore) — David Hiltbrand
FRANKENWEENIE 2 stars. A boy reanimates his dog in this animated adaptation of the Frankenstein legend. A typically dark labor of love for director Tim Burton: incredible technique, limited appeal. 1 hr. 27 PG — David Hiltbrand.
HIT & RUN 1 1/2 stars. It’s a merry chase as a couple (Kristen Bell and Zac Shepard) are pursued by a screwball posse, including Tom Arnold and a dreadlocked Bradley Cooper in this chintzy but sometimes cute comedy. 1 hr. 33 R (pervasive profanity, nudity, adult themes, drug content) — David Hiltbrand
HOPE SPRINGS 2 1/2 stars. Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones as a long-wed couple in David Frankel’s self-help seriocomedy about marriage. The question is not, can this marriage be saved, but how. I cringed, I cried, I cracked up. 1 hr. 39 PG-13 (sexual candor) — Carrie Rickey
HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA 3 stars. Count Dracula opens a high-end hostelry for the monster crowd, safe from human intrusion, until a bratty backpacker finds his way to the inn, and makes eyes at the vampire’s teenaged (as in 118 years old) daughter. Horror and hilarity ensue in this merrily madcap computer-animated monster mash-up. 1 hr. 31 PG (mild scares, cartoon mayhem) — Steven Rea
KEEP THE LIGHTS ON 3 1/2 stars. A New York filmmaker enters into an intense relationship with a closeted lawyer in filmmaker Ira Sachs’ gritty, devastating melodrama. 1 hr. 42 No MPAA rating (drug use, profanity, nudity, explicit sexual situations, smoking) — Tirdad Derakhshani
KILLER JOE 3 stars. Trailer trash noir by way of playwright Tracy Letts and director William Friedkin. Matthew McConaughey has the title role, playing a black-clad Dallas cop who moonlights as a hit man. And when a couple of numbskulls want somebody dead, he’s their man. With Gina Gershon, Juno Temple, Emile Hirsch and Thomas Haden Church. Twisted stuff. 1 hr. 42 NC-17 (nudity, profanity, violence, adult themes) — Steven Rea
LAWLESS 3 stars. Based on the true story of the Bondurant brothers, who made moonshine, money and their own mythology in Prohibition-era Virginia. A beautifully crafted, grand yet intimate bootlegging saga, with Tom Hardy, Shia LaBeouf, Guy Pearce and Jessica Chastain. 1 hr. 50 R (violence, profanity, sex, adult themes) — Steven Rea
LOOPER 3 1/2 stars. A slambang blast of a time-travel thriller, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis as a guy named Joe — yes, they’re the same guy, separated by 30 years in the dystopian future, and brought together when Young Joe, a hit man, gets a job to kill Old Joe. Emily Blunt also stars, as the mother of a kid with weird and very significant powers. 1 hr. 58 R (violence, nudity, sex, profanity, drugs, adult themes) — Steven Rea
THE MASTER 3 stars. Joaquin Phoenix goes wild as a psychologically damaged Navy veteran in the early ’50s who meets up with a charismatic cult leader, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, in Paul Thomas Anderson’s epic exploration of religious fervor, and of the quest for spiritual transcendence in a physical world. Beautiful, but messy, and the momentum just falls away in its second hour. 2 hrs. 17 R (violence, sex, nudity, profanity, adult themes) — Steven Rea
THE ORANGES 2 1/2 stars. The lives of two couples in the North Jersey suburbs — neighbors and best friends, all — are upended, to comedic, but facile effect when one of the husbands (Hugh Laurie) falls into an affair with the other’s daughter (Leighton Meester). Allison Janney, Catherione Keener, Oliver Platt, and Alia Shawkat also star. 1 hr. 30 R (profanity, adult themes) — Steven Rea
PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER 3 stars. Stephen Chbosky’s involving adaptation of his 1999 novel about a painfully sensitive high-school freshman (Logan Lerman) adopted into the circle of noncomformist step-siblings (Ezra Miller and Emma Watson). 1 hr. 43 PG-13 (sexual candor, drugs, profanity, mature themes) — Carrie Rickey
PITCH PERFECT 2 1/2 stars. Imagine the Sharks and the Jets as rival a cappella groups armed not with switchblades but musical mashups. That’s the gist of this “Glee”-inflected romp starring Anna Kendrick and Skylar Astin and stolen by Rebel Wilson. 1 hr. 52 PG-13 (sexual candor, indiscreet hand gestures, drug references) — Carrie Rickey.
THE POSSESSION 2 stars. A young girl comes into possession of an antique box that contains an evil spirit. Not one of Danish director Ole Bornedal’s (“Deliver Us from Evil) better efforts. 1 hr. 32 PG-13 (mature themes, terror, violence, muliple moth swarms) — Tirdad Derakhshani
PREMIUM RUSH 2 1/2 stars. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a New York bike messenger who picks up an envelope — and picks up a tail along with it: a crooked cop (Michael Shannon) who must have it, or else. Lots of stunt riding in this silly, serpentine chase pic, ehich can’t decide if it’s a serious, ticking-clock thriller or an antic, stunt-driven cartoon. 1 hr. 31 PG-13 (violence, profanity, adult themes) — Steven Rea
ROBOT & FRANK 3 stars. A gentle, and gently funny character study, set “in the near future” and starring Farnk Langella as a retired cat burglar who begrudgingly lets a robot domestic helper into his life. 1 hr. 29 PG-13 (profanity, adult themes) — Steven Rea
RUBY SPARKS 3 1/2 stars. Zoe Kazan stars in, and wrote, this ingenious fantasy romance, about a blocked-up novelist (Paul Dano) who starts tapping a few paragraphs about a dreamy girl on his typewriter, and then suddenly the dreamy girl moves into his house, his life. Whimsical, charming, but it’s more than that, too, examining the nature of relationships in darkly serious ways. With Annette Bening, Antonio Banderas, Steve Coogan and Ellliot Gould. 1 hr. 44 R (sex, profanity, adult themes) — Steven Rea
SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN 4 stars. A surprising, inspiring documentary about Rodriguez, a forgotten singer/ songwriter who recorded a pair of great and greatly overlooked albums in the early 1970s, and who — unbeknownst to him — became a star in South Africa, the apartheid nation cut off from the rest of the world. A beautiful, revelatory film, full of songs that sound like classics. 1 hr. 25 PG-13 (profanity, adult themes) — Steven Rea
SLEEPWALK WITH ME 3 1/2 stars. Mike Birbiglia’s off-Broadway show and bestselling book becomes a film, and a funny, accomplished one at that. The first-person account of a struggling standup comedian, wrestling with confidence issues, commitment issues and career issues — not to mention a bizarre sleep disorder that puts his physical well-being in jeopardy. With Lauren Ambrose, Carol Kane and Marc Maron. 1 hr. 31 R (profanity, sex, nudity, adult themes) — Steven Rea
SPARKLE 3 stars. A young woman (Jordin Sparks) and her sisters strive for musical fame in 1960s Detroit. The late Whitney Houston costars as the sisters’ single mother. 1 hr. 56 PG-13 (drugs, sexuality, domestic violence, profanity) — Carrie Rickey
TAKEN 2 2 stars. Liam Neeson is back as the super-resourceful ex-CIA guy who saved his daughter from sex traffickers in the 2008 surprise hit. This time, he and his ex (Famke Janssen) and their daughter (Maggie Grace) go vacationing in Istanbul, but menacing Albanians wants blood and vengeance. Formulaic and far-fetched, and nowhere near as fun as the first one. 1 hr. 31 PG-13 (violence, adult themes) — Steven Rea.
TOTAL RECALL 2 1/2 stars. Colin Farrell goes mind-tripping in Len (“Underworld”) Wiseman’s efficient but one-dimensional reboot of the 1990 Paul Verhoeven sci-fi thriller, inwhich a factory worker gets memory implants and ends up being chased by robot cops and his wife (Kate Beckinsale), who turns out be very bad. With Jessica Biel as quite literally the girl of his dreams. 1 hr. 58 PG-13 (violence, adult themes) — Steven Rea
TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE 2 1/2 stars. This daddy/daughter screwball comedy about an old-school baseball scout (Clint Eastwood) and his estranged child (Amy Adams) has its charms and some dark edges. Justin Timberlake’s sassy presence wafts through like fresh-cut grass amid the Astroturf. 1 hr. 51 PG-13 (profanity, sexual references, mature themes) — Carrie Rickey
2016: OBAMA’S AMERICA 2 stars. Dinesh D’Souza’s slickly-packaged political documentary asks the question “If Obama wins a second term, where will we be in 2016?” and then posits some disturbing, if dubious, answers. PG (adult themes) — Steven Rea
V/H/S 2 1/2 stars. A group of petty criminals hired to retrieve a videotape containing rare footage quickly realize the job is going to be a bloody mess. 1 hr. 55 R (extreme violence and gore, nudity, graphic sex, drugs, smoking, profanity) — Tirdad Derakhshani
WON’T BACK DOWN 2 1/2 stars. Maggie Gyllenhaal stars as a struggling single mom who organizes a parent takeover of the failing school where her daughter goes, and where Viola Davis — a once great teacher who has lost her passion and purpose — works. The two team up, and the Pittsburgh school system (and teachers union) will never be the same again. “Inspired by actual events.” 2 hrs. 01 PG (adult themes) — Steven Rea
THE WORDS 3 stars. Bradley Cooper is a struggling writer who need struggle no more after delivering a remarkable manuscript to his publisher. A story within a story within a story, a series of life-altering coincidences, the kind of sweeping melodrama that belongs on Turner Classic Movies — this should all be creaking and squeaking, laughable. But amazingly it works, and resonates with real emotion. Zoe Saldana, Jeremy Irons, Dennis Quaid, and Olivia Wilde round out the very fine cast. 1 hr. 36 PG-13 (adult themes) — Steven Rea
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RATINGS:
4 stars: Excellent; 3 stars: Good; 2 stars: Fair; 1 star: Poor
