ReelViews for R movies

A lot of movies released into theaters deserve the label of "bad." Only a few cross the line into "reprehensible." Say hello to Identity Thief. The big problem with this overlong, tedious would-be comedy has nothing to do with the quality (or lack ...

"Et tu, Brute?" The Ides of March illustrates the universally acknowledged truism that nothing can corrupt idealism more completely than politics. The sad thing about this American tragedy is that not a single twist, turn, or betrayal is difficu...

For today's audiences, for whom the 1980s are ancient history, how is it possible to generate interest in a Prohibition-era period piece set in the town of Idlewild, Georgia? First-time director Bryan Barber has what he hopes is the answer: gather...

Rarely is New York merely a setting in a movie. Whether big, bright, and garish or dark and dingy, the city more often serves as a background character. And, although the New York of a Woody Allen film couldn’t be more different than the one...

Romantic comedies don't get more generic than this one. Imagine Me & You (beware movies that borrow their titles from pop songs…) follows the established formula with only one Sapphic deviation - the romantic leads are both female. But, for all...

Remove Sydney Sweeney from Immaculate and what remains scarcely seems worth the time to watch. Set in a cloistered location, the film builds suspense through the insular nature of the setting but the storyline is muddled, the pacing is uneven, and...

Those who prefer more than a token of historical fact in their biopics may be less-than-enamoured with Immortal Beloved, an erratic look at the life of Ludwig van Beethoven (played by Gary Oldman). Writer-director Bernard Rose is obviously more co...

Immortals plays like the illegitimate offspring of 300 and Clash of the Titans, but while it represents a substantial improvement over the latter, it falls short of the former. As is typical of films directed by Tarsem Singh (The Cell), a weak narr...

For its first two-thirds, In Bruges is an intelligent, gently paced thriller about what happens to hitmen when they screw up. The movie crawls at a deliberate pace for most of its running length, allowing the characters to be fleshed out and offer...

The average romantic movie is all about "happily ever after." It's about the promise of a romance that lasts for eternity, about soulmates who find each other in a world where the odds are stacked against them. In Search of a Midnight Kiss has a ...