Search for 2016
For a small percentage of people, grief can be a catalyst. For most of us, however, it’s a paralyzing force that threatens to entomb us in a coffin of sorrow and despair. Most movies, in attempting to depict this, fall into an abyss of melodram...
U.S. Release Date: 2016-11-23
MPAA Rating: "R" (Profanity, Sexual Content, Adult Themes)
Genre: Drama
Director: Kenneth Lonergan
Cast: Casey Affleck, Lucas Hedges, Michelle Williams, ...
With relatively little fanfare and even less publicity, Masterminds is finally seeing the light of day. After slipping five release dates (it was originally slated to open in August 2015) and being accorded almost no marketing push, the caper comedy ...
U.S. Release Date: 2016-09-30
MPAA Rating: "PG-13" (Profanity, Violence, Sexual Content)
Genre: Comedy
Director: Jared Hess
Cast: Zach Galifianakis, Kristen Wiig, Owen Wilson, ...
Spoilers: This review contains spoilers for those who haven’t read the source material and/or don’t know where the story is going. There are bad tearjerkers and good tearjerkers. There are Nicolas Sparks films and movies like Me Before...
U.S. Release Date: 2016-06-03
MPAA Rating: "PG-13" (Sexual Content, Adult Themes)
Genre: Drama
Director: Thea Sharrock
Cast: Emilia Clarke, Sam Claflin, Janet McTeer, ...
Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates exemplifies what passes for “raunchy comedy” these days: plenty of vulgarity and profanity without many accompanying laughs. In trying to push the R-rated envelope, filmmakers have become so focused on bei...
U.S. Release Date: 2016-07-08
MPAA Rating: "R" (Profanity, Sexual Situations, Drugs, Nudity)
Genre: Comedy
Director: Jake Szymanski
Cast: Zac Efron, Adam Devine, Anna Kendrick, ...
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, adapted from Ransom Riggs’ popular YA novel, offers a different flavor of teen-oriented fantasy. A mash-up of X-Men-influenced superhero material and more traditional fantasy elements (with tim...
U.S. Release Date: 2016-09-30
MPAA Rating: "PG-13" (Disturbing Images, Violence, Profanity)
Genre: Fantasy/Adventure
Director: Tim Burton
Cast: Asa Butterfield, Ella Purnell, Eva Green, ...
With a movie like this, it’s necessary (however difficult) to put politics aside. Despite what the blurbs say, Miss Sloane isn’t really about the Second Amendment. It isn’t about gun rights; it’s about how easy it is to peddle...
U.S. Release Date: 2016-12-09
MPAA Rating: "R" (Profanity, Sexual Content)
Genre: Drama/Thriller
Director: John Madden
Cast: Jessica Chastain, Mark Strong, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, ...
If Moana seems like a throwback to the animated Disney films of the late 1980s and early 1990s, it’s not a coincidence. Consider that directors Ron Clements & John Musker have on their resumes both The Little Mermaid (the movie that revital...
U.S. Release Date: 2016-11-23
MPAA Rating: "PG"
Genre: Animated
Director: Ron Clements & John Musker
Cast: Auli’I Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson, Jermaine Clement, ...
Money Monster wants to be more than just another mindless thriller. By building its foundation on a message about the dangers of playing the stock market roulette wheel, it seeks to inject substance into a genre overrun by action-driven popcorn films...
U.S. Release Date: 2016-05-13
MPAA Rating: "R" (Profanity, Violence, Sexual Content)
Genre: Drama/Thriller
Director: Jodie Foster
Cast: George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Jack O’Connell, ...
We all have monsters - dark impulses that dwell in the deepest recesses of our minds, occasionally forcing their way into our nightmares or impinging on our consciousness. A Monster Calls asks (but doesn’t answer) the question of whether such m...
U.S. Release Date: 2017-01-06
MPAA Rating: "PG-13" (Violence, Adult Themes)
Genre: Drama/Fantasy
Director: J.A. Bayona
Cast: Lewis MacDougall, Felicity Jones, Toby Kebbell, ...
On the surface, Moonlight presents three formative episodes in the life of a gay black man, but taking such a bird’s eye view of the film misses all the details and nuances. Although Barry Jenkins’ film is indeed about the struggles and d...
U.S. Release Date: 2016-11-18
MPAA Rating: "R" (Profanity, Drugs, Sexual Content, Violence)
Genre: Drama
Director: Barry Jenkins
Cast: Trevante Rhodes, Ashton Sanders, Alex Hibbert, ...