This week at the movies: little funny yellow things entertain the children; Ben Kingsley and Ryan Reynolds swaps bods in a weird sci-fi flick; and music fans relive the glory and sadness of Amy Winehouse.
Minions
Animated kids’ flicks have always tried to uncover unseen worlds. In Minions, a prequel of Despicable Me, a family of single-cell yellow organisms are in search of a master. Simple and adorable, they talk in single word grunts that sound a bit like French crossed with babytalk. They are without a master to serve but like the biggest, baddest masters—Dracula, T-Rex dinosaur, Napoleon—all of whom perish. They finally find the one they want in a new female supervillain Scarlett Overkill (voiced by Sandra Bullock).
Perfect For: Kids and fans of Pixar movies.
What the Critics Say:With a 71% Rotten Tomato meter score, it’s not bad. Writes Village Voice, “Minions isn’t a disaster; it’s probably just too much of a potentially good thing”. Critics Consensus: The Minions' brightly colored brand of gibberish-fueled insanity stretches to feature length in their self-titled Despicable Me spinoff, with uneven but often hilarious results.
Our Take: It looks cute but not as compelling as some other really well-made kids movies.
Watch the Trailer:
Self/Less
A weird sci-fi premise that fuses Frankenstein with part of the premise of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. You don’t want to die? Swap bodies, and bring your own memory and mind into a new, young body. This is how—with the help of evil, but devastatingly handsome, scientist played by Matthew Goode—Damian (Ben Kingsley) wakes up in Edward’s (Ryan Reynolds) perfect hot bod. At first he’s all, ‘Woah, look at me! I’m hot! I can get hot chicks!’ But then his new body starts to remember its past life, threatening to kill him.
Perfect For: You like dystopian sci-fi, man eye-candy, and are looking for something to hold you over until something as good as Ex Machina comes along.
What the Critics Say: Meh.Writes Entertainment Weekly, “A tepid sci-fi thriller that takes an interesting premise and sacrifices ideas for the sake of logically challenged action beats”.
Our Take: The premise is interesting but the execution looks hokey.
Watch the Trailer:
Amy
The first documentary on the life and tragic death of Amy Winehouse is here—using unseen archival footage and new interviews with close friends to piece together the rise and fall of the talented singer. Documentary filmmaker Asif Kapadia presents an unflinching look at the singer’s last, dark days.
Perfect For: Music fans; documentary film fans. Probably not for the younger ones in the family.
What the Critics Say: The film made the festival circuit rounds and got high marks (currently sitting at 98% on the Rotten Tomato meter). Writes Variety: “This lengthy but immersive portrait will hit hard with viewers who regard Winehouse among the great lost voices not just of a generation, but of an entire musical genre.” And says The Hollywood Reporter: “Amy is an emotionally stirring and technically polished tribute, its sprawling mass of diverse source material elegantly cleaned up, color-corrected and shaped into a satisfying narrative.”
Our Take: Definitely going.
Watch the Trailer:
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