Movie Reviews: Last News

“Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them” movie series, and shout that magic spell in hopes I can put this sputtering prequel franchise out of its misery. And miserable, it is.Running time: 142 minutes. Rated PG-13 (some fantasy action/violence).

many iterations of “Batman” movies over the years, it is only natural to compare and contrast different takes on the stories and characters. But the rankings may be a little skewed when coming from a former “Batman” star himself. Danny DeVito played the Penguin in Tim Burton’s 1992 version of the superhero’s story “Batman Returns” and recently gave his opinion on the most recent take on the notorious villain.

told Access Hollywood. “I have enough. I’ve done enough.

et voila!Running time: 104 minutes. Rated PG-13 (intense sequences of violence, some frightening images and brief strong language). In theaters.The issue is personal.

Uncharted,” “Jungle Cruise” and “Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw” in the discouraging trend of demeaning a once-great genre with nauseating humor, no thrills or grandeur and an over-reliance on star power. Running time: 112 minutes.

Gotti,” Tom Hardy in “Capone,” the entirety of “The Kitchen.” Made-man misery.Running time: 105 minutes. Rated R (language throughout and some bloody violence).

Ryan Reynolds vehicle on Netflix about a time traveler who meets his kid self. The film is drowning in sap.You yawn through the uninspired action sequences — just 30 years from now we apparently will wield cheap-looking lightsaber rip-offs — and then are nauseated by over-dramatic exchanges such as this:Running time: 106 minutes.

Ben Affleck and now Robert Pattison might, the metropolis gets worse and worse.Running time: 175 minutes. Rated PG-13 (strong violent and disturbing content, drug content, strong language, and some suggestive material.) In theaters March 4.In the latest perfunctory film, “The Batman,” Gotham is bleaker than ever. Too bleak, if you ask me.

the 2019 off-Broadway musical it’s based on. Back then I called the show, which also starred Dinklage, “black eyeliner set to music.” That’s still true, only now it’s black eyeliner set to music with lavish sets and costumes.So, it’s absolutely terrific if you press “mute.” “Cyrano” is a love story you’ve already seen even if you don’t realize you have.

on Paramount+, is that Troye Sivan has real acting chops. Running time: 104 minutes. Not Rated. On Paramount+.

The demands audiences make of cute-dog films are fairly basic. Is there a dog? And is she cute?“Dog” — can’t beat that title! — delivers on those two essential pillars.

on Netflix. There must be a French term that encapsulates all of that.

Murder on the Orient Express,” a miserable, poorly cast, sleepy take on the author’s most famous novel. Bad on its own terms, the film was made even worse by the fact that Sidney Lumet’s superb 1974 version, starring Lauren Bacall, Sean Connery, Ingrid Bergman and Albert Finney, is a screen classic.Running time: 127 minutes. Rated PG-13 (violence, some bloody images, and sexual material).

out Friday on Peacock.Playing pop superstar Kat Valdez, she is about to wed a sexy singer named Bastian (played by Colombian sensation Maluma) live on TV for an audience of 20 million. Then, moments before the nuptials, Page Six reveals that her fiancé went to third base with her assistant. “Why do I always pick the wrong guys?” she says.Huh.

the hallmarks of an Emmerich blockbuster — natural disasters, parents separated from children, the total annihilation of Manhattan — but with a twist so baffling, you pinch your arm to make sure you are really awake. No need to reach for your dream journal — it’s all painfully real.The lunar-cy begins during a routine space station mission in outer space with Jocinda (Halle Berry), Brian (Patrick Wilson) and another astronaut.

picked up by AppleTV+ for $15 million and like 2020’s big Sundance seller “Palm Springs,” in a few months everybody will be watching — and adoring — it. Raiff plays Andrew, a 22-year-old recent college grad who lives with his mom (Leslie Mann) and stepdad (Brad Garrett) and still shares a bedroom with his little brother David (Evan Assante). A regular New Jersey Peter Pan. Charismatic Andrew has no life prospects and is working at a fast food joint called Meat Sticks when some local mothers realize he’d be great at livening up bar mitzvahs — getting kids on the dance floor, telling jokes and, on occasion, flirting with the parents.At one party he’s running, Andrew convinces an autistic girl named Lola (Vanessa Burghardt) to dance with him and then starts chatting up her mom, Domino (Dakota Johnson).

who died in September at age 54, is the best part of the new movie “892” — the “Wire” actor’s final film role.The edgy Williams is perfection as a crisis negotiator during a dangerous standoff. As his character Eli attempts to diffuse a hostage situation, he is measured, conversational and, most vitally, believable.

hits Hulu March 4, will more likely make you hurl than send you racing for a cold shower.The title doesn’t describe the movie very well. “Fresh” is a familiar and somewhat successful horror film in the socially conscious mold of “Get Out.” There are shocks and suspense. When the twist — which will not be revealed here — arrived, I let out a loud expletive.

Two-and-a-half starsIt’s no secret that little kids love talking animals. But is it too much to ask that there be a stated reason why a koala, elephant, porcupine and pig live happily in the same urban city and all have a passion for music?That’s the crux of the so-so “Sing” movie series — tales of a showbiz zoo in which someone’s status as a turtle is hardly ever mentioned.

amped it up to a ludicrous level. An example of the no-holds-barred crazy: Julianne Moore played an international drug lord named Poppy, who, as it would happen, took Elton John as her prisoner. And now here’s a dreary prequel (aren’t they all?), “The King’s Man,” which is almost totally laugh-less, lacks a charismatic lead (Egerton’s character isn’t born yet) and is bogged down by the trench warfare misery of World War I.

died in 2014.What we never could have imagined, though, is that Cooper’s freshman performance (he’s so green, his IMDB page doesn’t have a photo yet) would be one of the best of the year in what is easily the best film of 2021, Paul Thomas Anderson’s brilliant “Licorice Pizza.” This wonderful kid should be in the Oscar race, but we’re too predictably infatuated with big names. Let’s fix that.“Licorice Pizza” is a movie you will cherish for a long time after the lights come up.