This second feature-length film based on the long-running “SpongeBob Squarepants” TV series is as zippy and zany as fans have come to expected. The animated, underwater sequences are a blast. It’s the back-and-forth to live action on dry land that’s the problem. My mixed RogerEbert.com review. Read the review...
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Reviews
RogerEbert.com — Love, Rosie
Lily Collins and Sam Claflin are attractive and appealing as lifelong best friends who are clearly meant to be together, but the many contrived obstacles that keep them apart are more irritating than romantic. The lighting is pretty, though. My RogerEbert.com review. Read the review here...
Read moreRogerEbert.com — The Humbling
Al Pacino dials it down and does some of his best work in a long time as a veteran actor struggling to regain his former glory. If that premise sounds a lot like “Birdman,” well, yes — that is an unfortunate coincidence. But Pacino’s performance is the strongest element in...
Read moreRogerEbert.com — The Wedding Ringer
The buoyantly loopy chemistry between Kevin Hart and Josh Gad helps keep this mostly formulaic bromance afloat. Gad stars as a sweet but schlubby dude who’s about to get married; Hart plays his best man for hire. What could possibly go wrong? My RogerEbert.com review. Read the review here...
Read moreThe Interview
Columbia Pictures Rated R for pervasive language, crude and sexual humor, nudity, some drug use and bloody violence. Running time: 112 minutes. One and a half stars out of four. This is what all the fuss was about? A movie composed almost entirely of dick jokes, ass jokes and bromantic...
Read moreA Secret Protest Screening
One of the many great parts about living in Los Angeles is the wealth of repertory theaters offering an array of eclectic fare for serious film lovers. The Cinefamily, at the Silent Movie Theatre on Fairfax, is prime among them. These people dig deeply and care passionately, and they enjoy...
Read moreWhat the Flick?! — Inherent Vice
We are all fans of Paul Thomas Anderson around here, but none of us really dug his hazy, druggy, comic noir. Maybe it requires another viewing to appreciate it fully, but I just can’t bring myself to endure this slog once more....
Read moreWhat the Flick?! — Top Five
We all really enjoyed the shockingly great “Top Five,” the best film Chris Rock has made yet. The spirit, wit and bite of Rock’s standup work really shines through here....
Read moreKirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas
Samuel Goldwyn Films Rated PG for some thematic elements. Running time: 80 minutes. Zero stars out of four. Let’s just set aside the ideology for a second. We’ll get to that, I promise. Purely from a technical perspective — from a perspective of sheer craft — “Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas”...
Read moreWhat the Flick?! — Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas
“Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas” — or as I like to think of it, “Tyler Perry’s Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas” — is a holiday comedy for Christian audiences that’s hilarious in its ineptitude. Seriously, how did this get released? It’s “The Room” of Christmas movies. Alonso and I had a good...
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