I love Mila Kunis. I love Kate McKinnon. I love the idea of these two talented ladies co-starring in an R-rated action comedy. But I did not love “The Spy Who Dumped Me.” Director and co-writer Susanna Fogel has trouble pulling off the tricky balance of broad antics and brutal...
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Reviews
RogerEbert.com — Red Sparrow
Jennifer Lawrence gets put through the wringer in myriad disturbing ways as a Russian ballerina-turned-spy. In theory, such graphic ordeals are meant to demonstrate her character’s physical and psychological fortitude. But ultimately, these shocking and violent sequences become repetitive and gratuitous, making “Red Sparrow” feel more like a cheap exercise...
Read moreRevisiting Syriana
People often ask me if, after all these years of covering entertainment, there’s a celebrity I was especially nervous to interview. It wasn’t a superstar like Chris Evans or Penelope Cruz. It wasn’t an influential filmmaker like Clint Eastwood or Noah Baumbach. (Although I will say that Tommy Lee Jones...
Read moreWhat the Flick?! — The November Man
It’s yet another chewing-gum-and-rubber-bands edition of What the Flick?! as Matt and I try to piece together a discussion of the Pierce Brosnan spy thriller “The November Man.” Late August is brutal....
Read moreWhat the Flick?! — Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit
Matt and I had a decent time, but Ben is flabbergasted by the lack of realism in the latest Jack Ryan movie. Chris Pine takes over the role of novelist Tom Clancy’s CIA operative — played previously by Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford and Ben Affleck — in this prequel/reboot which...
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