Elle Fanning and Justice Smith have lovely chemistry as troubled teens trying to rescue each other in “All the Bright Places,” based on the Young Adult novel of the same name, streaming now on Netflix. Brett Haley’s film is idyllic in its depiction of sun-dappled, small-town Indiana, but its realistic...
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Reviews
Breakfast All Day Podcast: A La Carte With Julie Buxbaum
Julie Buxbaum is a brilliant, best-selling author whose latest Young Adult novel, “Hope and Other Punch Lines,” just arrived in bookstores. She’s also a total sweetheart whom I don’t get to see often enough. Julie discusses growing up as an obsessive reader and studious girl in suburban New York, going...
Read moreRogerEbert.com — Tully
In the same vein as 2007’s “Juno” and 2011’s “Young Adult,” “Tully” unearths uncomfortable truths in a wry, wise way. The latest collaboration between director Jason Reitman and writer Diablo Cody features Cody’s hyper-verbal brand of snark, cynicism and subtle poignancy, but it’s tinged with the wistful perspective that comes...
Read moreRogerEbert.com — Every Day
“Every Day” has a nice idea within nutty packaging. It’s an angsty teen romance based on a Young Adult novel about a spirit — or a soul, or something — that switches bodies every 24 hours. But in one of those bodies, he/she falls for that guy’s girlfriend: a sweet...
Read moreRogerEbert.com — Maze Runner: The Death Cure
Supposedly, the maze running is over. We’re out of the Glade and the Scorch, and we’ve escaped the flailing, gnashing zombies. The third and final installment in this particular dystopian Young Adult franchise is now complete. While its action sequences are strong — as was also the case in director...
Read moreRogerEbert.com — Wonder
What a wonderful surprise this movie is. It looks like a mawkish family drama about a young boy who overcomes a genetic abnormality and finds some happiness in the world. But it ends up being genuinely moving, thanks to strong performances from Jacob Tremblay, Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson and...
Read moreThe Divergent Series: Allegiant
Lionsgate Films Rated PG-13 for intense violence and action, thematic elements and some partial nudity. Running time: 120 minutes. One star out of four. The confused look on the faces of all the characters in the above photo pretty much tells you everything you need to know about “Allegiant” —...
Read moreThe 5th Wave
Sony Pictures Rated PG-13 for violence and destruction, some sci-fi thematic elements, language and brief teen partying. Running time: 112 minutes. One and a half stars out of four. “The 5th Wave” plays like a Wayans-brothers spoof of movies based on dystopian Young Adult novels. Seriously, it could have been...
Read moreRogerEbert.com — The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2
It’s the final film in the “Hunger Games” saga — no, really it is this time! With the exception of a couple of truly dazzling action set pieces, “Mockingjay – Part 2” provides more of what we saw in “Mockingjay — Part 1”: a lot of wheel-spinning and repetitive imagery....
Read moreRogerEbert.com — The DUFF
Mae Whitman dazzles as the title character — which stands for Designated Ugly Fat Friend — a brilliant and quick-witted high school senior who takes that derogatory label and makes it her own. This breezy comedy is Whitman’s “Easy A”: the movie that will make the longtime supporting actress a...
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