Universal Pictures Rated R for language throughout, strong sexuality/nudity, violence and drug use. Running time: 147 minutes. Three and a half stars out of four. For a movie about a groundbreaking, risk-taking group like N.W.A., “Straight Outta Compton” is surprisingly conventional in its adherence to music biopic tropes. The rise-fall-rise-again...
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Reviews
Tangerine
Magnolia Pictures Rated R for strong and disturbing sexual content, graphic nudity, language throughout, and drug use. Running time: 88 minutes. Three and a half stars out of four. “Tangerine” is a great Los Angeles movie and a great indie and a great reminder of the possibilities of creativity during...
Read moreRogerEbert.com — The Overnight
You may think you know the strange directions in which this deliciously uncomfortable comedy is headed — and then it takes a detour or adds a twist or doesn’t go there at all. Not naming any names, but I can imagine having a version of this kind of night with...
Read moreSan Andreas
Warner Bros. Pictures Rated PG-13 for intense disaster action and mayhem throughout, and brief strong language. Running time: 114 minutes. One and a half stars out of four. The question isn’t whether “San Andreas” is ridiculous — of course it is, it’s a disaster epic about earthquakes devastating California —...
Read moreGoing Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief
HBO Documentary Films Unrated Running time: 119 minutes. Three stars out of four. The building you see in the photo above is the headquarters of the Church of Scientology of Los Angeles. Painted a glaring shade of periwinkle, with a blindingly bright, Las Vegas-style marquee out front, it is an...
Read moreRogerEbert.com — The Wrecking Crew
This affectionate and respectful documentary shines a spotlight on a group of studio musicians who performed on many of the biggest and most enduring hits of the 1960s and early ’70s. There’s a ton of great music in here, but the movie as a whole can get a little scattered...
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 moreNightcrawler
Open Road Films R for violence including graphic images, and for language. Running time: 117 minutes. Three stars out of four. “Nightcrawler” is a great Los Angeles film and a great media film and a great noir, powered by a supremely creepy performance from Jake Gyllenhaal in what is perhaps...
Read moreLet’s Be Cops
20th Century Fox R for language including sexual references, some graphic nudity, violence and drug use. Running time: 109 minutes. One and a half stars out of four. Being a buddy-cop movie that knows it’s a buddy-cop movie simply is not enough. “21 Jump Street” and the surprisingly superior sequel...
Read moreWhat the Flick?! — Let’s Be Cops
Jake Johnson and Damon Wayans Jr. have some decent chemistry with each other but it can’t salvage this straining, one-joke comedy. They star as struggling, 30-year-old Los Angeles buddies who enjoy a rush of power and self-esteem when they pretend to be police officer. Madcap hilarity ensues....
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