List of All Articles with Tag 'review'

At first glance, "You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah" looks like the gift for kids who have everything: A starring role in one of dad's Netflix movies. Yet Adam Sandler's daughter Sunny -- the clear belle of the ball -- quickly dampens the "nepo baby" asides with her winning, natural performance in a familiar but very nicely done coming-of-age story.

Given the can't stop/won't stop pace that Liam Neeson has brought to churning out later-in-life action thrillers post-"Taken," there's something particularly appropriate about his latest, "Retribution," which involves a guy who can't stop moving. Set in Berlin, the "Speed"-like conceit possesses a crisp and efficient stupidity before, predictably, running out of gas.

Add "Wanted: The Escape of Carlos Ghosn" to the list of documentaries that probably shouldn't have been expanded to "docuseries" status, taking too long getting to the juicy parts. That said, give credit where it's due to the thriller-like third chapter of this four-part project, which chronicles the former Nissan executive's flight from Japan, spinning a yarn that has "Hollywood" written all over it.

"And Just Like That..." managed to go from irritating to merely boring in its second season, which feels like modest progress. Yet the central relationship that finally took over -- as Carrie renewed her romance with Aidan, the one that she let get away -- came as too little, too late to completely salvage a series whose secondary plots have remained underwhelming, and at times half-baked.

Awkwardly bringing the animated character to life in her own series, "Ahsoka" gets so much right about the look and action of "Star Wars" that its shortcomings -- an overall stiffness slowed by long, pregnant pauses -- feel more pronounced. There's still hope for this showcase featuring Rosario Dawson as Anakin Skywalker's all-grown-up Padawan, but the first two episodes don't possess as much Force as they should.

Seeking to bring some much-needed laughs to the dog days of summer, "Strays" is a very raunchy riff on what's amusing about our canine pals, and a somewhat smarter dive into dog-movie conventions and cliches.

Spreading its wings two months after "The Flash" ran into a brick wall at the box office, "Blue Beetle" is the latest movie to test the theory that life's tough for DC heroes not named Superman, Batman or Wonder Woman. The main challenge facing this young Latinx superhero is TV, and the sense this origin story would have been more at home on a venue like Disney+ (rival Marvel's playground) or the CW.

"Depp v. Heard" wants to have it both ways, to appear as if it's saying something profound about the circus-like 2022 trial while adding another leering ring to it via a three-part docuseries. Emphasizing the social-media frenzy that surrounded the case, alas, proves more irritating than illuminating, with the one truly worthwhile element being how the producers present the two principals' conflicting accounts side by side.

Despite having served time for his role in the BALCO scandal, Victor Conte stands out for being unrepentant. The latest edition of Netflix's sports docuseries "Untold," "Hall of Shame," gives him another moment in the spotlight, providing a once-over-lightly rehash of track, football and especially baseball figures who became the focus of controversy over performance-enhancing drugs.

Universal Pictures prides itself as the home of the classic monsters, like 1931's classic "Frankenstein," directed by James Whale, or "Dracula," starring Bela Lugosi. More recent attempts to capture the dark magic of those iconic creatures has proven disastrous for the studio -- one need only recall the 2017 Tom Cruise-starring misfire "The Mummy" -- and this week's "Last Voyage of the Demeter," although at times intriguing, fails to elicit any lasting chills either.

Success hasn't spoiled "Only Murders in the Building," which returns with bigger guest stars (Meryl Streep! Paul Rudd!) and a foot in Broadway theater that plays to its eccentric strengths. While the concept would seem to come with a built-in expiration date, credit the producers with finding a way to reinvigorate the Hulu series in this third season, both inside the building and beyond it.

The second season of the HBO Lakers drama sharpen its focus by pivoting to the Lakers-Celtics rivalry that defined the NBA during the 1980s.