Freeze Frame

Are American audiences ready for a full-blown movie musical about struggling performing artists in Los Angeles? I hope so, because “La La Land” is easily one of the best movies of the year. Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone are splendid in this magical romantic comic drama that was written and directed by Damien Chazelle, the man behind last year’s terrific jazz movie, “Whiplash.” “La La Land” is smart,...

Don’t be surprised if you hear the title “Manchester by the Sea” being bandied about a lot at awards time. Filmmaker Kenneth Lonergan’s heartbreaking drama about loss and grief is a skillfully written and impeccably acted ensemble piece. Casey Affleck plays a working class man who struggles with a past tragedy when he returns to his Massachusetts hometown for his brother’s funeral. I’ll warn you,...

Earnest performances and good intentions don’t always lead to good movies. “Man Down” is a case in point. Shia LaBeouf gives a solid turn as a U.S. Marine who, upon his return home from serving in Afghanistan, discovers that his wife and child have fallen into the hands of some chaotic force. Is this a mystery, a sci-fi story or an apocalyptic drama? The answer isn’t clear until the movie’s final...

Harry Potter fans who mourned the end of his book and movie franchise, take heart. J. K Rowling has revived that universe with her original screenplay, “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.” Eddie Redmayne plays an English wizard who finds trouble when he travels to New York in the 1920s with a bagful of magical critters. Even though it’s loud, dark and overlong, it’s a wildly entertaining and...

“Arrival” is a science fiction opus that walks a razor’s edge. It could be hokey in the extreme or profoundly moving. Luckily, it mostly keeps its balance thanks to skillful direction from Denis Villeneuve and a touching performance from Amy Adams. When a number of alien spacecraft abruptly appear in various parts of the world, the US Military recruits an expert linguist, played by Adams, to see i...

The 14th film from the Marvel Universe is easily the trippiest, yet. Benedict Cumberbatch plays “Doctor Strange” in a visually spectacular origin story about Marvel’s Sorcerer Supreme. While you may not be able to make heads or tails out of its plot about mysticism and treachery in multiple dimensions, there’s no denying that this well acted adventure is an involving mess. Cumberbatch is solid and...

Tom Hanks and director Ron Howard may have gone to the well one too many times with "Inferno," their third entry in the Robert Langdon "Da Vinci Code" series by novelist Dan Brown. This time out, our intrepid Harvard symbologist tries to unravel his trickiest puzzle, yet, involving Dante, a deadly virus and a crazy billionaire. Howard's directorial style is as showy as ever and Hanks is solid as a...

“Jack Reacher: Never Go Back” could be described as “’The Last Samurai’ with a Pistol.” Tom Cruise reunites with “Samurai” director Ed Zwick in Cruise’s second go round as Lee Child’s backside-kicking ex-military policeman turned lone vigilante. While it has a sufficient action quotient for undemanding genre fans, this modest thriller is mostly boilerplate fare. Tom seems to be operating on Cruise...

  “American Honey” is the Shia LaBeouf drama that that was shot largely in the Kansas City area and won this year’s jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival. It’s an unusual coming of age drama about a hard-partying group of misfit teens selling magazines door to door. Newcomer Sasha Lane plays a young girl who falls in with these modern day gypsies. British filmmaker Andrea Arnold offers up some in...

“The Birth of a Nation” is Nate Parker’s controversial but powerful film about the educated slave Nat Turner who became a pastor and led an ill-fated slave revolt in 1831. Parker wrote, directed, produced and stars as Turner in this unflinching look at the horrors of American slavery. While the violent content is certainly disturbing, the emotional force and the importance of the story help make u...

Disney’s “The Queen of Katwe” may be the sunniest view of Uganda you’re likely to see. David Oyelowo, Lupita Nyong’o and newcomer Madina Nalwanga star in the true story of a brilliant young girl who escapes her difficult circumstances when she discovers the world of competitive chess. While this lovely story is told in a pedestrian way, the terrific cast and never-say-die spirit that makes it work...

Western fans have been eagerly anticipating the remake of the classic 1960 shoot-‘em-up, “The Magnificent Seven.” Antoine Fuqua’s reimagining of the story isn’t magnificent, but it could be called “The Pretty Good Seven.” Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt and Ethan Hawke lead a group of vigilante gunmen who help defend a small western town from an evil industrialist and his private army. Seems the ho...

It’s been 12 years since the last Bridget Jones movie. It’s amazing how little she’s evolved in the meantime. Rene Zellweger and Colin Firth are back, this time joined by Patrick Dempsey in a love triangle involving Bridget’s pregnancy and her doubts about the identity of the baby’s father. Her antics were amusing when she was young and stupid. At middle age, they seem a bit embarrassing. The cast...

Tom Hanks is an actor who, like the late Jimmy Stewart before him, has a natural aura of decency that comes through in his characters. That makes him the ideal person to portray a modest American hero, airline Captain Sully Sullenberger. In “Sully,” he plays the man who, in 2009, steered a disabled jet into the Hudson River saving the lives of all 155 passengers. Clint Eastwood’s movie focuses on...

“The Light Between Oceans” comes tantalizingly close to being a great movie. Sadly, its missteps derail the efforts of an impeccable cast and a stunning production. Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander play a troubled Australian lighthouse keeper and his dutiful wife who face an ethical dilemma when a baby washes ashore in a rowboat. This slow moving but involving drama turns into a soap opera t...

There are times while watching “Don’t Breathe” that you probably won’t. Yes, it’s yet another sordid, R-rated horror flick, but it’s an exceptionally well made edge-of-your-seat chiller. Three young and foolish thieves break into the house of a blind man, thinking they’ll make off with easy money. Their victim, however, is a former military man who turns the tables on them. Smart and original, “Do...

In terms of spectacle and emotional power, few films have equalled the 1959 epic, "Ben-Hur." Although the new version big screen version is adequate for the uninitiated, it pales by comparison. Jack Huston steps into the role that won Charton Heston an Oscar, a Jewish aristocrat who is betrayed by his Roman best friend during the days of Jesus in Jerusalem. Purists may balk at some of the changes...

Disney goes back to the well for yet another reimagining of one of their family film classics. This time, it’s “Pete’s Dragon,” a sweet but by-the-numbers remake of the 1977 adventure that featured a goofy, cartoon dragon. The story has been updated, the musical numbers have been jettisoned in favor of a more realistic treatment and the dragon is now the best that computer imagery can offer. It ma...

DC Comics attempts to expand its universe with the highly anticipated superhero thriller, “Suicide Squad.” While involving, it never quite lives up to its promise. Viola Davis plays a U.S. intelligence big wig who assembles a team of dangerous incarcerated super villains. Her aim is to train them as a military team to use as a last ditch option just in case other super villains invade the Earth. N...

If you’re looking for frenetic action, car chases and general paranoid mayhem then look no further than “Jason Bourne.” Matt Damon returns for the fourth time as Robert Ludlum’s CIA […] The post FREEZE FRAME: “Jason Bourne,” “Captain Fantastic,” “Nerve,” “Cafe Society” appeared first on KKFI .

From 1991 to 2012, the hard drinking, hard partying fashionistas from British TV’s popular sitcom “Absolutely Fabulous” had worldwide audiences laughing at their narcissistic antics. Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley have returned for “Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie,” a breezy farce that has Edina and Patsy fleeing to the South of France when they’re accused of drowning model Kate Moss. Fans of...

When you wanna laugh, who you gonna call? Guess what, all you misogynistic Internet trolls who were certain that an all-female version of “Ghostbusters” would be a disastrous rip-off. The […] The post FREEZE FRAME: “Ghostbusters,” “The Infiltrator,” “The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble,” “Weiner-Dog” appeared first on KKFI .

“Toy Story” showed us what toys did when their owners weren’t around. Ditto for Legos in “The Lego Movie.” The conceit should work for pets, too, and, by golly it does in “The Secret Life of Pets.” The folks who gave us “The Minions” provide a goofy, likable animated family flick about the vibrant world of anthropomorphic critters that emerges when humans leave for work. Louis C.K., Eric Stonestre...

After 98 years and at least 48 cinematic adaptations, do we really need another big screen Tarzan? Hollywood thinks so. “The Legend of Tarzan” stars Alexander Skarsgård as the former King of the Jungle, who is conned into returning from Victorian England to Africa by nefarious colonialists. The great cast also includes Margo Robbie, Samuel L. Jackson and Chistoph Waltz and the story has a few uniq...

Ever seen a movie that should have been great but just missed the mark? Such is the case with “Free State of Jones,” an earnest and well-meaning historical drama undone […] The post FREEZE FRAME: “Free State of Jones” appeared first on KKFI .