The Zookeeper’s Wife (PG-13) **** Jessica Chastain sparkles in every way as Antonina Zabinski, the zookeeper’s wife. Her husband is Jan (Johan Heldenbergh), and he has a difficult role to play. A young, dashing zoologist, inducted into the SS, Lutz…
Mike at the Movies
Mike at the Movies
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Beauty and the Beast (PG) ***** This may be the best film I have seen since “West Side Story” years ago. From the rapid opening, which morphs quickly into the story of the curse of the Beast, to the final,…
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Kong: Skull Island (PG-13) **** Yeah, I know. King Kong again. But this time there is a palpable difference in quality of action and photography that makes it worth watching and quite exciting, especially visually. You know most of the…
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Get Out (R) **** This film is an amalgam of several forms, ranging from sci fi to romance to thriller to horror. On balance, Jason Peele, the writer and director, got it about right—though a bit less of the science…
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The Comedian (R) **** Your preference or distaste for this film may depend mostly on your predilection for rough insult humor. Jackie Burke (Robert De Niro) is an old sitcom star now playing clubs and comedy venues and not a…
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Gold (R) **** Matthew McConaughey as hungry Kenny Wells gives a magnificent performance in this second example of American greed and corruption this cycle. The first was “The Founder” about the McDonald’s corporation. In this film we see the price…
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La La Land (PG-13) ***** This is a film that might divide parents and their children, though both should love it. It’s a classic take on a classic Hollywood plot: aspiring actress meets a guy and has to make a…
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Collateral Beauty (PG-13) ***** It is rare for a film to bring me, a crusty old person, to tears, but this one did and for good and honest reasons. The performances are all top-notch, the setting lovely (Christmas), the script…
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Miss Sloane (R) ***** DC natives will eat this film like another Thanksgiving feast. It is set in DC and filmed in DC, and its plot is sheer “inside the Beltway.” Characters make up in deviousness what they lack in…
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Allied (R) ***** Wow! A thriller on many levels, this World War II spy drama keeps ratcheting up the tension under the sure hand of Director Robert Zemeckis. Max Vatan (Brad Pitt) is a Canadian spy for the allies and…