Amid the hustle and bustle at the movie theater lots of titles came out, January is living up to its legacy as an ecological hazard and studio dumping ground for bad movies. See what the critics say about this week’s crop of cinematic treats.
“Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit”
Directed by Kenneth Branagh (“Thor”), Shakespearian thespian turned action extraordinaire director, attempts to enliven Tom Clancy’s titular cold war-era character of Jack Ryan, played by Chris Pine (“Star Trek Into Darkness”), into the 21st century.
Building upon past iterations of the character in films from “The Hunt for Red October” and “Patriot Games,” political intrigue and subterfuge are part of what The New York Times’ Manohla Dargis says is “a competently made, moderately diverting variation on a genre standard.” It’s also the fifth movie hinged on Jack Ryan, Tom Clancy’s most famous creation and the hero of many of his books.
“Devil’s Due”
This week a video went viral in which unsuspecting New Yorkers were treated to an animatronic demon baby in a carriage springing up and shocking said victims. “Devil’s Due,” is a found footage film about a couple who finds themselves on their honeymoon with their baby who seems to have been taken by a demon spirit.
The Telegraph’s Tim Robey seemed less than impressed when he wrote that “The movie otherwise oscillates between the jolting and the absurd, bottoming out with a nonsensical coda implying multiple Antichrists. In breaking the fourth wall yet again, the filmmakers only have themselves to blame when the roof caves in.”
“Ride Along”
Kevin Hart (“This is the End”) has gained, over the course of time, popularity for his no nonsense style and wit. “Ride Along,” directed by Tim Story (“Fantastic Four”), pairs Hart with Ice Cube in a buddy cop comedy.
The New York Daily News’ Elizabeth Weitzman had a tepid reaction to the film saying, “The director seems to assume — probably accurately — that stars Ice Cube and Kevin Hart already have enough fans to pack theaters. He lets his leads do what they do and doesn’t bother asking for more.”
“The Nut Job”
The premise for “The Nut Job” might seem a little off the walls. It follows the story of a squirrel named Surly, (voiced by Will Arnett, “Arrested Development”) after being banished from his park home, has to find a way to redeem himself.
The Chicago Tribune’s Michael Phillips did not have kind words for what he found was one of the most erroneous fallibilities of the film, “Big problem straight off: tone. The violence isn’t slapsticky; it’s just violent. Another problem: Since Surly, even the new, redeemable model, spends so much of the story being a flaming jerk, ‘The Nut Job’ fights its protagonist’s own charmlessness from the first scene. Turning a dislikable leading character a little less dislikable by the end credits sets an awfully low bar for this sort of thing.”
“The Invisible Woman”
Ralph Fiennes (“Coriolanus”) continues his recent foray into directing with an adaptation of Claire Tomalin’s biography of the marriage between Charles Dickens and Ellen Ternan entitled “The Invisible Woman.” The films stars Fiennes in the role of Dickens and Felicity Jones (“Like Crazy”) as Ternan.
The Toronto Star’s Bruce DeMara was impressed with Jones’ performance and said of the film, “Fiennes recreates the Victorian age with a great fealty in terms of the sets, costumes and props. It’s that attention to detail, along with a superlative cast, which draws the audience into this tale of forbidden love and redemption.”
“The Square”
Jehane Noujaim’s “The Square” picked up an Oscar nomination for best documentary just as it arrives this weekend in theaters and streaming on Netflix; which also now gives Netflix the opportune chance to sit in the Oscars as well. The film chronicles the 2011 uprising in Egypt, when the people managed to topel the president of Hosni Mubarak by hunkering down in the now iconic Tahrir Square.
The Washington Post’s Hornaday called the film “exhilarating” and said that, “It’s no surprise that Noujaim, best known for 2004’s gripping ‘Control Room,’ has made a superb film. But even considering the filmmaker’s impressive résumé, ‘The Square’ is altogether remarkable: elegantly shot and structured, but infused with rough, spontaneous energy; global in its consciousness but intimate in its approach; carefully pitched but emotionally wrenching; deeply troubling but ultimately exhilarating.”
All films open in wide distribution and The Square is playing at the West End Cinema.
thescene@theeagleonline.com
