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Friday, October 7, 2016
Movie Reviews: The Girl on the Train, Middle School, Birth of a Nation
Spirit of the Game, The Great Gilly Hopkins, The Greasy Strangler
Posted By Scott Renshaw on October 7, 2016, 7:49 AM
Three very different book adaptations hit local theaters this weekend, along with exploitation horror and a now-controversial Sundance hit.
The Girl on the Train (pictured) adapts the thriller best-seller in a way that can't even deliver its simple plot-machine pleasures. Spirit of the Game tries to mix underdog-sports-movie structure with spiritual uplift, but mangles the "sports" part in the process.
MaryAnn Johanson commends the tough, simple story of a foster kid trying to find family in the adaptation of Katherine Paterson's The Great Gilly Hopkins.
Eric D. Snider observes at The Greasy Strangler works as perverse you-gotta-see-this provocation.
In this week's feature review, real-world events radically shift the experience of watching The Birth of a Nation.
Also opening this week, but not screened for press: an adaptation of James Patterson's "kids rebel against their repressive teachers" youth novel Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life.
The Girl on the Train (pictured) adapts the thriller best-seller in a way that can't even deliver its simple plot-machine pleasures. Spirit of the Game tries to mix underdog-sports-movie structure with spiritual uplift, but mangles the "sports" part in the process.
MaryAnn Johanson commends the tough, simple story of a foster kid trying to find family in the adaptation of Katherine Paterson's The Great Gilly Hopkins.
Eric D. Snider observes at The Greasy Strangler works as perverse you-gotta-see-this provocation.
In this week's feature review, real-world events radically shift the experience of watching The Birth of a Nation.
Also opening this week, but not screened for press: an adaptation of James Patterson's "kids rebel against their repressive teachers" youth novel Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life.
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