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Friday, November 20, 2015
Movie Reviews: Mockingjay Part 2, The Night Before, Room, Spotlight
Posted By Scott Renshaw on November 20, 2015, 8:36 AM
The Hunger Games series concludes, boyhood pals try to grow up on Christmas Eve, and a couple of awards contenders emerge in local theaters ahead of Thanksgiving week.
Seth Rogen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Anthony Mackie enjoy an amusing boys' night out on Christmas Eve in The Night Before, but the story about learning to move on in life ends up making immaturity look a lot more entertaining than adulthood. The fascinating, brilliantly-acted Room takes a story of sexual captivity and turns it into a dark fairy tale about the stories we tell to protect our children. The indie comedy-drama Asthma turns into an insufferable episodic road-trip romance, but at least there's some cool music when the annoying people stop talking.
Mary Ann Johanson applauds the intelligence and moral ambiguity of the Hunger Games series as it reaches its conclusion in Mockingjay Part 2 (pictured).
In this week's feature review, the terrific procedural drama Spotlight not only celebrates the work of investigative reporters, but observes all the things that can stand in the way of an important story coming to light.
Also opening this week but not reviewed: Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt play a married couple struggling with their failing marriage in By the Sea, and Julia Roberts and Chiwetel Ejiofor star in a remake of the Oscar-winning Argentinian thriller Secret in Their Eyes.
Seth Rogen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Anthony Mackie enjoy an amusing boys' night out on Christmas Eve in The Night Before, but the story about learning to move on in life ends up making immaturity look a lot more entertaining than adulthood. The fascinating, brilliantly-acted Room takes a story of sexual captivity and turns it into a dark fairy tale about the stories we tell to protect our children. The indie comedy-drama Asthma turns into an insufferable episodic road-trip romance, but at least there's some cool music when the annoying people stop talking.
Mary Ann Johanson applauds the intelligence and moral ambiguity of the Hunger Games series as it reaches its conclusion in Mockingjay Part 2 (pictured).
In this week's feature review, the terrific procedural drama Spotlight not only celebrates the work of investigative reporters, but observes all the things that can stand in the way of an important story coming to light.
Also opening this week but not reviewed: Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt play a married couple struggling with their failing marriage in By the Sea, and Julia Roberts and Chiwetel Ejiofor star in a remake of the Oscar-winning Argentinian thriller Secret in Their Eyes.
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