Runtime: 1 hour, 55 minutes Rating: R Director: Jean-Marc Vallée Quick Impressions: Reese Witherspoon is having a pretty good year. Her new production company seems to be working out. Both fall movies that she’s produced—Gone Girl and Wild—are overwhelming favorites for Best Actress Oscar nominations. Some people think Witherspoon could even win …
Runtime: 2 hours, 3 minutes Rating: PG-13 Director: James Marsh Quick Impressions: My family planned to see the new Hunger Games movie over the Thanksgiving holiday, but apparently there’s an unspoken rule around here this fall that at least one person per family must come down with some inconvenient illness every two …
Runtime: 1 hours, 47 minutes Rating: R Director: Damien Chazelle Quick Impressions: I’ve been dying to see Whiplash for months. In some ways, it’s the antithesis of Interstellar, a giant, sprawling, universe-spanning mystery. Whiplash is short, intense, and less about plot than execution. Mystery is not the selling point of its theatrical trailer, which pretty …
Runtime: 2 hours, 49 minutes Rating: PG-13 Director: Christopher Nolan Quick Impressions: My husband actually went to this movie with me. It’s the first movie just the two of us have seen together all fall. We’ve been trying to be as economical as possible with our time and money, but Interstellar is …
Runtime: 1 hour, 48 minutes Rating: PGDirector: Don Hall and Chris Williams Quick Impressions: We’ve been looking forward to this movie for a long time—though not as much as the little boy sitting next to me. I’m not sure how old he was, but he was sitting in a booster …
Runtime: 1 hour, 57 minutes Rating: R Director: Dan Gilroy Quick Impressions: Since I’m a writer, getting involved in journalism in high school seemed a natural move. I did print journalism (newspaper) at my first high school, and broadcast journalism at the second and third. For a short while, I …
Runtime: 1 hour, 59 minutes Rating: R Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu Quick Impressions: Why did Michael Keaton disappear from starring screen roles for so many years? (Was he waiting on a third “Beetlejuice”? That can take a while.) I have no idea where he went or why, but I’m glad …
Runtime: 1 hour, 42 minutes Rating: PG-13 Director: Theodore Melfi Quick Impressions: I considered skipping St. Vincent, waiting until Friday, and reviewing Birdman this week instead. Spending my time and money wisely is a big goal of mine this fall, and I know I want to see Birdman, so holding off on St. Vincent was …
Runtime: 2 hours, 14 minutes Rating: R Director: David Ayer Quick Impressions: Fury is a good, old-fashioned war movie. It’s really not, of course. But it should be. When Fury behaves as if it is a good, old-fashioned war movie, it succeeds brilliantly. The film has one of the most gripping and satisfying …
Runtime: 1 hour, 21 minutes Rating: PG Director: Miguel Arteta Quick Impressions: If you like beautiful babies with big gorgeous eyes and expressive faces, then you should love Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. The sweet, heart-warming family positive comedy has a lot more to offer than …
