PG-13, 3:01, action-adventure
The sucker-punch ending of “Avengers: Infinity war” became the water-cooler moment of 2018. And now we have the extravagant — and mostly very gratifying — final chapter. The new film goes straight for the heart, not the head. It dwells at considerable length in tearful reunions and farewells. And in a notable exception to the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s liberal nobody-really-dies storytelling policy, things wrap up with a goodbye-for-real denouement involving a majorly major character. More crucially, I think, the movie also goes for a surprising number of laughs. “Endgame” is easily the funniest Marvel movie outside “Thor: Ragnarok” and the “Ant-Man” movies.
PG, 1:43, comedy
The premise and world-building of “Detective Pikachu” is completely committed and spot on. You’ve got your smart-alecky little Pikachu (Ryan Reynolds) in a tiny Sherlock Holmes hat. You’ve got a wounded young man, Tim (Justice Smith); a femme fatale, Lucy (Kathryn Newton); and a couple of Murdochian media moguls (Bill Nighy and Chris Geere). Bathing the entire atmosphere in neon lights filtered through mist, you’ve got yourself a proper detective story. But while the world and characters are incredibly fun, the story suffers. Most of the exposition is provided in flashback-style holographic recreations, and the action sequences are inane and chaotic. —
PG-13, 1:34, comedy
A remake of “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” (1988), with Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson doing the uptown/downtown act, but this female-driven reboot is a dud. Premise: Australian con artist Penny (Wilson), the lowbrow, meets posh Josephine (Hathaway), the highbrow, on a train in the Mediterranean. The seaside paradise of Beaumont-sur-mer is Josephine’s territory. Penny wants in on the action; Josephine agrees to take her on, under the skeptical eye of a local police inspector (Ingrid Oliver) in cahoots with Josephine. The fun is in the ridiculous impersonations and accents, or should be. Yet Hathaway and Wilson never get a performance rhythm going. —
R, 1:42, horror
Michael Ealy and Meagan Good star as a young couple who move into their dream home in Napa Valley wine country after chancing upon a motivated seller: the mysterious widower played by Dennis Quaid. There’s someone else inside the house. Did you miss the title? The identity of the intruder will surprise no one. The only thrills, if that’s the right word, are jump scares that, for the most part, don’t work and don’t try very hard. The only mystery is how this movie got made. Quaid, who at one point seems to be channeling a wild dog, also appears to be enjoying himself. At the very least, you won’t be the only one in the theater having a good time.
R, 2:05, romantic comedy
Starring Charlize Theron and Seth Rogen, “Long Shot” puts the rom into the com of Washington, D.C., political machinations. It’s “Veep,” but less absurdly acid-tongued, and a lot more swoony. The film follows a journalist for a Brooklyn alt weekly, Fred Flarsky (Rogen), who reconnects with his middle school baby sitter, Charlotte Field (Theron), who has become the youngest secretary of state ever — and an eligible, workaholic bachelorette. She taps Fred to punch up her speeches as she embarks on a worldwide tour touting a new environmental initiative and embellishing her image for a future presidential run. The unlikeliest of flings blossoms along the way.
PREVIOUS ARTICLE
