This week at the movies: Pixar returns with the smartest animated film since, well, the last Pixar movie; the high school caper gets a much-needed update; and Al Pacino returns to the big screen in a little movie.
Inside Out
What if inside your brain, you had a panel, sort of like a talk show like The View. But instead of celebrities you had mini-people who represented certain emotions—Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust, Sadness—and who made your decisions for you by debating what you should do as they happened. That’s sort of the premise of Inside Out, a clever Pixar movie that takes place inside one tween’s brain as she battles it out in her new city, San Francisco, and jostles with her parents. Who says there are no original ideas in Hollywood anymore? Voiced by: Amy Poehler, Bill Hader, Mindy Kaling, Lewis Black and Phyllis Smith.
Perfect For: The whole family—even adults. It’s a Pixar movie, after all.
What the Critics Say: It’s got a 100% Rotten Tomato meter rating. Sweet. New York Daily News: “Whatever brainstorm led the Pixar folks to ‘Inside Out,’ they've created the most extraordinary film of the year.” New York Magazine: “This teeming, tear-duct-draining, exhaustingly inventive, surreal animated comedy is going to be a new pop-culture touchstone. In all kinds of ways it's a mind-opener.” Rolling Stone: “Pixar's tour of an 11-year-old girl's head is a flat-out masterpiece that proves live action doesn't have dibs on cinematic art. Oh, did I say it was funny? It is, uproariously so, when you're not brushing away a tear.”
Our Take: Are you kidding? You’re going. We’re all going.
Watch the Trailer:
Dope
Finally, a teen movie that doesn’t star a bunch of blonde rich girls. Instead, the high school is in South Center LA, and the cast is appropriately diverse, including the charismatic lead, Shameik Moore. (And don’t worry, you aren’t going crazy and thinking that his love interest looks exactly like Lisa Bonet. She’s her daughter, Zoe Kravitz). The plot: the nerdy crew gets accidentally wrapped up in a drug deal with the bad boys at high school (gangbangers). Craziness ensues.
Perfect For: You want something that mashes up Clueless with Boyz in the Hood, but keeps it lighter.
What the Critics Say: It’s pretty, darn good, especially Moore. Rolling Stone: “Shameik Moore gives a smashing breakout performance in a comedy of social expectation that plays like an exhilarating gift.” The AP: “A fantastical, slight, and occasionally fun, hip hop-scored romp.”
Our Take: It looks like nothing else on the screen, and that’s refreshing.
Watch the Trailer:
Manglehorn
Al Pacino is in the twilight of his career. He’s choosing smaller indie movies as vehicles. That’s a good thing. It means he gets to act instead of showboat, and we’re all the luckier for it. However, this movie has the thinnest of plots—old guy who has lots of regrets, wants to make up for lost time but can’t unstick himself to make amends with his son (Chris Messina) or get a new girlfriend (Holly Hunter)—to build two hours around.
Perfect For: You like quiet character studies and Al Pacino.
What the Critics Say: Al Pacino is great, but he needs better material. Writes The Hollywood Reporter: “The mix of limpid naturalism and lyricism that has often distinguished David Gordon Green's indie films slides into sentimentality — or worse yet, whimsy — in Manglehorn.” And says The New York Post: “The tone and focus of David Gordon Green's ‘Manglehorn’ careens around so much it's hard not to end up as irritable as its title character.”
Our Take: Skip. There are other great movies in the theater.
Watch the Trailer:
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