Freeze Frame

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has a knack for making a silk purse out of a cinematic sow’s ear. Can he do the same for the cursed video game genre? Maybe so.  In “Rampage,” based on the Midway arcade game, Johnson plays a primatologist who has to figure out what to do when a genetic experiment goes wrong and his favorite albino gorilla grows to Kong size. The ape and a giant mutated wolf and alligator, head to downtown Chicago in a destructive rage.   It’s as goofy as it sounds, but the visuals are spectacular and Johnson’s outsized charisma helps, too. “Rampage” is better than it has any business being.   Blumhouse, the phenomenally successful production company responsible for a slew of hit horror films, might have finally jumped the shark. “Blumhouse’s Truth or Dare” is an annoying creepfest about a group of teens on spring break in Mexico who play a game of Truth or Dare that’s been overtaken by a demon. Naturally, things turn deadly and the participants desperately try to figure a way out. There are a few scares, but mostly it’s just irritating. The truth is, it’s bad and I wouldn’t watch it again on a…

There probably isn’t a director better suited to adapting Ernest Cline’s pop novel “Ready Player One” for the big screen than Steven Spielberg. It’s the sort of visual-heavy sci-fi extravaganza that a lesser filmmaker like Michael Bay would have made …

There probably isn’t a director better suited to adapting Ernest Cline’s pop novel “Ready Player One” for the big screen than Steven Spielberg. It’s the sort of visual-heavy sci-fi extravaganza that a lesser filmmaker like Michael Bay would have made a complete mess of. Tye Sheridan stars as a kid who, in the dystopian future, plays a virtual reality game in an attempt to save mankind from an evil corporation. While it deviates from the source material, Spielberg keeps everything in sharp focus and finds the sentimental heart beating at the story’s core. The game is packed with 80s pop culture references, so anyone who lived through that era will probably get pangs of nostalgia. For everyone else, it’s a rousing, entertaining adventure. “Loveless” is a Russian drama that won the Jury Prize at last year’s Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. This bleak and heartbreaking film from Andrey Zvyagintsev (Andres VAY-gin-siv) is about a crumbling marriage and its adverse affect on an unwanted 12-year-old boy. When he overhears his parents bitterly discuss divorce and their plans to send him off to boarding school, the lad disappears. The quarreling parents join forces…

One day, someone will make a truly good movie based on a video game. We’re still waiting. Oscar-winning actress Alicia Vikander is the latest to log in for a paycheck. “Tomb Raider” reboots the old Angelina Jolie franchise and the …

One day, someone will make a truly good movie based on a video game. We’re still waiting. Oscar-winning actress Alicia Vikander is the latest to log in for a paycheck. “Tomb Raider” reboots the old Angelina Jolie franchise and the results are loud, busy and mind numbing. The so-so special effects are a distraction and it lacks the humor that makes its obvious inspiration, “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” a classic. Vikander is good, but the filmmakers work hard to set up a sequel, which, I suspect, will never happen. No 1-up for “Tomb Raider.” “Love, Simon” isn’t perfect, either, but why nitpick? In this comic coming of age film based on a popular YA novel, Nick Robinson plays a closeted gay teen who makes some bad choices to prevent people from discovering his secret. The cast, which includes Jennifer Garner and Josh Duhamel as his supportive parents, is likable and the movie has a positive spirit. It plays a bit too much like a made for TV movie, however. It’s amazing that one of the most daring rescue operations of all time has yet to be made into a fully satisfying film. “7 Days in Entebbe” is at least…

“A Wrinkle in Time,” the classic, 1962 award-winning science fantasy novel has finally made it to the big screen. Director Ava DuVernay’s $103 million adaptation is colorful, well meaning and, ultimately, bland. Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling play the …

Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence has proven that she’s got the acting chops and personal charisma to elevate so-so material. That ability is sorely needed in the new suspense thriller, “Red Sparrow,” based on the novel by Jason Matthews.   Lawrence …

“A Wrinkle in Time,” the classic, 1962 award-winning science fantasy novel has finally made it to the big screen. Director Ava DuVernay’s $103 million adaptation is colorful, well meaning and, ultimately, bland. Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling play the astral travelers who help a troubled 13-year-old, played by Storm Reid, search for her astrophysicist father who’s being held by an evil force on a distant planet. The story’s moral themes are skimmed over and the film never makes a strong emotional connection. “A Wrinkle in Time” has heart but lacks much impact. The Chilean film “A Fantastic Woman” is the winner of this year’s Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Daniela Vega plays a trans woman who faces turmoil upon the sudden death of her boyfriend. This beautifully acted and moving film effectively generates empathy while tackling the thorny issues of tolerance and inclusion. Hedy Lamarr was a glamorous Hollywood star of the 1930s and 40s, probably best known for the classic biblical epic, “Samson and Delilah.” Often cited as the world’s most beautiful woman, she kept a strange secret. She was also a brilliant scientist and inventor. The intriguing documentary “Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story” shows how she…

Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence has proven that she’s got the acting chops and personal charisma to elevate so-so material. That ability is sorely needed in the new suspense thriller, “Red Sparrow,” based on the novel by Jason Matthews.   Lawrence plays Dominika, a Bolshoi Ballet artist who suffers a career-ending injury. Her uncle, a Russian Intelligence agent, recruits her to become a sparrow, a secret agent that specializes in seducing targets. She has to decide whether or not to join forces with a CIA agent she’s fallen for, played by Joel Edgerton.   All of the elements for success are there, including a great cast, sharp production values, exotic locales and a twisty, suspenseful plot. But “Red Sparrow” is undone by a languid and lurching pace and the lack of any on-screen spark between Lawrence and Edgerton.   Lawrence re-teams with Francis Lawrence, who directed her in three of the four “Hunger Games” movies, but the magic that propelled that franchise is missing here. Lawrence is always watchable in this violent, sadistic and overlong thriller. But it’s just never gripping. “Red Sparrow” flutters, but never soars.   Also opening this week, “Midnighters” is a low-budget thriller about a partying couple…

Pulling off a screwball comedy is as difficult as pulling out the last block in Jenga. There’s always a good chance the whole thing will come toppling down. The goofy farce “Game Night” somehow remains standing even though it’s not …