'Detective Chinatown 3' Review: Record-Setting Mystery-Comedy Tackles Tokyo
'Detective Chinatown 3' Review: Record-Setting Mystery-Comedy Tackles Tokyo
The third chapter in Chen Sicheng's mega-hit series is fun on the fringes but undercooked in the center.
Richard Kuipers, provided by
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Director: Chen Sicheng
With: Wang Baoqiang, Liu Haoran,
Satoshi Tsumabuki, Tony Jaa, Tomokazu Miura, Masami Nagasawa, Tadanobu Asano, Shota Sometani, Hirayama Motokazu, Shang Yuxian, Zhang Zifeng, Cheng Xiao, Chen Zheyuan. (Mandarin, Japanese, English, Thai dialogue)
Running time: Running time: 136 MIN.
Courtesy of WanDa Pictures
The mega-successful Chinese franchise about a mismatched detective duo tackling baffling crimes in foreign destinations continues with a wildly uneven caper set in Tokyo. With performances, plotting and visuals amped up to 11 as per usual, this hyperactive combination of Sherlock Holmes-type sleuthing and Three Stooges-style slapstick comedy offers plenty of zany fun, but the central murder-mystery contains so many convoluted diversions, digressions and detours it makes the whole enterprise play like a long stream-of-consciousness sketch with a glaringly hollow core.
'Boogie' Review: An Uneven Chinese American Basketball Drama
'Boogie' Review: An Uneven Chinese American Basketball Drama
A Chinese-American basketball phenom juggles pro dreams, romance and parental expectations in Eddie Huang's uneven directorial debut.
Nick Schager, provided by
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Director: Eddie Huang
With: Taylor Takahashi, Taylour Paige, Bashar “Pop Smoke” Jackson, Perry Yung, Pamelyn Chee, Mike Moh, Domenick Lombardozzi, Eddie Huang.
Running time: Running time: 89 MIN.
Variety
For subtlety’s sake, it’s better if coming-of-age stories don’t feature subplots in which characters are asked to pen their own autobiographical tales of maturation, and then spend time debating the merits of J.D. Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye” as well as their personal similarities to its protagonist, Holden Caulfield. That “Boogie” does this is emblematic of its frequent clunkiness. Nonetheless, Eddie Huang’s directorial debut about a Chinese American basketball player trying to balance athletics, romance and parental expectations — elements that should give it a leg up on the competition when it debuts in theaters on March 5.
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'Boss Level' Review: Frank Grillo Dies Another Day in a 'Groundhog Day' of Action Thrillers That's Just Clever Enough
'Boss Level' Review: Frank Grillo Dies Another Day in a 'Groundhog Day' of Action Thrillers That's Just Clever Enough
Joe Carnahan's film is almost a satire of how action heroes (and audiences) see the same thrills over and over.
Owen Gleiberman, provided by
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'Moxie' Review: Amy Poehler Returns to the Director's Chair With a Progressive Yet Broad YA Dramedy
'Moxie' Review: Amy Poehler Returns to the Director's Chair With a Progressive Yet Broad YA Dramedy
Sweet, clear-eyed Gen-Z female empowerment story manages to be just memorable enough through its charming ensemble and refreshingly inclusive political values.
Tomris Laffly, provided by
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Director: Amy Poehler
With: Hadley Robinson, Lauren Tsai, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Nico Hiraga, Sydney Park, Josephine Langford, Clark Gregg, Josie Totah, Alycia Pascual-Peña, Anjelika Washington, Charlie Hall, Sabrina Haskett, Ike Barinholtz, Amy Poehler, Marcia Gay Harden.
Running time: Running time: 111 MIN.
'Billie Eilish: The World's a Little Blurry' Review: A Very Good Documentary Hang-Out Movie
'Billie Eilish: The World's a Little Blurry' Review: A Very Good Documentary Hang-Out Movie
R.J. Cutler's backstage portrait captures Billie Eilish's rise to stardom - but more important, it shines a light on the old-meets-new electricity that has made her the quintessential pop star of the 21st century.
Owen Gleiberman, provided by
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Running time: Running time: 141 MIN.
Billie Eilish hasn’t been famous for very long, but when you see her in “Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry,” R.J. Cutler’s two-hour-and-20-minute but never boring documentary hang-out movie, you see why she’s already the quintessential pop star of the 21st century.
'Tom & Jerry' Review: The Cat-and-Mouse Rivals Wage Big-Screen Battle in This Low-Concept Outing
'Tom & Jerry' Review: The Cat-and-Mouse Rivals Wage Big-Screen Battle in This Low-Concept Outing
Warner Bros. resurrects Hanna-Barbera's inexterminable frenemies, placing them in a live-action context where they can wreak maximum mayhem.
Peter Debruge, provided by
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Director: Tim Story
With: Chloë Grace Moretz, Michael Peña, Jordan Bolger, Rob Delaney, Patsy Ferran, Pallavi Sharda, Colin Jost, Somi De Souza, Ajay Chhabra, Patrick Poletti, Janis Ahern, Ken Jeong.
Running time: Running time: 101 MIN.
In the 80 years since Tom and Jerry made their cartoon debut, the duo have zonked, bonked and kerplonked one another too many times to count, and somehow the joke has never gotten old. Nor have the aggravated gray cat and his rival the clever brown mouse, who remain forever young, and forever scrappy — a hand-drawn Punch and Judy whose ruthless slapstick antics have withstood critiques from all corners, including parents who think such animated violence could be a bad influence on kids.
'Cherry' Review: Tom Holland Acts Methodically in an Overblown Dud From the Russo Brothers
'Cherry' Review: Tom Holland Acts Methodically in an Overblown Dud From the Russo Brothers
The 'Spider-Man' star plays a nowhere dude who falls in love, goes to war, and becomes a junkie bank robber.
Owen Gleiberman, provided by
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With: Tom Holland, Ciara Bravo, Jack Reynor, Michael Rispoli, Jeff Wahlberg, Forrest Goodluck, Michael Gandolfini.
In “Cherry,” Tom Holland sports a buzzcut, dead eyes, and a skeevy complexion. In a look-at-my-badass-self reversal from the effusive heroics of the “Spider-Man” films, he plays an Iraq War veteran turned opioid addict turned heroin addict turned bank robber, and he looks zoned-out and strung-out, like Eminem as a fallen Eagle Scout. He gets the cold sweats, he weeps real tears and talks in a phlegmy voice, he contorts his face into a pale mask of pain, and at one point he rubs the top of his noggin and says, “I have this noise in my head…
'Made You Look: A True Story of Fake Art' Review: The Most Spectacular Art Forgery Ever?
'Made You Look: A True Story of Fake Art' Review: The Most Spectacular Art Forgery Ever?
Barry Avrich's documentary captures how art forgery isn't just a scandal but the uncanniest of magic tricks.
Owen Gleiberman, provided by
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Director: Barry Avrich
With: Ann Freedman, Dr. Jack Flam, Pei-Shen Qian, Carter Ratcliff, M.H. Miller, José Carlos Bergantiños Díaz, Charles Schmerler, Patricia Cohen, Michael Shnayerson, Domenico De Sole, Eleanore De Sole, Ronald Spencer, Dr. Jeffrey Taylor.
Melbar Entertainment Group
There’s a spectacular contradiction at the heart of art forgery. Forgeries, which pretend to be paintings by timeless artists, hang in museums all over the world; there are more of them than anyone knows, all hiding in plain sight. When a case of forgery comes to light, it tends to be greeted with moral outrage. The act of imitating a famous artist’s work, and profiting off it, is seen as a sleazy low-life con, as well as a major crime (which, of course, it is). Yet art forgery isn’t
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'Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell' Review: The Notorious B.I.G's 'Origin Story' Focuses on Pre-Hurrah Hustle
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A Netflix documentary is bold enough to believe that Biggie's transition from teen crack dealer to '90s hip-hop sensation is more interesting than dwelling too much on his tragic end.
Chris Willman, provided by