Here’s a comedy I have not seen but want to, because I find the premise irresistible: Two 15-year-old girls (Kirsten Dunst and Michelle Williams) who live at the Watergate complex, circa 1972, accidentally get involved in a burglary (yes, that burglary) and wind up meeting our 37th president. Click here to watch it for free.
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21 Jump Street Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum play cops who go undercover at a high school to bust drug dealers. Hill, who co-wrote the story, apparently drew inspiration from preschool memories for this immature, offensive, painfully unfunny garbage. Release: 2012 Grade: F
*****
The Hunger Games Jennifer Lawrence brings the same rural charm she rode to an Oscar nomination (for Winter’s Bone) to this entertaining, if overlong, spring blockbuster. The story — in the future, society’s upper class keeps the underclass in line by staging a televised battle to the death among selected young people — isn’t all that original, but Gary Ross’ stylish direction and Lawrence’s appeal produce riveting spectacle. Release: 2012 Grade: B+
*****
The Descendants George Clooney plays a Hawaiian lawyer who, after his wife is left comatose by a boating accident, must grapple with two rebellious daughters, greedy relatives, and one life-altering revelation. Nobody does Middle-Aged-Man-Under-Stress stories better than writer-director Alexander Payne (Sideways), whose movies click because their characters, although often behaving foolishly, worm their way into your heart. Release: 2011 Grade: A-
*****
A Separation A tense, intimate look at honor and justice, Iranian-style, as a man separating from his wife faces prison for accidentally causing — or not — a miscarriage suffered by a family caretaker. The clinical, faux-documentary style (shaky camera, no music) employed here adds to the story’s realism but also leaves what should be an emotional drama feeling a bit cold. Release: 2011 Grade: B+
*****
Killer Joe A black comedy that aims for twisted humor but mostly misses the mark. Members of a Texas trailer-trash clan hire a hit-man (Matthew McConaughey) to bump off a family member for the life insurance — but double-crosses are afoot. The acting is good, and the direction by old pro William Friedkin is slick, but any grins and giggles are drowned out by an off-putting abundance of sadistic sex and graphic violence. Release: 2012 Grade: B-
Magic Mike The cable channel Cinemax used to specialize in movies like this (and maybe still does): Innocent youth takes job at strip club; older stripper takes kid under wing; bad things happen, anyway. Swap out the usual no-name cast for some Hollywood stars, add a slumming director (Steven Soderbergh) with a decent budget, trade all that girlish flesh for beefcake in thongs, and you have Magic Mike, voyeuristic claptrap that’s no better — or worse — than those late-night Cinemax flicks. Release: 2012 Grade: C-
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