FURIOUS 7  * * 1 / 2

Starring Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson, Kurt Russell and Jason Statham. Screenplay by Chris Morgan. Directed by James Wan.

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“A narcoleptic small-town neo-noir, this flagrantly derivative film wants desperately to be a Coen Brothers movie, but instead works mainly as a throwback to those off-brand knock-offs that cluttered video store shelves in the mid-’90s. Good news I guess, if you’re nostalgic for Keys to Tulsa, Clay Pigeons or Feeling Minnesota.” – Movie Mezzanine, 04/02/2015

“Serena isn’t an embarrassment, because god forbid that would have at least made it interesting. This is just one of those drearily ambitious pictures where nothing quite works. Director Susanne Bier sticks firmly to prestige picture blandness when the material clearly calls for something much soapier and wilder.” – Movie Mezzanine, 03/27/2015

“Given the subject’s storied history of confrontational audacity and general unpleasantness, I can only assume the whole joke of writer-director Guillaume Nicloux’s film is what a placid, low-key experience it turns out to be. What follows is something like an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm played at half-speed with the volume turned down.” – Movie Mezzanine, 03/25/2015

“Beautiful naked women smoke cigarettes and spout Marxist rhetoric. A mysterious man on a park bench scrolls through Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn quotes on his iPhone. Howard Hawks’ Only Angels Have Wings is on TV in the background. There are a bunch of shady Germans zooming around in a Mercedes shooting people, because of course there are.” – WBUR’s The ARTery, 03/20/2015

THE GUNMAN  * * 

Starring Sean Penn, Javier Bardem, Ray Winstone, Mark Rylance and Idris Elba. Screenplay by Don MacPherson, Pete Travis and Sean Penn. Directed by Pierre Morel. 

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IT FOLLOWS  * * *

Starring Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Olivia Luccardi, Lili Sepe and Daniel Zovatto. Written and directed by David Robert Mitchell. 

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“I’m writing this review on another miserable morning during the worst winter in Boston’s history, convinced more than ever that the planet is trying to shake us off. Meanwhile some moron from Oklahoma just threw a snowball in Congress to prove there’s no such thing as global warming, so this garbage unfortunately works.” – Movie Mezzanine, 03/17/2015

“Frustratingly close to being something very special indeed, the movie never mentions race because it doesn’t have to. The image of Forest Whitaker, in his skinny black tie and Malcolm X specs, loomed over by Harvey Keitel with his shiny gold star and blinding white hat says a thousand words.” – Movie Mezzanine, 03/11/2015

“The expansive gang, including the elder Tedesco, drummer Hal Blaine, sax player Plas Johnson and bassist Carol Kaye – not to mention Leon Russell and Glen Campbell — all kick back for casual chats, recalling the old days with wry smiles. It’s extremely sweet-natured, short on drama but full of good vibrations.” – Movie Mezzanine, 03/09/2015