THE DROP  * * 1 / 2

Starring Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace, Matthias Schoenaerts, John Ortiz and James Gandolfini. Screenplay by Dennis Lehane. Directed by Michael R. Roskam.

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“After seven years in the crucible of Studio 8H, Hader and Wiig effortlessly slip into a rapport that suggests a lifetime of shared experiences. Speaking a secret family language of private jokes and subtle, offhand acknowledgements, they know each other better than anybody else – which means they also know how to hurt each other worse than anyone else.” – Movie Mezzanine, 09/11/2014

“A riveting tale told in the most pedestrian and unimaginative fashion possible, absent any outrage or blame. Like far too many contemporary war films, Rory Kennedy’s Last Days in Vietnam would rather we celebrate individual acts of valor than question the larger, more rotten context that made them regrettably necessary.” – Movie Mezzanine, 09/04/2014

“Juliette Lewis has always brought with her a messy sexuality and isn’t the kind of performer you catch ‘acting.’ She often throws herself so emotionally into roles that her slightly addled line readings sound not like words from a script, but things that just popped into her head for the first time and she’s not having an easy time at all getting them out.” – Movie Mezzanine, 09/02/2014

LIFE OF CRIME  * *

Starring Jennifer Aniston, John Hawkes, Yasiin Bey, Isla Fisher and Tim Robbins. Written for the screen and directed by Daniel Schechter.

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THE NOVEMBER MAN  * * 1 / 2

Starring Pierce Brosnan, Luke Bracey, Olga Kurylenko, Will Patton and Bill Smitrovich. Screenplay by Michael Finch and Karl Gajdusek. Directed by Roger Donaldson.

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SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR  * 1 / 2

Starring Mickey Rourke, Josh Brolin, Jessica Alba, Eva Green and Bruce Willis. Screenplay by Frank Miller. Directed by Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller.

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THE EXPENDABLES 3  * 1 / 2

Starring Sylvester Stallone, Mel Gibson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Statham and Harrison Ford. Screenplay by Sylvester Stallone, Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt. Directed by Patrick Hughes.

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“Guido screws his annoying mistress and hides from his financiers, drifting away mid-conversation into baroque childhood reveries, mostly sexual in nature. The entire time, hundreds labor away building the set for his still-unwritten opus – a giant phallic spaceship that’s going nowhere. Yes, the central visual metaphor here is an enormous, useless cock.” – Movie Mezzanine, 08/06/2014

“What follows is McDonagh’s rotted-out take on the Stations of the Cross, explicitly positioned in the wake of the Catholic Church’s molestation cover-ups and the Wall Street financial crisis, with Gleeson tending to his broke, wildly dysfunctional flock as he slouches towards Golgotha. Calvary is a strange film, often hilarious but always heavy and forlorn.” – Movie Mezzanine, 08/06/2014