The Good Lie (PG-13) This drama about the Sudanese genocide has its heart in the right place, but where is its brain? Arnold Oceng, Emmanuel Jal, and Ger Duany play three African refugees who resettle in Kansas City in 2001. The movie never explains why it’s left to their employment counselor (Reese Witherspoon) to help them acclimate to a strange new country. The big canvas seems to defeat director Philippe Falardeau, whose storytelling is so poor that bureaucratic rules are explained to be insurmountable in one scene, then solved in the very next one. It’s good that the movie isn’t about a heroic white woman rescuing the refugees, but the Africans are still reduced to one character trait apiece. Oceng manages to convey a sense of maturation all the same. He deserved a better vehicle than this. Also with Corey Stoll, Kuoth Wiel, Peterdeng Mongok, Femi Oguns, and Sarah Baker.
Guardians of the Galaxy (PG-13) The funniest Marvel Comics movie so far. Chris Pratt stars as an intergalactic thief who has to team up with a green-skinned assassin (Zoë Saldana), a revenge-minded alien (Dave Bautista), an insanely angry talking raccoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper), and his walking tree sidekick (voiced by Vin Diesel) to stop a blue-skinned overlord (Lee Pace) from doing bad things to the universe. The five main characters make a terrific comedy team, with Pratt anchoring the proceedings well and the raccoon stealing lots of scenes. Director/co-writer James Gunn (Slither) festoons the soundtrack with splendidly cheesy 1970s and ’80s rock anthems. Most superhero movies treat their characters with earnest reverence, and Gunn gleefully throws a pie in the face of it all. Also with Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, John C. Reilly, Djimon Hounsou, Ophelia Lovibond, Wyatt Oleff, Benicio del Toro, and Glenn Close.
The Hundred-Foot Journey (PG) Yet another way-too-tasteful literary adaptation by Lasse Hallström. This one is adapted from Richard Morais’ novel about an Indian patriarch (Om Puri) who opens a family restaurant in the French countryside, incurring the wrath of the traditional chef (Helen Mirren) who owns the Michelin-starred restaurant across the street. One of the few actors who can stand up to Mirren, the sepulchral-voiced Puri walks away with the movie, though Manish Dayal (as Indian restaurant’s cooking savant who’s caught in the middle) does well just to hold his own in such company. All this talent should have come to more. Also with Charlotte Le Bon, Amit Shah, Farzana Dua Elahe, Dillon Mitra, Aria Pandya, Michel Blanc, and Rohan Chand.
Left Behind (PG-13) Astonishing how little this remake seems to have improved upon the 2002 film version of Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins’ novel. Nicolas Cage stars this time as an airline pilot who struggles to cope with what has happened when the Rapture takes away his co-pilot and half his passengers. The special effects are amateurish, as are many of the performances — Cassi Thomson is downright gruesome as the pilot’s daughter. If I want a movie about the Rapture, I’ll stick with This Is the End. Also with Lea Thompson, Chad Michael Murray, Nicky Whelan, Martin Klebba, Quinton Aaron, William Ragsdale, Lolo Jones, and Jordin Sparks.
The Liberator (NR) Édgar Ramírez’ stalwart performance is the best reason to watch this handsome but thuddingly mediocre biopic from Venezuela. He plays Simón Bolívar, the aristocrat-turned-freedom fighter for democracy who freed South America from Spanish rule in the 19th century, only to see his dream of a united continent collapse. Ramírez shifts effortlessly between three languages and turns the hero into a layered, self-doubting, impassioned character. Too bad the rest of this expensive costume drama with giant battle scenes is done in such a by-the-numbers fashion. Also with María Valverde, Erich Wildpret, Juana Acosta, Imanol Arias, Iwan Rheon, Juvel Vielma, Gary Lewis, and Danny Huston.
The Maze Runner (PG-13) The shadow of The Hunger Games looms heavily over this dystopian science-fiction thriller starring Dylan O’Brien as a boy who awakens without his memory in a community full of similarly amnesiac boys trapped in the center of a giant maze. The film’s look is derivative, and the acting is mostly anonymous, aside from the beauteous Kaya Scodelario as a girl who mysteriously shows up late in the proceedings. Still, the central mystery (taken from the James Dashner novel this is based on) is well handled, and the plot’s twists and turns are employed dexterously to reveal enough information to keep up the intrigue. Other YA novels have been turned into far worse movies. Also with Aml Ameen, Ki Hong Lee, Blake Cooper, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Will Poulter, Jacob Latimore, and Patricia Clarkson.
My Old Lady (PG-13) Israel Horovitz adapts his own stage play about a penniless American (Kevin Kline) who inherits a Paris apartment, only to find an old woman (Maggie Smith) and her daughter (Kristin Scott Thomas) who are legally entitled to stay there. Also with Noémie Lvovsky, Stéphane Freiss, Stéphane de Groodt, and Dominique Pinon.
No Good Deed (PG-13) A movie so bad, it’s actually rather impressive. Taraji P. Henson plays a mom who’s stuck at home on a rainy night when an escaped serial rapist (Idris Elba), posing as a car-wreck victim, manages to terrorize her. Elba seems to appreciate playing a bad guy for once, but he’s vastly undercut by a nonsensical script. At one point, the woman’s young daughter somehow fails to notice the villain killing a cop 10 feet away from her. If that sounds unbelievable, try the climactic plot twist on for size. This is just putrid. Also with Leslie Bibb, Kate del Castillo, Mirage Moonschein, and Henry Simmons.
The Skeleton Twins (R) Saturday Night Live alums Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader give excellent, low-key performances as estranged siblings struggling to cope with a family legacy of depression and suicide. Director/co-writer Craig Johnson knows that the subject threatens to be too gloomy, so he gives these comic actors opportunities like a big dance number set to “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now.” For all that, the two leads are even better in the movie’s big dramatic explosions near the end. Their performances convey the love that drives these two damaged people to try to prop each other up, and that makes this dramedy into something deeply moving. Also with Ty Burrell, Boyd Holbrook, Joanna Gleason, and Luke Wilson.
The Song (PG-13) Alan Powell stars in this drama as a songwriter whose life is overturned when a song he writes for his wife (Ali Faulkner) makes him into a star. Also with Caitlin Nicol-Thomas, Danny Vinson, Kenda Benward, and Jude Ramsey.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (PG-13) This might be the worst movie of the summer, and this is a summer that includes Hercules and the fourth Transformers movie. Never mind your nostalgia for the TMNT of the ’80s — this movie fails because it just isn’t fun. Director Jonathan Liebesman is so in love with a joke about the ridiculousness of the turtles’ backstory that that’s pretty much all there is. (For the record, it’s funny exactly twice in the course of 101 minutes.) Like a lie that has spun out of control, the new twists on the TMNT mythos require more exposition, which requires more talking, and talking in movies doesn’t play to the strong suits of star Megan Fox, cast here as the turtles’ reporter-friend April O’Neil. Fox is icily beautiful, but her acting can be summed up by a single facial expression: open-mouthed confusion. It’s a role that would be perfect for a talking doll, but, unfortunately, April is supposed to be a person. Of course, this movie is also supposed to be about crime-fighting turtles, but they’re just painful to watch and annoying. Also with Will Arnett, William Fitchner, and the voices of Johnny Knoxville and Tony Shalhoub. –– S.S.
This Is Where I Leave You (R) Unsatisfying. Jason Bateman plays a guy who’s forced to spend seven days with his mother (Jane Fonda), siblings (Tina Fey, Adam Driver, and Corey Stoll), and various assorted spouses and significant others after his father dies. The movie is based on Jonathan Tropper’s novel, and director Shawn Levy (from the Night at the Museum movies) seems to quail before the funnier, grosser edges of the material. The insights are reduced to greeting-card platitudes, and Fey seems ill at ease as a regret-ridden mom, while Bateman is rehashing the shtick he did on TV’s Arrested Development. The only actor who really brings his best is Driver as the uninhibited youngest sibling. This movie’s grown-up impulses get in the way of its comedy. Also with Rose Byrne, Kathryn Hahn, Connie Britton, Timothy Olyphant, Debra Monk, Abigail Spencer, Ben Schwartz, and Dax Shepard.
A Walk Among the Tombstones (R) This movie’s different from all the Liam Neeson thrillers: It’s actually good, thanks to a witty script by writer-director Scott Frank and some tasty supporting performances. Neeson plays an ex-cop-turned-sleazy freelance fixer who’s hired by a drug trafficker (Dan Stevens) to track down a pair of psychopaths who kidnap and murder the wives and daughters of drug lords. The star partners well with Brian “Astro” Bradley as a street kid who’s also a computer genius, and there’s a nice creepy turn from Ólafur Darri Ólafsson as a groundskeeper. Adapted from Lawrence Block’s novel, this makes for a pleasingly layered pulp thriller. Also with David Harbour, Boyd Holbrook, Sebastian Roché, Mark Consuelos, and Adam David Thompson.
When the Game Stands Tall (PG) The ungrammatical title is forgivable; the rest of the movie isn’t. Jim Caviezel stars in this completely unoriginal sports drama based on the story of Bob LaDouceur, the coach of the football team at California’s De La Salle High School, which had to cope with a player’s murder, LaDouceur’s heart attack, and the snapping of the team’s historic 151-game winning streak all at the same time. Michael Chiklis steals this thing away as a bespectacled, goateed assistant coach who steps in for his ailing boss, but he can’t begin to compensate for this movie that contains just about every cliché of football movies that there is. You’re better off watching Friday Night Lights, the movie or the TV show. Also with Laura Dern, Alexander Ludwig, Clancy Brown, Ser’Darius Blain, Jessie Usher, Matthew Daddario, Stephan James, and Maurice Jones-Drew.
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby (NR) Originally made as two movies, each telling the story of a romantic relationship from a different character’s viewpoint, this is a single film condensing the two versions, starring Jessica Chastain and James McAvoy. Also with Viola Davis, Nina Arianda, Bill Hader, Ciarán Hinds, Jess Weixler, William Hurt, and Isabelle Huppert.
The Guest (R) Adam Wingard (You’re Next) directs this thriller starring Dan Stevens as a stranger who ingratiates himself with a family by claiming to have served in the military with their dead son. Also with Maika Monroe, Brendan Meyer, Sheila Kelley, Leland Orser, and Lance Reddick.
Tracks (PG-13) Mia Wasikowska stars in this drama based on a true story about an Australian woman who hikes for 1,700 miles through the outback accompanied by four camels and a dog. Also with Adam Driver, Emma Booth, Lily Pearl, Jessica Tovey, and Rainer Bock.
