Beyond the Mask

Christian swashbuckler changes the storytelling mode but not the message

"...Reynolds commits raids at night as the masked and mysterious Highwayman, who resembles the iconic Lone Ranger. Ultimately, Reynolds,..."

June 12, 2015 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Tomorrowland

Seeming more like a calculation than a flight of fancy, this adventure tale has both hits and misses

"...Cassidy as Athena, a young adolescent robot who’s a mysterious emissary from Tomorrowland. That these two manage to steal..."

May 22, 2015 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Maps to the Stars

David Cronenberg's film, with a script by Bruce Wagner, is a darkly humorous moral fable aimed at Hollywood.

"...bus in Los Angeles. A burn victim from a mysterious fire who covers her scars with opera gloves, she..."

Feb. 27, 2015 Movie Review by Josh Kupecki

Open Windows

Elijah Wood is the star of Nacho Vigalondo's nervy thriller about digital voyeurism.

"...In short order, Nick is contacted online by the mysterious Chord (Maskell), who seems to know all about Nick,..."

Nov. 7, 2014 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Ouija

Hasbro's soothsaying board is the MacGuffin in this teen horror film.

"...After the mysterious (but inventive, with Christmas lights!) suicide of her BFF..."

Oct. 31, 2014 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

The Guest

With their follow-up to You're Next, filmmakers Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett prove the new kings of indie horror movies.

"...A Walk Among the Tombstones – as David, a mysterious ex-soldier who insinuates himself into the lives of a..."

Sept. 26, 2014 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Mood Indigo

Michel Gondry's latest presents us with an elaborate yet handmade artifice that's thoroughly charming until its color drains away.

"...then it all goes dark, quite literally. As a mysterious illness takes over, the color is leached from the..."

Aug. 15, 2014 Movie Review by Kimberley Jones

Earth to Echo

A trio of suburban kids befriend an alien entity in this Spielberg-influenced family film.

"...all three see their phones lit up by a mysterious beacon and they bike off into the nearby desert..."

July 4, 2014 Movie Review by William Goss

The Signal

A trio of tech-savvy twentysomethings get waylaid and wind up as subjects in a weird but stylish sci-fi mystery.

"...trip to get waylaid by the provocations of a mysterious hacker. After being drawn out to the Nevada desert..."

June 13, 2014 Movie Review by William Goss

Locke

In this bravura movie, Tom Hardy plays a man who tries to mend the unraveling threads of his life while behind the wheel of a car for 85 minutes.

"...a cold as he drives alone on an at-first mysterious mission. The little gray cells (not to mention those..."

May 16, 2014 Movie Review by Kimberley Jones

Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones

The franchise is back and this time the paranormal forces are targeting Latino victims.

"...Jesse with latent superpowers (!) and a preponderance of mysterious bite marks on his arms. This happens after she..."

Jan. 10, 2014 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Prisoners

Jake Gyllenhaal is a detective working a troubling case, and Hugh Jackman's wound-up father of the victim is just one of his problems.

"...is called in to investigate, and Dano plays a mysterious RV-driving drifter who has mental health issues and is..."

Sept. 27, 2013 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Getaway

Ethan Hawke and Selena Gomez try, but they can't getaway from this action mess.

"...and threatened with death if he doesn't comply. A mysterious voice tells him what he must do in order..."

Aug. 30, 2013 Movie Review by Louis Black

Despicable Me 2

Gru exchanges supervillainy for domesticity in this sequel, although the Minions are still the animated film's best selling point.

"...to romantic love, while saving the world from a mysterious criminal who possesses a serum with the power to..."

July 5, 2013 Movie Review by Steve Davis

Dirty Wars

Journalist Jeremy Scahill investigates the stealth operations of JSOC - the Joint Special Operations Command, an elite military outfit that performs targeted kills at the administration's directive.

"...investigating the war on terror, the growing number of mysterious night raids on civilian targets started to pique his..."

June 28, 2013 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Now You See Me

This magicians' caper film has a good cast but very little else hidden up its sleeve.

"...receives a tarot card that beckons them to a mysterious meeting point. Cut to one year later, whereupon they..."

June 7, 2013 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

The Lords of Salem

With his fifth horror feature, writer/director Rob Zombie proves he's a unique visionary in a repetitive cinematic genre.

"...Salem, Mass., radio deejay Heidi Hawthorne, who receives a mysterious vinyl offering, ostensibly from a band named the Lords...."

April 19, 2013 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Lore

A German girl at the end of World War II leads her four siblings to safety while also confronting a world more complex than her Nazi upbringing equipped her for.

"...the children are eventually befriended by Thomas (Malina), a mysterious refugee also on foot who bears papers that identify..."

March 8, 2013 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Beautiful Creatures

She's a witch, he's a mortal, and they both read Charles Bukowski: Some teens will never make it to heaven.

"...Campion) lives at the decaying Ravenwood mansion with her mysterious Uncle Macon (Irons), where the townspeople suspect devil worship..."

Feb. 15, 2013 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Oscar-Nominated Short Films 2013: Live Action

Childhood, aging, and geographic diversity are common themes in these dramas from around the world.

"...crop is Québécois actor Yan England’s “Henry,” an initially mysterious portrait of an elderly pianist (a character inspired by..."

Feb. 8, 2013 Movie Review by Leah Churner

The Collection

This follow-up to the horror/torture film The Collector seeks to mold a new franchise.

"...logic freights this enterprise. The Collector (Archer) remains a mysterious hulk in a black mask with crudely cut holes..."

Dec. 7, 2012 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Sinister

Mix a doomed house with found footage and supernatural explanations and you have a horror movie that borrows smartly and has a strong lead in Ethan Hawke as a conflicted true-crime writer.

"...the attic of the new house, Ellison finds a mysterious box of Super-8 film reels and a projector. The..."

Oct. 12, 2012 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

The Words

As an examination of the writer's world, this film offers nothing new; as a romance it's not half bad.

"...going, and despite Jeremy Irons’ creaky performance as the mysterious codger who originally penned that now-yellowing, 1940s-era love story,..."

Sept. 7, 2012 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

The Watch

This comedy is awfully lightweight although Richard Ayoade lends some spark to the goofy quartet.

"...unhinged enough to be memorably freaky; and Ayoade, as mysterious Jamarcus, needs to be given more roles in American..."

July 27, 2012 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Silent House

Silent House gives the game away too easily but it does have some effective shocks along the way.

"...on existential pins and needles around Sarah, while a mysterious and unremembered childhood playmate appears and makes outré conversation...."

March 9, 2012 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Warrior

Knockout performances by the three central characters and powerfully effective fight sequences are the key ingredients that spur this male weepie.

"...War vet, who is back in the States under mysterious circumstances before arriving on the front stoop of his..."

Sept. 9, 2011 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Redemption Road

This story about a musician who's got the blues because he can't play the blues is a mawkish misfire, but the roadside scenery from Austin to Huntsville, Ala., can't be beat.

"...soul" melodrama takes place on the road as a mysterious, Zen-like stranger named Augy (Duncan) gives Jefferson a ride..."

Aug. 26, 2011 Movie Review by Kimberley Jones

Cowboys & Aliens

Jon Favreau and company kick up some good Western dust until the film's alien twist comes off like the newest variation on outmoded cowboys-and-Indians stereotypes.

"...reclaim the snatched citizenry with the aid of the mysterious Ella (Wilde), who has a personal beef with the..."

July 29, 2011 Movie Review by Kimberley Jones

Super 8

This throwback to the monster movies of the Seventies evokes the early work of Steven Spielberg.

"...beginning of the destruction of their town by the mysterious cargo on the train and the further alarm created..."

June 10, 2011 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Rango

Watch out, cartoon critters: There’s a new sheriff in town, and his name is Rango.

"...the nearby town of Dirt, which is experiencing a mysterious water shortage. The actor in Rango seizes the opportunity..."

March 4, 2011 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

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