1/6/2022

The 355

NEW YORK (CNS) -- Who needs one James Bond when you can have five Jane Bonds? That's the premise behind "The 355" (Universal), an entertaining thriller featuring a quintet of lady spies. Like Ian Fleming, who based his 007 character on a real-life secret agent, "The 355" is similarly inspired, hearkening back to an unnamed female operative in the Revolutionary War. Known only by her code number (355), this colonial spy relayed vital information on British troop movements to Gen. George Washington.

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12/22/2021

American Underdog

NEW YORK (CNS) -- Cheerful as a dance floor boot scoot and livelier than a touchdown drive, the sports-themed, faith-tinged biopic "American Underdog" (Lionsgate) goes light on matters of religion, focusing instead on the steep challenge of building a career in the NFL.

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12/20/2021

Sing 2

NEW YORK (CNS) -- "Sing 2" (Universal), writer-director Garth Jennings' follow-up to his 2016 animated musical comedy, finds that film's ensemble of animal entertainers aiming for the big time. As they work to fulfill their ambition, some of the dangers through which they pass are too scary for little kids. Fueled by familiar tunes and buoyed by enjoyable humor, though, their story is on target for most others.

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12/20/2021

The Matrix Resurrections

NEW YORK (CNS) -- You wouldn't care to spend the rest of your life floating unconscious in a pod full of goo, would you? Well, neither would Keanu Reeves, and so we get "The Matrix Resurrections" (Warner Bros.), the fourth film in the blockbuster sci-fi series that first hit screens way back in 1999.

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12/15/2021

Spider-Man: No Way Home

NEW YORK (CNS) -- Action, humor and drama are skillfully combined in "Spider-Man: No Way Home" (Columbia), the lavish final installment of a trilogy of films starring Tom Holland as the Marvel Comics superhero.

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12/14/2021

The King's Man

NEW YORK (CNS) -- Those old enough to have lived through the disco era may recall a song by the pop group Boney M. the refrain of which began: "Ra, Ra, Rasputin/Lover of the Russian queen." While the lyrics may have contained a groundless libel on the memory of the last tsarina -- who probably had eyes only for her Nicky -- the tune was at least thoroughly danceable.

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12/10/2021

National Champions

NEW YORK (CNS) -- Are student-athletes the exploited victims of a hugely profitable amateur sports system or its pampered beneficiaries? Those are the parameters of the fact-based debate carried on in the high-quality but sometimes overly rhetorical drama "National Champions" (STX).

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12/8/2021

Being the Ricardos

NEW YORK (CNS) -- The set of "I Love Lucy" was a toxic workplace. At least, that's how it's portrayed in writer-director Aaron Sorkin's biographical drama "Being the Ricardos" (Amazon). The iconic sitcom, which first aired on CBS in October 1951, has never really disappeared. Stylized physical comedy plus a musical number in the second act proved to be an exceedingly popular formula. Yet, if the film is to be believed, the principals -- both in front of the innovative three cameras employed to film the show and behind them -- were in a continuous power struggle.

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12/7/2021

Nightmare Alley

NEW YORK (CNS) -- The title "Nightmare Alley" (Searchlight) at least gives moviegoers fair warning of what awaits them in director and co-writer Guillermo del Toro's noir-inspired screen version of William Lindsay Gresham's 1946 novel, scripted with Kim Morgan.

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