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THE TWO POPES: ONE OF THIS YEAR’S FINEST

In Theaters Leonard Maltin Movie Reviews
5341

One of the most unpredictable and satisfying films of the year, The Two Popes represents a collaboration of great talents: writer Anthony McCarten (The Theory of Everything, Darkest Hour), director Fernando Mereilles (City of God, The Constant Gardener), and two of the finest actors on the planet, Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce. The filmmakers disarm us with this sly piece of historical speculation about a meeting between Pope Benedict and Pope Francis in 2012, at an unprecedented moment in history when Benedict announced that he was stepping down, making way for a liberal successor. McCarten’s screenplay is witty and sharply observed. Benedict is under fire for financial improprieties at the Vatican and willful ignorance of the sex scandals that plague the Catholic Church. Cardinal Bergoglio of Argentina…

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THE CURE FOR WHAT AILS YOU: SERIALS

Leonard Maltin
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I came of age after Hollywood stopped making serials, but I still got to see a few during the waning days of Saturday kiddie matinees and I’ve never lost my fondness for them. That’s why I’m happy that VCI Entertainment has released a handful of newly-restored serials on DVD and Blu-ray—the same titles that Turner Classic Movies is showing in rotation on their TCM Watch app: Jungle Queen, The Vanishing Shadow, Lost City of the Jungle, Tailspin Tommy and the Great Air Mystery, et al. VCI (www.vcientertainment.com) has long offered public domain titles but I’ve just watched their 2K restoration of The Roaring West (1935) starring Buck Jones and it’s become one of my favorites. Most serial aficionados agree that Republic Pictures made the best chapter-plays, but this Universal…

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QUEEN & SLIM: ON THE ROAD AGAIN

In Theaters Leonard Maltin Movie Reviews
5221

Comparisons to Bonnie and Clyde may be inevitable, but even with its faults Queen & Slim stands on its own. It’s sure to provoke an emotional response, especially from African American audiences. The film reflects a seething anger borne of police shootings we’ve all witnessed or read about—although we always root for the anti-heroes in a story about lovers on the lam, regardless of race. The movie opens simply enough, with two unnamed characters having dinner in a Cleveland coffee shop. This is their first date and they struggle to make conversation. She (newcomer Jodie Turner-Smith) is an attorney whose client has just received the death penalty. He (Daniel Kaluuya, from Get Out) works at a Costco store and drives a car bearing the license plate TRUSTGOD. Minutes later they…

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FROZEN 2

In Theaters Leonard Maltin Movie Reviews
9264

I may not have been the biggest fan of Frozen but I certainly understood its widespread appeal. It offered not one but two princesses and a significant empowerment message for girls, an endearing comedy figure in Olaf, an unconventional leading man, and an enjoyable score featuring the indelible song “Let It Go.” I didn’t know what to expect from a sequel, especially given that like most fairy tales, this one concludes with everyone living happily ever after. Therein lies the dilemma. How do you invent a story that justifies extending “ever after?” I was hopeful that returning directors Jennifer Lee (who also wrote the screenplay) and Chris Buck would find a way. My 20-something students at USC were eager to see the results and didn’t share my…

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A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD

In Theaters Leonard Maltin Movie Reviews
6121

Fred Rogers was by any measure a remarkable man. He was the subject of a superb documentary last year that won a large and appreciative audience. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood doesn’t reiterate the same information and offers instead a canny but irresistible story of its own. Matthew Rhys plays Lloyd Vogel, a magazine writer who gets an unwelcome assignment from his editor at Esquire: a profile of Mister Rogers. He wears his reputation as an investigative journalist like a badge of honor and bristles at the thought of this gig. His first brush with Rogers only confirms what he suspected: the man is too good to be true. This is the key to Neighborhood’s success: Rhys’ character mirrors our own doubts and questions. How on earth does…

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FORD V. FERRARI: THE AUDIENCE WINS

In Theaters Leonard Maltin Movie Reviews
8730

Ford v. Ferrari has no ambition except to entertain, and it does so exceedingly well. That’s not something I take for granted. A great true-life story, a sharply written screenplay, superior production values, and a perfect cast are the basic ingredients, deftly orchestrated by director James Mangold. We’ve come to expect excellence from Matt Damon, who plays celebrated auto designer Carroll Shelby, but we haven’t seen Christian Bale in a lighthearted role for some time, so it’s a special treat to watch him wearing a smile as maverick race car driver and engineer Ken Miles. This is the story of their knockabout friendship as they take on the challenge of producing a car that can compete with Enzo Ferrari’s to win the grueling 24-hour Le Mans…

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THE REPORT: UNCOVERING HIDDEN TRUTHS

In Theaters Leonard Maltin Movie Reviews
4994

All the President’s Men was a game-changer when it came out in 1976 and remains a yardstick by which other topical true-life thrillers are measured. Writer-director Scott Z. Burns freely admits that he drew inspiration from that film and others of that period when fashioning The Report, but he has nothing to apologize for. His film can stand alongside its predecessors as a first-rate piece of journalistic drama. His goal was to produce a timely film that wouldn’t make viewers feel as if they were taking medicine. Here, too, he has scored a bull’s-eye. The film has great narrative momentum and manages to impart a great deal of information clearly without getting lost in the weeds. One reason is the choice of Adam Driver as his real-life…

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