Tara Thorne

The biggest mistake you can make going into Begin Again is thinking “It’s the Hollywood version of Once.” Because it kind of is—boy (Mark Ruffalo) meets girl (Keira Knightley), makes pretty music in cheap, innovative ways, there is some Sex Tension—but Begin Again has neither the songs (these are by Gregg Alexander, the “Get What […]

This feels like an ’80s comedy with technology jammed into it, similar to that Jack Ryan sequel earlier this year that was all about Russians. It’s also very possibly the world’s most expensive iPad commercial, as every character onscreen says the word at least thrice and talks about what amazing products they are. (So amazing […]

This is a John Le Carré adaptation, so prepare to have a sore post-perplexion face after seeing it. Philip Seymour Hoffman, in his last full role, is a German intelligence officer who has a couple big bungles in his past (including 9/11, whoops), so when a Chechnyan refugee (Grigoriy Dobrygin) washes up in Hamburg with […]

So many Scarlett Johansson movies commit the lazy sin of hoping you’ll find her hot enough that the bad scripts and low-impact performances be but a breeze on your boner. Lucy is not much different in this regard: a junk-science story of a woman whose turn as an unwitting drug mule unlocks the full killing […]

This indie sensation is some surprising/welcome summer counter-programming. It follows Donna (Jenny Slate), a mid-20s stand-up comic whose boyfriend breaks up with her after she shares too much in her act. She has a one-night stand with Max (Jake Lacy, Pete from The Office) and ends up pregnant. She schedules an abortion (for Valentine’s Day) […]

Melissa McCarthy’s latest balls-out comedy firecracker suffers from the same flaws as her previous outings, The Heat and Identity Thief: The overall script is lacking, expecting its star to fill in the holes. Which would be more acceptable if McCarthy and Ben Falcone hadn’t written it. Whoops. Regardless, Tammy—about a woman who gets fired, leaves […]

Darcy Tirrel always wanted to be called “doctor.” “But you have such a pretty face,” her mother would say. “Why muck about getting your hands dirty?” In 1871, the Great Chicago Fire burned miles of the city, but it would be nearly destroyed by something much worse, 140 years later. Dr. Tirrel watched Chicago go […]