OPENING THIS WEEK
Jennifer Lopez heats up “Hustlers”
Hustlers
Directed by Lorene Scafaria; stars Constance Wu, Jennifer Lopez, Julia Stiles and Cardi B
The movie follows the story of savvy former strip club employees who come together to turn the tables on their Wall Street clients.
While Rex Reed of the Observer says that “J Lo (Jennifer Lopez) is the only reason to see it,” there are more critics who praise it for its feminist themes and its actors’ fine performances.
“It’s meant as a compliment when strong females are called ballsy,” says Charlotte O’Sullivan of the London Evening Standard. “But it would be truer to say that J Lo’s extraordinary creation is vagina-y.”
For Christy Lemire of RogerEbert.com, the film itself delivers a “surprising level of emotional depth.”
#Jowable
Directed by Darryl Yap; stars Kim Molina, Candy Pangilinan and Jerald Napoles
The big-screen adaptation of Yap’s viral video-turned-best-selling novel is about a 30-something woman who has not had any boyfriend since birth. And she thinks it’s high time to change all that.
The movie has made Molina realize that “love is everywhere, and that you just have to let it sink in and take a minute to feel it yourself,” she told the Inquirer.
For his part, Yap said that he created “#Jowable” with the millennials in mind. He explains, “It’s for the deafening rants about not having someone, and the constant feeling of being unwanted.”
Cast of “Downton Abbey,” from left: Michelle Dockery, Elizabeth McGovern and Laura Carmichael
Downton Abbey
Directed by Michael Engler; stars Michelle Dockery, Matthew Goode, Hugh Bonneville, Maggie Smith, Imelda Staunton, Allen Leech and Tuppence Middleton
The Crawley family, wealthy owners of a large estate in the English countryside in the early 20th century, is turned upside down when they’re told that King George V and Queen Mary are coming to visit them. But trouble soon arises when the servants learn that the royals will be bringing their own chefs, assistants and attendants.
Lindsey Bahr calls the movie “stately but too safe,” and describes it as “a fairly shallow experience: All set dressing and nostalgia, and some delicious Dowager Countess one-liners.”
Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian says that while the movie has its share of A-list talent, they’re “all very underused.”
The Goldfinch
Directed by John Crowley; stars Ansel Elgort, Sarah Paulson, Luke Wilson and Nicole Kidman
A boy in New York is taken in by a wealthy family after his mother is killed in a bombing incident at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Ansel Elgort in “The Goldfinch”
Most critics take the film to task for turning a complex narrative into a disappointing and uninvolving dramatic trifle. Richard Brody of The New Yorker calls it “textureless and flavorless,” while Brian Lowry of CNN.com describes it as “another case of literary underpinnings being lost in translation.”
Michael Calleri of Niagara Gazette is a dissenting voice, however. “Every character is believable, and [protagonist] Theo’s turmoil is palpable,” he says.
Tolkien
Directed by Dome Karukoski; stars Nicholas Hoult, Lily Collins, Colm Meani and Derek Jacobi
“Tolkien” explores the author’s formative years and the events that helped shape his stories.
Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times says that, for a film that aims to tell the story of one of the most imaginative writers (“The Lord of the Rings”) of the 20th century, what it doesn’t have much of is “imagination.”
Matthew Rozsa of salon.com concurs: “The movie is done in by a lack of vision.”
But Jim Schembri has nice things to say about it, noting that it “looks handsome and offers a well-rounded look at the English class system.”
