What to see this week

5 films to see on the week of November 23 – November 29, 2018

Bad Times at the El Royale

SEVEN STRANGERS — a cleric, a soul singer, a traveling salesman, two sisters, the manager and the mysterious Billy Lee — who all have secrets, meet at Lake Tahoe’s El Royale hotel. On one evening, all of them have a last chance at redemption before everything goes wrong. Directed by Drew Goddard, the movie stars Jeff Hughes, Chris Hemsworth, Jon Hamm, Dakota Johnson, and Cynthia Erivo. Glenn Kenny of www.rogerebert.com writes, “Bad Times at the El Royale has a lot of plot. Almost enough to support its 140-minute running time. But once the threads are more or less pulled together, the movie devolves into a bloody, drawn-out standoff plot in which a preening villain struts around being appalling while the camera eats up his every move.”
MTRCB Rating: R-16

Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It-Ralph 2

VIDEO GAME bad guy Ralph and best friend Vanellope von Schweetz leave Litwak’s arcade to save her game, Sugar Rush. Their journey takes them into the world of the internet where they rely on Netizens for assistance to navigate around the community. Directed by Phil Johnston and Rich Moore, the animated feature features the voices of John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Gal Gadot, Jack McBrayer, Jane Lynch, and Taraji P. Henson. Rolling Stone’s David Fear writes, “Ralph Breaks the Internet is still an animated blockbuster, still a corporate product and still a continuation of a franchise, with morals about owning your glitch, finding your tribe, make new friends but keep the old etc. But it’s also a cautionary tale, albeit one with a stay-on-message hook. Maybe don’t spend so much time on the Web, folks, it warns us. Maybe try going to the movies instead.”
MTRCB Rating: G

The Girl in the Spider’s Web

IN THIS film from the Millennium series, computer hacker Lisbeth Salander and journalist Mickael Blomkvist reunite to tackle the illegal activities of cybercriminals and corrupt government officials. Directed by Fede Alvarez, it stars Claire Foy, Sverrir Gudnason, and Sylvia Hoeks. Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 40% rating. The Atlantic’s David Sims writes, “Spider’s Web is set in a similar snow-globe version of Sweden as last year’s incompetent crime drama The Snowman, a country where everyone speaks accented English and the threat of murder constantly hangs in the air. There’s no chance for any energy or fun, which is a problem for a movie that’s trying to present itself as a secret-agent thriller.”
MTRCB Rating: R-13

Recipe for Love

CHEF CALIX, who works at an upscale Filipino restaurant, comes across food blogger Val and a romance begins to brew despite starting off on the wrong foot. Directed by Jose Javier Reyes, the film stars Christian Bables, Cora Waddell, Myrtle Sarrosa, Sophie Albert, Enrico Cuenca, Agot Isidro, and Ogie Diaz.
MTRCB Rating: PG

Robin Hood

WAR-HARDENED crusader Robin of Loxley and his Moorish commander revolt against the corrupt English crown. Directed by Otto Bathurst, this latest version of the story stars Taron Egerton, Eve Hewson, Jamie Foxx, and Jamie Dornan. IndieWire’s David Ehrlich writes, “Robin Hood is ridiculous from the moment it begins, though the charisma of its cast and the absurdity of its action are enough to sustain interest for a while. The first thing you have to realize about this new riff on an age-old hero is that he’s basically just Batman, minus any of the compelling backstory; par for the course in a movie where everything could be described as ‘basically just Batman, minus any of the compelling backstory.’”