Rami Malek gives himself completely to the role of Freddie Mercury in “Bohemian Rhapsody” (Fox), director Bryan Singer’s biopic of the lead singer of the rock group Queen, with impressive artistic results.
At the Movies
Capsule Review “Tully” (Focus)
Though it winds up strongly affirming marriage and family life, this comedy takes a path to that positive outcome that most viewers may not wish to follow. As a present to mark the arrival of her third child, an overworked and exhausted mother (Charlize Theron) is offered the free services of nanny (Mackenzie Davis) by her prosperous brother (Mark Duplass). Though she hesitates at first, she finds that the relief provided by the gifted young caregiver revitalizes her relationship with her loving, but distracted husband (Ron Livingston) and their two older kids.
Pro-Life Message in ‘Infinity’ Adventure
Strong pro-life values are embedded in the towering, richly complex Marvel Comics-based adventure “Avengers: Infinity War” (Disney). While this often-dazzling, sometimes-dizzying epic is safest for grown-ups, its positive moral lessons may lead at least some parents to deem it acceptable for older teens as well.
‘Paul’ Film Highlights Early Christian Church
NEW YORK (CNS) — In the long history of the church, perhaps no partnership has been more consequential than that between St. Paul the Apostle and his disciple, St. Luke.
Newest Take on Fateful Entebbe Rescue Lacks Dramatic Tension
by Kurt Jensen
NEW YORK (CNS) – All the tension of a daring military raid has somehow been drained from “7 Days in Entebbe” (Focus).
And the Oscar for Best Film Goes to…
Who’s poised to win Best Picture honors at the Oscars this Sunday? Film critic Steven Greydanus gives a rundown of nominees, who the frontrunners are and who might have been overlooked.
Films With a Lenten Theme
Lent is intended to be a season of ongoing conversion for the baptized, as well as of increasing conformity to the message of the Gospel among catechumens and those coming into full communion with the Church.
Fun Trek Through the Jungle with ‘Jumanji’
This amusing comic adventure finds a quartet of teens magically transported into an old video game where they inhabit the avatars they chose before the start of play. For mature viewers, there is fun to be had from this trek through the jungle. But its undergrowth is too thick for the tread of kids.
Capsule Review: “All the Money in the World” (Sony)
By turns suspenseful, darkly comic and stridently moral, this slightly fictionalized account of the famous 1973 kidnapping of John Paul Getty III (Charlie Plummer), the grandson of his billionaire namesake (Christopher Plummer), makes a strong case that immense wealth not only can’t buy happiness, it also imposes depths of misery that few ever know.
‘Showman’ Sure to Excite the Masses
by John Mulderig
The life of pop entertainment pioneer P.T. Barnum provides the subject matter for the big, brash musical “The Greatest Showman” (Fox).