“T2 Trainspotting,” Oscar nominee “Land of Mine,” “Power Rangers,” “Wilson,” “Life,” “The Last Word” and more are being released in the Seattle area the week of March 24.
Eleven movies land in Seattle-area theaters March 24. Here’s what our reviewers thought of them. A few did not screen in advance for review.
★★★★ “T2 Trainspotting” (R): This sequel, set 20 years after the first film, connects intimately with the original. The same characters — Scottish bad boys Renton (Ewan McGregor), Spud (Ewen Bremner), Simon (Jonny Lee Miller) and Begbie (Robert Carlyle) — are back. They’re older, but only in some ways wiser. Full review.
Soren Andersen, Special to The Seattle Times
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★★★½ “Land of Mine” (R): Denmark’s recent Oscar nominee for best foreign-language film lost the award to Iran’s much-praised “The Salesman.” Nevertheless, the Danish film is no afterthought, no minor event, but a strong film on its own. It is set on the west coast of Denmark in May 1945, when German teenagers were recruited to dismantle 1.5 million land mines on the beaches. Full review.
John Hartl, Special to The Seattle Times
★★½ “Power Rangers” (PG-13): This big-screen version is about as dark as a CW series: just enough to be taken (somewhat) seriously, but with enough of a sense of humor about itself to have some fun, too. Suiting up as the colorfully suited karate-chopping teen superheroes are R.J. Cyler, Dacre Montgomery, Naomi Scott, Becky G. and Ludi Lin. Full review.
Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service
★★½ “Wilson” (R): A character, even when he’s played by Woody Harrelson, is not a movie. “Wilson,” based on a graphic novel by Daniel Clowes and directed by Bellingham native Craig Johnson, is the story of a grumpy, lonely middle-aged man who discovers he has teenage daughter (Isabella Amara). It’s wonderfully cast, but there’s just not enough here to sustain a full-length film. Full review.
Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times arts critic
★★ “The Last Word” (R): An enduring talent can add a level of class to pedestrian material, even a saccharine effort like “The Last Word.” The film is fortunate to have Shirley MacLaine, as a woman demanding creative control over her own obituary. Unfortunately, the film is a misuse of the Oscar-winning star’s talent and a waste of our time. But MacLaine does it with flair. Full review.
Colin Covert, (Minneapolis) Star Tribune
★½ “Life” (R): Say hello to “Alien-Lite.” An extraterrestrial life form is brought aboard the International Space Station and all kinds of predictable hell breaks loose. Jake Gyllenhaal, Rebecca Ferguson, Ryan Reynolds star. Full review.
Soren Andersen
★★★ “Donald Cried” (not rated): This independent movie takes place over 24 hours and follows two 30-something childhood friends — successful Peter (Jesse Wakeman) and Donald (Kris Avedisian), who still lives with his mother in the house that he grew up in. Donald talks and talks, and most of what he says is ludicrous, and some of it is unconsciously insulting. It’s all absurd and enjoyable, and yet to spend one minute in Donald’s company is to realize something is wrong with him.
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
★★½ “Song to Song” (R): Terrence Malick’s latest — set in the Austin, Texas, music scene — can be described, deceivingly, as a romantic triangle, though it’s really more of a romantic rhombus or an octagon, or something. The film tests its dreamers and wanderers and leaves them a little wiser, maybe, for the experience. And maybe that’s the best way to express how I felt watching it, wrestling with it, hating some of it, falling under the spell of the occasional, tantalizing best of it. Michael Fassbender, Ryan Gosling, Rooney Mara and Natalie Portman star.
Michael Phillips, The Chicago Tribune
“Suntan” (not rated, subtitled): On a tiny Greek island, a middle-aged doctor (Makis Papadimitriou) becomes obsessed with a young tourist (Elli Tringou) when she lets him tag along with her group of hard-partying friends. Replete with sometimes startling imagery (the removal of sand from an eye), “Suntan” captures a set of specific feelings: the exhilaration and embarrassment of falling, followed by the desperate denial that one has landed in a very bad place. The New York Times does not provide star ratings with reviews.
Glenn Kenny, The New York Times
“CHIPS” (R): The popular TV series about two California Highway Patrol motorcycle officers gets a big-screen remake with Michael Peña as Frank “Ponch” Poncherello and Dax Shepard, who also directed and wrote the screenplay, as Jon Baker.
“All Nighter” (R): When his daughter (Analeigh Tipton) disappears in Los Angeles, a tough-minded businessman (J.K. Simmons) recruits her awkward ex-boyfriend (Emile Hirsch) to help him find her over the course of one crazy night.