Hey, remember how last week was sort of quiet because of the holiday? Yeah, that’s over now. Back to the deluge.
Amy: Asif Kapadia’s documentary-cum-elegy for Amy Winehouse is essential viewing if you want to understand the woman, rather than the myth.
Batkid Begins: A viral sensation is unpacked — and remains just as appealing — in Dana Nachman’s savvy process documentary.
Big Game: In which Samuel L. Jackson and a small Finnish boy do the Die Hard thing. Insane, and frequently delightful.
Cartel Land: Matthew Henieman’s look at the implacable spread of Mexican drug violence is four-fifths of a great documentary, hampered by another element that doesn’t pay off the way he clearly hoped it would. Still more than worth your time, though.
The Gallows: I know very little about this movie, except that it’s a horror movie whose cast list reads like a whole bunch of made-up names. UPDATE: Also, Andrew hated it.
Minions: The jabbering sidekicks from the Despicable Me movies get their own vehicle. And since they’re my least favorite thing about those films, I get to pass on it. Which means it will make a billion dollars, of course. UPDATE: Rad doesn’t love them either.
My Ex-Ex: A young woman (Katherine Barrell) must wander through her romantic past to find her future beau, in what doesn’t sound anything at all like a reworking of that Anna Faris movie with Captain America in it. Rad haaaaaated it.
Self/Less: Dying old Ben Kingsley pays a creepy medical firm to turn him into healthy young Ryan Reynolds and lives to regret it. Yeah, I know. The whole concept beggars belief. Who wouldn’t want to be healthy young Ryan Reynolds? The guy’s a thousand feet tall!
Strangerland: Nicole Kidman and Hugo Weaving put in a very valiant effort to make some emotional sense of Kim Farrant’s bullshit Australian psychodrama. They do not succeed.
Tangerine: Sean Baker’s no-budget indie drama — set in the world of Los Angeles prostitutes — was shot entirely on cell phones. Susan is dazzled.
That Sugar Film: Damon Gameau’s stunt documentary finds the actor-filmmaker embracing a high-sugar diet a la Morgan Spurlock to demonstrate its dangers. Kiva ain’t buying.
What We Did On Our Holiday: Rosamund Pike, David Tennant and Billy Connolly do their best to play the most interesting angles of this domestic comedy, but writer-directors Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin would rather watch children say the darndest things.
The Yes Men Are Revolting: The anti-corporate crusaders return for another round of prankish resistance, and Susan is mostly on board.
There, I think that’s everything. And now to return to the hell that is editing an episode of Someone Else’s Movie …