Mini Movie Reviews

“INSIDIOUS: THE LAST KEY” (Horror, PG-13, 103 minutes). The production elements and special effects are pretty cool in this installment of the horror franchise, a chapter about demons in the creepy childhood home of parapsychologist Elise Rainier (the wonderful Lin Shaye). The main problem: too many ghosts. Good ghosts, bad ghosts, and ghosts that might not really be ghosts at all. Rating: Two stars.

“THE POST” (Historical drama, PG-13, 115 minutes). Meryl Streep has often played the most confident of characters, but as 1970s Washington Post publisher Kay Graham, she does an astonishing job of showing us someone unsure of herself as she debates publishing the Pentagon Papers and risking jail. This is a love letter to journalistic bravery and to the First Amendment, and it is the best movie about newspapers since “All the President’s Men.” Rating: Four stars.

“ALL THE MONEY IN THE WORLD” (Historical drama, R, 132 minutes). Ridley Scott’s well-paced, great-looking and nimble take on one of the most famous kidnapping cases of the 20th century leaves us marveling at the enormous footprint J. Paul Getty left on the world. Playing the oil tycoon as a lastminute substitute for Kevin Spacey, Christopher Plummer delivers a powerful, magnetic, scene-stealing performance. Rating: Three and a half stars.

“THE GREATEST SHOWMAN” (Musical, PG, 105 minutes). There were times when I rolled my eyes to the ceiling at the corny and cheesy and shameless sentiment of this musical starring Hugh Jackman as P.T. Barnum. But then I’d realize my foot was once again tapping in time to the beat of the catchy tunes, at which point I’d acknowledge I was thoroughly enjoying myself, despite all cynical instincts. Rating: Three stars.