Writing the Future: Basquiat and the Hip-Hop Generation
cool, and the low-fi rom-com he’s made is “guileless and sincere in a way that would get it bullied at school,” said David Erlich in IndieWire.com. Though it nods to such conversational classics as Before Sunrise, it has its own rhythm: “One sequence starts with a long walk-and-talk only to blow up into a chase scene that’s bookended with some gentle Buster Keaton–esque physical comedy.” The happy conclusion we’re eventually steered toward feels as honest as everything that preceded it, said Pat Brown in SlantMagazine.com. “But that might just be Raiff’s devious insight into how we prefer to imagine our college experiences.” (In select theaters or $7 on demand) R
Martin Eden
This new film from Italy is “old-school cinematic soul food—a sweepingly stylish coming-of-age drama,” said Ty Burr in The Boston Globe. “Wolfishly handsome” Luca Marinelli plays a working-class Neapolitan who aspires to reinvent himself as a writer after he falls for a wealthy young woman. The tragedy of his story, based on a Jack London novel, is that his drive to stand out from the crowd leaves him very much alone. ($12 on demand) PG-13
The Kid Detective
The title suggests a sunny family film, but The Kid Detective “has much darker ambitions,” said Tomris Laffly in Variety. Adam Brody plays a washed-up private eye whose small town remembers him as a charmingly capable boy sleuth. But an unlikely second chance arrives when a teenager asks him to find the murderer of her boyfriend. The film becomes “a wild ride of seamless tonal shifts,” often noirish in tone but buoyed by Brody’s sibling-like chemistry with co-star Sophie Nélisse. (In select theaters) R
The Opening Act
Comic Jimmy O. Yang has “a bone-dry, cantankerous wit” that makes you root for this tale about a struggling comedian, said Robyn Bahr in The Hollywood Reporter. Cedric the Entertainer plays a past-hisprime star, and other comedy names deliver cameos. Unfortunately, the movie “ultimately stalls as an adult coming-of-age story because we get no sense of the hero’s inner life.” ($7 on demand) Not rated
Honest Thief
Because a wronged Liam Neeson character is “reassuringly familiar, like a cozy, old sweater,” said Michael O’Sullivan in
The Washington Post, this latest entry in the actor’s vengeful action-hero catalog couldn’t have arrived at a better moment. Sure, the plot about a veteran bank robber foiled in his efforts to go straight is hackneyed, but few could carry it off better than Neeson, who has perfected the art of “snapping evildoers’ forearms with a look halfway between regret and pleasure.” (In theaters only) R