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Friday, July 15, 2016
Movie Reviews: Ghostbusters, The Infiltrator, Tickled, The Wailing, Zero Days, Gurukulam
Posted By Scott Renshaw on July 15, 2016, 7:58 AM
The week's highest-profile release involves fighting supernatural forces, but a unique Korean thriller also includes otherworldly threats, and a trio of very different documentaries fill out a diverse release slate in Utah theaters.
The much-talked-about remake of Ghostbusters (pictured) finds its new quartet of stars doing uniquely funny stuff when they're allowed to be unique, while cameos and callbacks to the original pull the movie down. The Wailing combines zombies, slapstick humor and unsettling explorations of faith into a story about a Korean village plagued by mass murders. The New Zealand documentary Tickled takes a journalist's light-hearted investigation into "Competitive Endurance Tickling" down a rabbit hole of legal threats and the impact of toxic shame. Alex Gibney's latest investigative documentary, Zero Days, explores cyber-warfare with solid journalistic and filmmaking skill, mixed with more than a touch of self-importance. Gurukulam looks at life in an Indian ashram, but its insight is limited by a meditation that could stand to be a bit more guided.
Eric D. Snider finds The Infiltrator's true story of an undercover U.S. customs agent in a Colombian drug cartel getting bogged down in details, but elevated by Bryan Cranston's solid central performance.
The much-talked-about remake of Ghostbusters (pictured) finds its new quartet of stars doing uniquely funny stuff when they're allowed to be unique, while cameos and callbacks to the original pull the movie down. The Wailing combines zombies, slapstick humor and unsettling explorations of faith into a story about a Korean village plagued by mass murders. The New Zealand documentary Tickled takes a journalist's light-hearted investigation into "Competitive Endurance Tickling" down a rabbit hole of legal threats and the impact of toxic shame. Alex Gibney's latest investigative documentary, Zero Days, explores cyber-warfare with solid journalistic and filmmaking skill, mixed with more than a touch of self-importance. Gurukulam looks at life in an Indian ashram, but its insight is limited by a meditation that could stand to be a bit more guided.
Eric D. Snider finds The Infiltrator's true story of an undercover U.S. customs agent in a Colombian drug cartel getting bogged down in details, but elevated by Bryan Cranston's solid central performance.
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