A Wrinkle in Time: It’s hard to hate on something with such whimsy to it but I just couldn’t help thinking a lot of this just felt dumb. Everybody in the movie seemed to be having fun but seemed to forget what it’d be like for the viewer. **
The Death of Stalin: Joseph Stalin dies and the people around him plot their ascent. It’s not as vulgar and laugh-out-loud hilarious as Iannucci’s other work, but is still a smart fun satire and well worth seeing. This is an example of people having fun on-screen but it also being fun for everybody else. ***3/4
A Quiet Place: Tremendous. Great concept, great suspense, great acting. A movie you can’t take your eyes off of and watch completely enveloped by the possibility of what might come next. ****1/2
Life of the Party: Melissa McCarthy movies deliver what they need to and rarely go anywhere beyond that. She’s a good performer but that’s really only highlighted for like 15 minutes here. The rest is a classic, “God damnit, Hollywood” comedy that still does bring the laughs occasionally. SNL’s Heidi Gardner in particular is very good. **3/4
Red Sparrow: There is a whole lot going on here: Russians, Americans, and spy stuff. Jennifer Lawrence is doing a Russian accent. Hard work was certainly done on the set pieces and action sequences. It’s just too long and not as interesting as it thinks it is. *3/4
