Photo © Warner Bros. Pictures
Dakota Fanning in ‘The Watchers’
Dakota Fanning in ‘The Watchers’
Bad Boys: Ride or Die
(In Theaters Fri June 7)
Over a 29-year period, “The Bad Boys” franchise put stock in its formula: bickering cop buddies Mike and Marcus (Will Smith and Martin Lawrence), who always get into trouble, but stick together to put everything right again. Directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, this fourth installment delivers more of the same, along with a plot that finds Mike and Marcus pitted against both the bad guys, and most of Miami’s cops. As usual, the action sequences are explosive, comedy-filled sequences, of borderline coherency, rescued by sight gags and zingy one-liners. In what appears to be an apology for his Academy Award slapping incident, one of the film’s most satisfying scenes sees Smith’s Mike getting repeatedly face-slapped in what feels like self-flagellation. Hopefully, it’s a new tradition if there’s a fivequel, allowing Chris Rock’s fans to keep buying tickets. There’s no shortage of underdeveloped characters in supporting roles played by Vanessa Hudgens, Tiffany Haddish, Alexander Ludwig, Paola Núñez, Eric Dane, Ioan Gruffold, Joe Pantoliano, Jacob Scipio, Melanie Liburd and Tasha Smith. (Lisa Miller)
Club Zero
(Film Movement Blu-ray/DVD/Digital)
The students at a posh boarding school explain their reasons for signing up for a new class called “conscious eating”: reducing global warming by cutting meat consumption, reducing their body fat, gaining self-control, stress reduction, even earning service points for a scholarship application. All sounds good, but the first suspicion rises when we learn that the teacher, Miss Novak, is pushing her own brand of “fasting tea.”
The dryly comedic film by Austrian director Jessica Hausner highlights how cults can form around known facts and good ideas twisted into doubtful shapes. Miss Novak is the bland, unemphatic face of sanctimonious concern, calmly manipulating the idealism as well as the weaknesses of her students, encouraging them to “question the truths” of their parents— encourages bulimia and discouraging insulin alongside eating less. In a setting of splendid postmodern luxury, one set of parents speak of their hope that “conscious eating’ will reduce their daughter’s consumerism. Club Zero is a satire of the naïve do-gooding class. (David Luhrssen)
The Watchers
(In Theaters Fri June 7)
M. Night Shyamalan made his reputation delivering the surprise-twist ending. Perhaps then, it’s no surprise that his daughter, Ishana Night Shyamalan, directing here, chose to adapt a A.M. Shine’s horror novel of a similar ilk. Dakota Fanning portrays Mina, a 28-year-old who becomes stranded in the woods and is then obliged to take shelter in a bunker where she meets several others doing the same. They are captive there because the forest is infested with monsters that allow these people to live, provided they follow the rules. Known as “The Watchers,” the rules to avoid dying, are legion. Nevertheless, Mina is determined to escape, and her investigation into doing so yields both frightening and tantalizing results. The ensemble includes Georgina Campbell, Oliver Finnegan and Olwen Fouéré, in this PG-13 claustrophobic horror that unfolds in three distinct acts. The story builds a sense of dread, along with providing reassurance that Ishana Night Shyamalan has the wherewithal to follow in Papa’s footsteps. (Lisa Miller)
