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    ‘Mother/Android’ Review: How to Protect When You’re Expecting

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    In this sci-fi thriller, a pregnant woman and her boyfriend try to outrun hordes of vengeful robots.“Mother/Android,” written and directed by Mattson Tomlin, offers exactly what it says on the tin. The protagonist, Georgia (Chloë Grace Moretz), is a college student unsure about her relationship with her boyfriend, Sam (Algee Smith), when she discovers she is pregnant. That same night, the servant androids that occupy most well-off American homes (including Georgia’s) collectively glitch and turn murderous, and the country becomes a war zone.There is a mother. There are androids. This film pulls the former off more elegantly than the latter, due in large part to a stunning performance from Moretz.The bulk of the film takes place nine months after that fateful night. The country’s remaining humans occupy the military camps that dot the country, protected from androids by electromagnetic transmitters. Sam and Georgia, now past her due date, hope to flee to Korea via Boston, but they have to brave the wilderness ahead — a.k.a. “No Man’s Land” — first. Unfriendly soldiers, bloodthirsty robots and the pregnancy all complicate their plan.For a movie set during a robot apocalypse, “Mother/Android” offers little in the way of world building. It’s unclear why the androids are revolting or what they want, just as it’s uncertain how America hopes to save itself. This undercooked backdrop is both a blessing and a curse: It offers ample room for the film’s strong emotional core, but it can also be hopelessly distracting. This is a movie about a young woman fighting to create a family for herself against all odds. Also, cyborgs?The androids are effectively creepy (think “Terminator” skeletons mixed with zombies), and Moretz sells Georgia’s turmoil so gamely as to overshadow the ridiculous premise. A standout turn by Raúl Castillo sends the film into a twisty third act. It’s a bizarre movie, but there’s enough action to help you zip through this overstuffed story even if you’re not sure why you (or Georgia, or Sam) are there in the first place.Mother/AndroidRated R for robotics (and dismemberment). Running time: 1 hour 50 minutes. Watch on Hulu. More

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      ‘The Addams Family 2’ Review: Wednesday Goes West

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      America’s creepiest family takes a road trip in this animated sequel, though their antics are far more kooky than spooky.In 2019, the Addams family returned to the big screen for the first time since the 1990s, this time in animated form. The macabre clan, directly styled after Charles Addams’s original New Yorker cartoon characters and voiced by a star-studded cast, railed against normalcy and blew up a lot of stuff. Now, in a new sequel, they’re taking that show on the road. Like it’s predecessor, “The Addams Family 2” is more kooky than spooky, offering much more to young children than it may to the adults accompanying them.This newest iteration opens at a science fair; Wednesday (Chloë Grace Moretz) has figured out how to implant her pet octopus’s intelligence into her dopey Uncle Fester (Nick Kroll). Though she captures the attention of the wealthy genius Cyrus Strange (Bill Hader), she merely earns a participation award, and her resulting melancholy makes her withdraw further from her parents.In an attempt to bond with their teenagers, Gomez (Oscar Isaac) and Morticia (Charlize Theron) take the family on a road trip to Death Valley, but their cross-country antics are waylaid when a pushy stranger (Wallace Shawn) insists Wednesday may have been switched at birth.The filmmakers (the “Addams Family” and “Sausage Party” directors Greg Tiernan and Conrad Vernon) are smart to focus on Wednesday for most of this plot. She is the wittiest character, and it’s difficult to imagine an actor better suited to voice her than Moretz. But where it could lean into the typically bone-dry Addams family humor, this film more often relies on poop jokes, explosions and the musical talents of Snoop Dogg. It’s sure to entertain little ones, but parents may find themselves itching for something more impish.The Addams Family 2Rated PG. Running time: 1 hour 33 minutes. In theaters and available to rent or buy on Apple TV, Google Play and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators. More

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      ‘Tom & Jerry’ Review: Chasing the Mouse of Nostalgia

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story‘Tom & Jerry’ Review: Chasing the Mouse of NostalgiaThis feature-length expansion of the popular cartoon is too brainless for adults, but its kid-friendly title characters are barely supporting players.The animated characters Tom, right, and Jerry navigate New York City streets in “Tom & Jerry.”Credit…Warner Bros.Feb. 26, 2021, 11:00 a.m. ETTom & Jerry: The MovieDirected by Tim StoryAnimation, Adventure, Comedy, FamilyPG1h 41mFind TicketsWhen you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.Affectionate nostalgia can attach itself to the most inexplicable and undeserving of recipients, which is about the only explanation for the existence of “Tom & Jerry,” a new feature-length expansion of the cartoon shorts of the 1940s and 1950s (and endless television rebroadcasts thereafter). Those were simple, slapstick cat-and-mouse chase comedies; here, the characters are uneasily blended, “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”-style, into a live-action New York City, where a quick-thinking hustler (Chloë Grace Moretz) bluffs her way into a job at a swank hotel in the midst of preparations for a high-society wedding. Tom and Jerry are also guests at the property, albeit uninvited ones. Shenanigans ensue.The director Tim Story (of “Barbershop” and the execrable 2019 “Shaft” reboot) and the screenwriter Kevin Costello, reimagine Tom as a shades-wearing street musician, throw in jokes referencing Drake, T.I. and TikTok, and fill the soundtrack with classic hip-hop. It’s all flop sweat, a sad, desperate attempt to make Tom and Jerry the one thing they never were: cool.[embedded content]They also weren’t crass, which creates some tension with the demands of a contemporary “family” comedy; the picture’s low point finds an animated bulldog squatting and defecating in the middle of a crosswalk, prompting the co-star Michael Peña (poor, poor Michael Peña) to shriek, “How many burritos did you eat?” The de rigueur slapstick scenes for the title characters don’t even play, as the integration of animation and live action is so clunky that it feels like we’re watching special effects demonstrations rather than gags.Some of the performances are enjoyable. Moretz is charmingly game, Peña is funny because Peña is always funny and Rob Delaney has fun with his role as the hotel’s fussy manager. But the laughs they generate have little to do with Tom or Jerry; they’re borne of the personas and charisma of the cast.There is some value to “Tom & Jerry,” though, in that it lays bare the unacknowledged truth at the center of the entertainment industry’s undying fealty to existing intellectual property. Put simply: Just because it was on television when you were a kid, doesn’t mean it was good.Tom & Jerry: The MovieRated PG. Running time: 1 hour 41 minutes. In theaters and on HBO Max. Please consult the guidelines outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before watching movies inside theaters.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      ‘Shadow in the Cloud’ Review: There’s Mischief in the Air

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Best of 2020Best ComedyBest TV ShowsBest BooksBest MoviesBest AlbumsAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story‘Shadow in the Cloud’ Review: There’s Mischief in the AirA World War II heroine defies death and more in this horror-action hybrid.Chloë Grace Moretz in “Shadow in the Cloud,” directed by Roseanne Liang.Credit…Vertical EntertainmentDec. 31, 2020, 7:00 a.m. ETShadow in the CloudDirected by Roseanne LiangAction, Horror, WarR1h 23mFind TicketsWhen you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.“Shadow in the Cloud” is the kind of girl-power action adventure in which women can’t just do anything, they do everything — including fighting sexist boors, enemy fire and a gremlin all at once from the underside of a bomber during World War II.At the center of this spectacle is Maude Garrett (Chloë Grace Moretz), a Women’s Auxiliary Air Force officer who joins the bomber’s all-male crew in Auckland, New Zealand, to transport a classified package. By the time we learn what’s inside the package, which dangles precariously from Maude’s arm during her midair stunts, it’s clear that our heroine is defying not just death but also logic.[embedded content]But sillier feats have been performed onscreen (usually by dudes), and it helps that Roseanne Liang’s horror-action hybrid leans confidently into its schlockiness. The colors are grungy, the score synth-heavy and the characters goofy — particularly the men on the flight, who are both annoyed and sexually excited by Maude’s sudden appearance and immediately banish her to the plane’s ball turret.It’s a clever story turn that strips a large chunk of the movie down to Moretz’s charismatic face and the voices of the other actors, who hammily play up their lewd banter over the intercom. Then the C.G.I. gremlin shows up, forcing Maude (and Liang) to maneuver impressively within the cramped space.The twists come rapidly in the movie’s first half; in the second, the narrative dissolves into a zigzag of flying bodies and explosions that bend the laws of space-time. But the implausibility of it all is a perk: There’s never a moment in this rollicking film when you can tell what’s coming next.Shadow in the CloudRated R for scary monsters, foulmouthed men and gory sights. Running time: 1 hour 23 minutes. In theaters and available to rent or buy on Apple TV, Google Play and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators. Please consult the guidelines outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before watching movies inside theaters.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More