movie reviews

If you’re looking for a sweet romance bookended in tender, cuddly moments, better run far away from “Love Lies Bleeding.” But we liked its daring wild-at-heart, R-rated ways. We also fell for the R-rated coming-of-age comedy “Snack Shack,” featuring a breakthrough performance from talented San Jose native Conor Sherry. He’s an actor on the rise, and deserves to be. And while we loved Annette Bening in “Apples Never Fall,” we found that, at its core, the domestic potboiler was one bad apple of a limited series. But we…

Lisa Gutierrez | (TNS) The Kansas City Star The film that gives Travis Kelce his first billed credit as a movie producer received largely positive reviews and a standing ovation at its premiere. “My Dead Friend Zoe” debuted at the SXSW Film & TV Festival over the weekend. The Kansas City Chiefs tight end is one of 10 executive producers. Kelce was in Singapore with girlfriend Taylor Swift as she wrapped up a six-concert stand and did not attend the festival in Austin, Texas. The film’s director, Kyle Hausmann-Stokes,…

Whether or not you’re celebrating the Luck of the Irish, this weekend has plenty of charms to offer, from great movies, concerts and shows to a most appropriate brewery day trip. So let’s get to it, shall we? As always, be sure to double check event and venue websites for any last-minute changes in health guidelines. Meanwhile, if you’d like to have this Weekender lineup delivered to your inbox every Thursday morning for free, just sign up at www.mercurynews.com/newsletters or www.eastbaytimes.com/newsletters. 1 SEE &…

Guy Ritchie’s back with another signature mix of dapper and unsavory criminals who get into all sorts of drug-dealing mischief in a new Netflix series. Meanwhile over on HBO and Max, Kate Winslet reigns supreme in a moldy political satire, “The Regime.” If you need some good laughs, John Cena provides plenty, and even steals the show from Zac Efron and company, in Amazon Prime’s “Ricky Stanicky.” Here’s our roundup. “The Gentlemen”: Netflix’s eight-part series showcases the best qualities of filmmaker Guy Ritchie. That…

Producers of streaming and cable series seem to be throwing an awful amount of money at certain series these days. Sometimes it’s all for naught. Case in point, Amazon Prime’s “Citadel” series, an action-packed six-parter whose budget reportedly ballooned to nearly $250 million. The results might have been better if the budget had made room for a more refined screenplay. We don’t know how much producers spent on FX’s/Hulu’s new take on “Shōgun,” but we can see via our own eyes that it probably cost a bunch. And it was…

An involving but imperfect biopic on iconic singer Bob Marley along with three Oscar entries for best international feature (one of which made the cut) head up this week’s release. We also turn our gaze to a stunning directorial debut that will make parents of teen daughters squirm. Here’s our roundup. “Bob Marley: One Love”: Whenever this family-authorized biopic about the Jamaican-born reggae icon who gave us classics such as “Jammin’,” “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright’ and “One Love” (the last two with the Wailers) loses…

Another year. A lot more movies. We’ll be getting so many cinematic works through the close of December that we can’t touch on all of them. And, in picking 24 to highlight for 2024, we have stuck with those that had official release dates, even though dates are always subject to change. That means few of the films that follow are streaming offerings, as those tend to get firm places on calendars closer to their releases. Similarly, we don’t know all that much about several of the films that will hit late in 2024 and be…

By JAKE COYLE | AP Film Writer NEW YORK — After a tumultuous movie year marred by strikes and work stoppages, the Academy Awards showered nominations Tuesday on Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster biopic, “Oppenheimer,” which came away with a leading 13 nominations. Nolan’s three-hour opus, viewed as the best picture frontrunner, received nods for best picture; Nolan’s direction; acting nominations for Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr. and Emily Blunt; and multiple honors for the craft of the J. Robert Oppenheimer drama.…

By Lisa Respers France | CNN (CNN) — Nominations for the 96th Academy Awards were revealed on Tuesday. As expected, the Christopher Nolan film “Oppenheimer” had a strong showing Tuesday morning at the Academy Award nominations ceremony, followed by “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “Barbie” and “Poor Things.” The Oscars will take place on March 10, hosted for a fourth time by Jimmy Kimmel. See below for a full list of nominees. Best picture “American Fiction” “Anatomy of a Fall” “Barbie” “The Holdovers” “Killers of…

By Lisa Respers France | CNN Mercenaries, a giant shark and a very scary version of Winnie the Pooh are among the central characters in the best of the worst in cinema as the nominees for the 2024 Razzies were revealed on Monday. Sylvester Stallone’s “Expend4bles” led with seven nominations, including worst picture, followed by “Exorcist: Believer,” with five nods. This year’s acting contenders feature former Oscar winners Jon Voight, Russell Crowe and Dame Helen Mirren, as well as Razzie “repeat offenders” Sylvester…