- The week’s biggest new movie is Jason Bourne – and it’s also the week’s biggest new bummer, with director Paul Greengrass and star Matt Damon returning to the fold for a listless, empty-headed venture that amounts to little more than a filmed deal. Here’s our review.
- Also out this week in wide release is Bad Moms, which squanders a four-star cast and a promising premise with its regressive gender politics and thin characterizations – unsurprising, considering it’s written and directed by the noted feminists behind The Hangover. More on that here.
- The best of this week’s limited releases is The Land, which transcends its oft-told tale of escape from urban decay thanks to its breathless style and complicated characters. Here’s what we wrote about it at Sundance.
- Another Sundance picture hits theaters this week, though a less essential one. James Schamus’s Indignation is yet another attempt to translate the words of Philip Roth to the screen, and it’s better than most, but still not good enough – handsomely mounted and impeccably acted, but airless. More on it from that festival’s wrap-up.
- Another unfortunate miss is Equity, which gives us the juicy notion of an all-female Wall Street (where were that movie’s crying manbaby protectors?) but finds all of its fine performances and sleek elements sunk by a woefully middling screenplay. Our capsule from Tribeca is here.
- But it’s not all gloom and doom! Legendary documentarian Barbara Koppel teamed up with straight-up force of nature Sharon Jones to create Miss Sharon Jones!, a giddy and inspiring portrait of the Dap Kings frontwoman’s battle with pancreatic cancer. Read more about it in our July indie guide.
- And lastly, a good one you can watch right now: Tallulah, which also played at Sundance before getting a Netflix pick-up (it hits both theaters and the streaming service today). It stars Ellen Page and Allison Janney, so I’m not sure what else you need to know. More in the indie guide.
And there are still plenty of flicks lingering from last week, so whichever way you go, happy viewing!