January 1, 2024

Moana 2 (2024) *

A very dull sequel to the 2016 Disney hit. 

Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes (2024) *

A few exciting action sequences lost among hours of tedious monotony.

The Six Triple Eight (2024) *

Historical drama about a real-life US Army battalion during WWII, composed entirely of African-American women. Tyler Perry directs this film with a grace of an elephant in a china shop; his failed attempts to approximate prestige-picture gravitas are quite uncomfortable to watch, even though he’s dealing with genuinely inspiring and potentially fascinating material.

Argylle (2024) *

Except for a terrific dance sequence with Dua Lipa and Henry Cavill at the very beginning of the film, this is a truly awful spy comedy starring Bryce Dallas Howard and Sam Rockwell.

Maria (2024) *

A boring Maria Callas biopic, directed by Pablo Larrain. Curiously, this otherwise talented filmmaker fails rather miserably every time he tries to make a realistic movie about famous people ("Neruda", "Jackie", "Spencer"), while succeeding splendidly with more surrealistic and fanciful subjects (like "Ema" and "El Conde").

Gladiator II (2024) *

A weak sequel to the Oscar-winning "sword-and-sandal" epic from 2000, directed again by Ridley Scott. Predictable and dull.