While We're Young

This was hilarious, but I am quite sure that it was only hilarious to a very niche demographic: 40-something, childless couples. Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts are said couple and find all their friends are becoming "lost" to their kids. So they befriend some 20-something hipsters. Just this setup allows for the film to skewer all the stereotypes around conflict between children/childless and middle age/millennials. But I think those with kids will only find it moderately funny and millennial/hipsters will say "Huh. I guess I can see the humor there". The main hipster/new friend is Adam Driver who happens to be a filmmaker (same as Stiller) and turns out to be a manipulative narcissist. The not-so-subtle message is that most millennial/hipsters are also manipulative narcissists and the 40-somethings are really better all around with their own kind (and with kids).  I don't really agree with this message, and this might be what prevented the film from being great. It could have been funny *and* had a good message.
4 stars (out of 5)

Limitless

Bradley Cooper happens upon a designer drug that accelerates his mind. While on the drug, he understands numbers better, sees disparate connections, learns languages. This turns out to make him a rock star in the investment world as he can see market trends that others can't. Unfortunately, it seems that this designer drug has not been perfected yet to the point of not having side effects, the most important of which is death upon withdrawal. It also turns out that there is a limited supply, so another user becomes desperately interested in acquiring Cooper's supply. And that is it. No real quality, feel-good use of the drug. And not really dark enough to be considered dark. By trying to be enough for a wide audience, it seems like this is not really anything for anyone.
2 stars (out of 5)

Creed

The best possible way to have a sequel to the Rocky franchise. Rocky Balboa is now a restaurant owner in Philadelphia, where he remains a cultural icon. He is approached by a young Californian fighter who needs a trainer. Turns out this fighter is Apollo Creed's son. So of course he agrees (of course, for the film, but reluctantly, for the character). This leads to some tension in the existing Philly boxing community, but works out in the end. A classic underdog, plenty of nods to the original franchise without seeming overly gratuitous. Pretty cool.

4 stars (out of 5)

Money Monster

George Clooney is a pop-financial TV guru who fills time with his show on the business TV networks. Julia Roberts is his producer. When a disgruntled investor who had taken Clooney's advice loses everything, he comes onto a live show to demand information (with a bomb vest to be worn by Clooney). He doesn't want money. He wants to know why. Clooney does a great job in his role. And plays the hero as he works to actually find out what happened with this "glitch" in the system. Lots of fake drama and over the top action (e.g. a "parade" as they walk from the studio down to a Wall Street investment firm). And for an "exposé" film, a largely unsatisfactory ending. We really are just dumb investors with no recourse when "the system" goes wrong.
3 stars (out of 5)

The Other Woman

Cameron Diaz finds out that her boyfriend is actually married to Leslie Mann. They meet accidentally and strike up a strange friendship. Actually, Mann stalks Diaz for awhile trying to find answers about why her marriage ended with a cheating husband. In the process of their sorting out their friendship, they discover Kate Hudson is yet another girlfriend. So of course, the revenge plan commences. This feels a little bit like Home Alone repurposed for the midlife crisis. And with that image, you can guess how everything turns out. Moderately entertaining diversion.
3 stars (out of 5)

Trainwreck

I don't get the fascination with this film. Amy Schumer plays a professionally successful woman who has decided that relationships are impossible, so all relationships should be one night stands. This comes from her opening scene 'Monogamy is not realistic' mantra that her father ingrains into her and her sister. So the film becomes a series of drunken relationships and confusion about the lack of life satisfaction that they give. The film is only moderately comedic (it relies on all the tired stereotypes) and the characters are shallow and really uninteresting. Maybe I watched it "too late" after the cultural hype was dead. But if this is the case, if the only reason this was "good" was because of a flash in the pan cultural hype, then I guess it was not really good at all.
2 stars (out of 5)

The Huntsman: Winter's War

A sequel to Snow White and the Huntsman, from four years ago. Let's start with my initial reaction in the theater. I knew it was a sequel, but for the first 30 minutes I felt like I should have known more than I did. The story required that I remember some plot details from four years ago. And while a Morgan Freeman narration did what it could to provide a setting, in fact the only result was him reminding me how much I should remember, but didn't. Lesson: If your sequel is four years later for a barely-moderately successful film, don't assume anyone remembers, and don't assume a voice-over will help anyone remember. Once we settled in, the film has given some backstory on the huntsmen and why they were created and who they were. As I write this, I am thinking there are some pretty significant timeline issues with this backstory and how it fits in with the original Snow White. But I digress... this is a fairy tale with a basic question: Will love conquer all? Since it is a fairy tale that must, by definition, end happily-ever-after, you know the answer. With a great tale, the journey is epic. The journey, in this case, is only adequate. I am not sure if I am aging out of the target audience age-group and I would have really liked this more 10 years ago? Or is this just a middling, quarter-good attempt at some action-fairytale fare? Not yet wanting to give up on my fantasy-action-loving youth, I am going to stick with the later at this point.
2 stars (out of 5)