Mara Reinstein

2.5 stars (out of 4) Jennifer Lawrence plays a Bolshoi prima ballerina who becomes a sex weapon for a hush-hush Russian intelligence agency. Alas, the listless espionage thriller Red Sparrow doesn’t live up to its trashy-fun premise. It’s not smart enough to be completely captivating or trashy enough to be considered an escapist absurdity. And […]

3.5 stars (out of 4) Several months from now, there will a daily heat index to monitor and baseball to watch and weekend beach trips to plan. And you’ll still be thinking about the closing moment of Annihilation. I would not dare delve into it, only to say that it’s one of the sci-fi thriller’s […]

3 stars (out of 4) It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how well you can execute an edgy R-rated comedy that seems ridiculous on paper. In that respect, Game Night is all aces. Snappily paced and cleverly plotted with a few innovative twists, this is the rare farce that exceeds low-ish expectations. Big advantage to […]

3 stars (out of 4) Forget everything you know about a Marvel blockbuster. Well, except for the Stan Lee appearance. Black Panther is here, and he’s clawed his way through the big screen to make his mark on the genre. Director Ryan Coogler has eschewed the familiar glut of smug in-jokes and mind-numbing CGI explosions […]

I’m all yours, Christian Grey. Lead me into the Red Room, give me some popcorn and my white noise machine, and we’re Gucci. I have officially stopped kicking and screaming about the eye-rolling Fifty Shades of Grey saga. And It’s not like I was blindfolded and led into the wrong movie theater. With the climactic […]

Yay, Eagles! All right, enough football talk. I’m here today to intricately break down the best part of Super Bowl LII — the movie trailers, obviously. Though we’re only in early February, the Big Game marks the unofficial beginning of the blockbuster season. (It’s no coincidence that Black Panther is out on February 16). No […]

Congrats! You survived January — only the worst month on the calendar in terms of breaking New Year’s resolutions, depressingly bleak weather, disappointing Oscar snubs and unfortunate movies. (Don’t even start with Maze Runner: The Death Cure. YA dystopia deserves better!) Now we’re on to February, the cushy winter home of recent favorites such as […]

Hit a handful of screenings, muddle through the slush, cameo at an after-party, spot a Gyllenhaal, shiver while waiting for an Uber, get a few hours of sleep, rinse and repeat. For years, this was the typical day in the life of a journalist working the magical good times of the Sundance Film Festival. But […]

Cheers — and confusion! The nominations for the 90th Academy Awards were announced by Tiffany Haddish and Andy Serkis on Tuesday, January 23. Here, Us Weekly has rounded up the biggest snubs and surprises. 1. James Franco’s Disaster Ouch. Though he’s been nominated for Best Actor for every other dog and pony awards show — […]

David Letterman marveled that he could fly. Steve Martin labeled him a genius. Billy Crystal said he used to leave him long messages on his answering machine in various accented characters. But beneath all that lightning-quick comedic energy, Robin Williams was a soft-spoken man who too often visited the dark corners of his mind. That’s the tragic takeaway […]

2 stars (out of 4) Now the Gladers are fighting WCKD to eradicate all the Cranks stricken with the Flare. Confused? Then stop right here. Seriously. Bye. Maze Runner: The Death Cure, the uneven and unwieldy finale to the dystopian Us-against-Them trilogy, is strictly for fans that have journeyed this far and need certain closure. […]

2.5 stars (out of 4) Two elite newspapers competing to publish a politically charged expose. A vindictive and shadowy president. A drag-out fight over the power of the First Amendment. Sound familiar? Director Steven Spielberg’s 1971-set newspaper thriller, The Post, has been drawing big headlines because it happens to be remarkably topical to our current […]

Get out. That was my reaction when the 75th annual Golden Globe movie nominations were announced last month. The Big Sick got the big snub. Only one nomination for the gem that is The Florida Project. No love for Girls Trip or its scene-stealer Tiffany Haddish. Meanwhile, Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird), Jordan Peele (Get Out) […]

I did not did see the fifth Transformers movie. Don’t tell me the end, but I’m guessing some big shiny robots got blown to smithereens and Mark Wahlberg lived to see another paycheck. I also refuse to call out small-budget original indie projects. Some of them are truly effective sleep-aids but I can’t blast a […]

(3.5 stars out of 4) I don’t know the first thing about poker. It’s important to state this upfront because going into Molly’s Game — the fantastic new Aaron Sorkin movie about the ultimate card shark — I was worried about keeping up with spitfire talk of flops and rivers. Now that I’ve seen it, […]

1.5 stars (out of 4) Would you do it? Would you shrink down to the size of a ball-point pen? That means you’d lose roughly 99 percent of your body mass in a blink. It seems crazy. But what if I reminded you that you’d immediately eliminate the bulk of your living and travel expenses. […]

2.5 stars (out of 4) Step right up, folks, if you want to witness a true cinematic oddity. A dramatic period biopic! A bearded lady and back-flipping Siamese twins! The Zendaya/Zac Efron onscreen romance you’ve always hoped for! And there’s singing! Lots of singing. It’s all right here in The Greatest Showman, a candy-coated spectacle […]

Who needs George Clooney and Brad Pitt and the rest of Ocean’s Eleven when you’ve got Cate Blanchett, Sandra Bullock, Anne Hathaway, Sarah Paulson, Helena Bonham Carter, Awkwafina, Rihanna and Mindy Kaling? And did I mention Cate Blanchett? The new trailer for Ocean’s 8 is finally here, which means we no longer have to cling […]

2 stars (out of 4) The Barden Bellas don’t go out on a winning note. The movie is tone-deaf. The characters are off-Pitch. It’s not over until Fat Amy sings, and she does! Pick any music pun, and the disappointing result is the same. A-ca brutal truth time: Pitch Perfect should have been a self-contained […]

3 stars (out of 4) Welcome to the Jumanji jungle. It’s got fun and games. It’s got everything you want, honey — including some high-wattage names. Happy holidays, everyone (you too, Guns N’ Roses): Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart and Jack Black all bring the funny in a zany and surprisingly inspired sequel of sorts to […]

3 stars (out of 4) The word “hope” is bandied around quite a bit in Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi. During a perilous moment, one character compares it to seeing the sun. Leia, who uttered it at the very end of last year’s Rogue One, says with a glint in her eye. For […]