Nothing to Declare: Gringo, reviewed.

David Oyelowo and Sharlto Copley

Here's my NPR review of Gringo, a bloody farce that musters four good comic performances from primarily non-comedic actors in the service of nothing much.

Cloak & Dagger? I Hardly Know 'Er: Red Sparrow, reviewed

J-Law and Joel Edgerton make love and also war.

Red Sparrow, a nasty adaptation of a novel by C.I.A. veteran Jason Matthews starring Jennifer Lawrence and Joel Edgerton, is the Black Widow origin movie Marvel Studios will never make. I like a movie that gets at the existential misery of spycraft. Here's my NPR review.

Elf Quest: Bright, reviewed.

Joel Edgerton and Will Smith are, would you believe, mismatched partners. (Netflix)

The alarming lesson of Netflix's new Will Smith-toplined, David Ayer-directed human-&-orc buddy cop thriller Bright is that I am, apparently, not Too Old For This Shit.

Only someone who didn't see xXx: The Return of Xander Cage or Furious 8 could proclaim this this worst movie of 2017. Let's be reasonable, now.