Arts & Entertainment

Movie Reviews: Wolverine, Blue Jasmine and More

Movie reviews and movie times for theaters near Greendale, including The Conjuring and Despicable Me 2. Let Patch help you decide what you're going to see this weekend.

Adam W. McCoy's profile picture
Adam W. McCoy, Patch StaffVerified Patch Staff Badge

Wolverine and Blue Jasmine are two of the new films coming up this weekend. Check out the reviews of both below. 

Wolverine

"Until a third act that collapses in a harebrained heap, the director largely succeeds in keeping the more cartoonish aspects at bay, roughing up the surface with organically staged fight scenes and, crucially, raising the stakes by stripping his hitherto indestructible hero of his self-healing powers." — The Hollywood Reporter Full Review

"Good thing the Aussie star has the role down to a science, since the rest of The Wolverine is a howler." — Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News Full Review

"This turgid return papers over the previous film’s narrative, but creates little in the way of a fresh character arc." — Guy Lodge, Time Out London Full Review

- - - - -


Blue Jasmine
"Cate Blanchett, who played Blanche on Broadway only a few years ago, gives the most complicated and demanding performance of her movie career. The actress, like her character, is out on a limb much of the time, but there’s humor in Blanchett’s work, and a touch of self-mockery as well as an eloquent sadness." — David Denby, The New Yorker Full Review

"Blue Jasmine belongs to Blanchett, who appears in almost every scene and frees it from the limitations of Allen's style, pushing it to far sharper results than any of the more traditional movies, good and bad, that he's churned out in the past dozen or so years." — Eric Kohn, indieWIRE Full Review

"Blanchett’s performance is so dominant in terms of screentime and emotional impact that the film succeeds as not only a virtuoso ensemble piece, but also an unflinchingly intimate study of the character in the title." — Justin Chang, Variety Full Review

- - - - -

The Conjuring
"The big difference is that "The Exorcist" took the nation by storm with fresh ideas and brilliant filmmaking. The Conjuring conjures with amped-up echoes of old ideas, and represents a bet that they still retain their creepy appeal for today's audience." — Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal Full Review

"The net result is an entertainingly frightening film that keeps the audience in a state of alarmed, but eager, anticipation." — Claudia Puig, USA Today Full Review

"Though The Conjuring claims to be based on a true story, in truth it's based on every horror film that's come before it." — Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine Full Review

Do you plan on seeing this movie? Leave a review when you get home and tell your neighbors how it was!

- - - - -
Despicable Me 2
"This shallow sequel to 2010's much cleverer Despicable Me — the 10th-biggest animated movie in U.S. history — seems to be merely going through the motions." — Claudia Puig, USA Today Full Review
"Guaranteed to charm anyone who’s out of school and already bored." Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News Full Review

"The minions give good mayhem and the twig-armed animation’s lovely. Despite the coolest submarine-car since Bond’s Lotus Esprit, though, Despicable Me 2 is light on gadgets – and surprises, too." — Total Film Full Review

Do you plan on seeing this movie? Leave a review when you get home and tell your neighbors how it was!

- - - - -

Turbo
"Turbo is harmless good fun — and impressionable kids could take worse lessons away from the multiplex." — NPR Full Review

"Has some appealing characters, a few laughs and then devolves into a predictable Tortoise and the Hare spinoff." Claudia Puig, USA Today Full Review

"Let's face it: Kids aren't a very demanding audience. If there's color, movement, and a high quotient of silliness, they're happy."— David Hiltbrand, Philadelphia Inquirer Full Review

Do you plan on seeing this movie? Leave a review when you get home and tell your neighbors how it was!

- - - - -

Grown Ups 2
"Like its predecessor, Grown Ups 2 is proudly retrograde, both in its relentless deluge of toilet humour and the way it bear-hugs some good old-fashioned conservative values." — The Globe and Mail (Toronto)  Full Review

"You know what you’re going to get, and that is, indeed, what Sandler delivers. It’s juvenile, it’s obvious and it’s crass. But with Sandler at the helm, at least it’s as easy to like as it is to forget."— Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News Full Review

"Throughout, gags are cartoonishly broad and afforded so little time for setup and delivery we seem to be watching less a story than a catalog of tossed-out material." — The Hollywood Reporter Full Review

Do you plan on seeing this movie? Leave a review when you get home and tell your neighbors how it was!

- - - - -

Red 2
"Red 2 not only delivers the action, laughs and thrills of the original — in many ways it surpasses it." — Bill Zwecker, Chicago Sun-Times Full Review

"Any movie that gives Helen Mirren a chance to shoot really big guns, wear an ermine astrakhan and channel Bette Davis as Queen Elizabeth can't be all bad, and Red 2 isn't, though it comes close." — Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal Full Review

"It’s never laugh-out-loud funny or inside-track smart, but in a summer full of bombastic failures, a lack of pretense is enough." — Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News Full Review

Do you plan on seeing this movie? Leave a review when you get home and tell your neighbors how it was!

Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

More from Greendale