“Gone Girl” opens Friday at Point, Eastgate, Star Cinema, Sundance and Cinema Cafe: R, 2:25, three and a half stars out of four.

He’s a bad husband. She’s a good wife. They have a good marriage. “Gone Girl” is first and foremost an absolutely delicious mystery, one that parcels out revelations and surprises at just the right moments to keep us hooked. But dig deeper, and it’s also a movie about the stories we tell ourselves, about ourselves, whether it’s on cable news or in the privacy of our own homes. And how those narratives are so powerful that we’d rather change ourselves to fit the story than change the story to fit ourselves. He’s a good husband. She’s a bad wife. They have a bad marriage.

Continue reading →

“Land Ho!” opens Friday at Sundance Cinemas. R, 1:36, three stars out of four.

From a distance, we might think Mitch and Colin were pretty much the same sort of guy — white-haired men in their 60s who have lived the same sort of lives and think the same sorts of things.

But we quickly learn that they are completely different animals, and that’s part of the joke and the message of “Land Ho!,” an utterly endearing comedy from Aaron Katz and Martha Stephens. We shouldn’t pigeonhole these old guys, and neither should they sell themselves short.

Continue reading →