Whitney,
directed by Kevin Macdonald (R, 2 hours)
Tightly focused, unsentimental, revealing and sometimes contentious, this documentary zeroes in on the life of a world-famous singer and actress (1992's The Bodyguard, 1995's Waiting to Exhale, 1996's The Preacher's Wife, 2012's Sparkle) whose brilliant career fell apart in the wake of scandals and erratic behavior.
Using archival footage, demo recordings, performance videos, audio archives and original interviews with people who knew her well, Oscar-winning filmmaker Kevin Macdonald (Best Feature Documentary, One Day in September, 1999) chronicles the life of a unique artist with 200 million album sales, seven consecutive U.S. No. 1. singles, Grammy and Emmy awards, and spectacular notoriety before her death at age 48 in 2012.
With Bobby Brown, Cissy Houston, Gary Garland Houston, Bobbi Kristina Brown. Digital special features include audio commentary with producer Simon Chinn and director Macdonald and a photo gallery courtesy of the estate of Whitney E. Houston.
Ant-Man and the Wasp (PG-13, 1 hour, 58 minutes) An upbeat, playful superhero sequel (following 2015's Ant-Man) that often makes fun of itself. This time we have Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) trying to come to an understanding with himself in balancing being a superhero and being a father. As you might expect, it's a perfectly awful time to be presented with an urgent new mission. With Evangeline Lilly, Walton Goggins, Bobby Cannavale, Judy Greer, Michael Pena; directed by Peyton Reed.
Antz (PG, 1 hour, 23 minutes) One of the pioneering computer-animated kids comedies, 1998's appealing Antz (from DreamWorks, in competition with Pixar's 1998 similar A Bug's Life) concerns Central Park ant drone Z (Woody Allen), who longs to be a unique individual of accomplishment. But his colony puts the value of the society over personal achievement. With voices of Anne Bancroft, Sharon Stone, Sylvester Stallone, Dan Aykroyd, Jane Curtin, Danny Glover, Gene Hackman, Christopher Walken, Jennifer Lopez; directed by Eric Darnell and Tim Johnson.
Generation Wealth (R, 1 hour, 46 minutes) Photographer Lauren Greenfield's first-person documentary -- a bleak and sometimes blurry personal journey and historical essay -- concerns her take on a materialistic, image-obsessed culture and the costs of capitalism, narcissism and greed. With Limo Bob, George W. Bush, Bret Easton Ellis, Michael Douglas, Florian Homm, Tiffany Masters.
Shampoo (R, 1 hour, 49 minutes ) Everybody was talking about this bleak romantic comedy when it came out in 1975. Set on the day after Richard Nixon's election in 1968, the focus is on George (a very sexy Warren Beatty), a Beverly Hills hairdresser who, unburdened overmuch by morals, gives new meaning to the idea of a full-service salon. With Lee Grant, Julie Christie, Goldie Hawn, Carrie Fisher, Jack Warden, Tony Bill; directed by Hal Ashby.
BuyBust (not rated, 2 hours, 7 minutes) Like flashy massacres that turn ordinary citizens into crusading vigilantes? This is the film for you. An anti-drug enforcement agency stages a massive drug bust on a slum in Manila, only to get ambushed by a merciless drug lord and his henchmen. Civilians in the area don't take kindly to the upheaval, and add their own violence to the mix. With Anne Curtis, Victor Neri; written and directed by Erik Matti.
Down a Dark Hall (PG-13, 1 hour, 36 minutes) This is a decent if weird contemporary Gothic-style thriller in which a troublesome, temperamental new student (AnnaSophia Robb) at exclusive Blackwood Boarding School confronts the institution's supernatural occurrences and dark powers of its headmistress (Uma Thurman). With Noah Silver, Taylor Russell; directed by Rodrigo Cortes.
Arizona (TV-MA, 1 hour, 25 minutes) Set in the midst of the 2009 housing crisis, this darkly satirical story with slasher tendencies follows Cassie Fowler (Rosemarie DeWitt), a single mom and struggling real-estate agent whose life goes off the rails when she witnesses a murder. With Danny McBride, Luke Wilson, David Alan Grier, Kaitlin Olson; directed by Jonathan Watson.
MovieStyle on 10/19/2018