Author: Ann Hornaday

“I wish I could live through something.” So says Christine McPherson, the spiky, moody, flawed and delightful protagonist of “Lady Bird.” The movie takes its title from the name Christine has bestowed upon herself during her senior year at a Catholic high school in Sacramento, which she sniffily dubs “the Midwest of California.” Everything’s terrible…

“The Florida Project,” Sean Baker’s exuberant, ungovernable ode to the innocence and resilience of childhood, takes place in a ramshackle lavender-painted hotel called the Magic Castle, hard by Orlando’s Disney World. Along with its neighboring oxymoronically named fleabags, the Magic Castle evokes the American Dream, while denying it at every downbeat, threadbare turn. It’s American…

Starring Emma Stone, Steve Carell, Andrea Riseborough, Natalie Morales, Sarah Silverman, Bill Pullman; directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris; 121 minutes; PG-13 for some sexual material and partial nudity. At a time when Venus and Serena Williams reign supreme, it’s difficult to visualize a time when the fight for gender equity in tennis was…

Summer 2017 is going down as one of Hollywood’s worst in recent memory, notwithstanding such standouts as “Wonder Woman,” “Dunkirk” and the little-rom-com-that-could, “The Big Sick.” But who are we kidding? Filmgoers of discerning taste know Hollywood typically holds back the good stuff for cooler weather, and this year is no exception. With such highly…

Starring Jon Hamm, Geena Davis, Tim Robbins, Lois Smith; directed by Michael Almereyda; 98 minutes; unrated, contains very brief nudity and smoking. In “Marjorie Prime,” Lois Smith plays Marjorie Lancaster, a woman suffering dementia after her husband’s death. Still living in the couple’s attractive seaside home – with daughter Tess and son-in-law Jon (Geena Davis…

Starring Robert Pattinson, Ben Safdie, Taliah Webster, Jennifer Jason Leigh; directed by Ben Safdie and Josh Safdie; 100 minutes; R for crude language throughout, violence, drug use and sexuality. In the lowlife picaresque “Good Time,” Robert Pattinson delivers what some will surely call a career-making performance, especially if they’ve missed his impressive turns in indies…