Mini-reviews: 'The Theory of Everything,' 'The Spongebob Movie,' 'Whiplash' and 'Chappie'

Film reviews by Isaac Handelman

The Theory of Everything

In James Marsh’s historical drama, Eddie Redmayne takes center stage as renowned physicist Stephen Hawking. The film chronicles his relationship with Jane Wilde (Felicity Jones), and is more concerned with depicting Hawking’s personal struggles than it is with explaining the reasoning behind his groundbreaking research. Redmayne carries the film, delivering the sort of career-defining performance that will be remembered for years to come. He’s nothing short of revelatory, portraying Hawking’s illness with uncanny accuracy, and also managing to convey momentous emotion with the smallest of gestures and expressions. Jones also dials in a strong performance, and the confident direction and smart script help to ensure that Theory, while tragic, is never a tear-monger.

The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water

Series creator Stephen Hillenberg returns to the Spongebob franchise for the first time since his departure after the character’s first theatrical outing. Unfortunately, the result doesn’t manage to recapture the magic of the series’ golden years. The voice cast and characters are as memorable as ever, bursts of hilarity crop up here and there, and there are plenty of subtle references and small bits of humor built in for keen viewers to enjoy. But as a feature film, Sponge Out of Water falters, failing to sustain itself over the course of its bloated runtime, and sometimes spiraling into overly-bizarre territory for seemingly no reason other than a lack of superior ideas on the part of the screenwriters. And, towards the film’s tail end, when the cast engages in their titular, “out of water” escapades, things only go downhill.

Whiplash

Whiplash centers on Andrew (Miles Teller), an ambitious young jazz drummer studying at the fictional, prestigious Shaffer School of Music. The film tells of his tense relationship with Conductor Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons), whose extreme training tactics border on emotionally abusive. The film is mesmerizing, synthesizing music and cinema together into a seamless whole. Director Damien Chazelle turns the film’s musical numbers into rousing exercises in intensity, and the sharp, unpredictable dialogue keeps viewers on the edges of their seats through every interaction. Whiplash is marvelously intense, brilliantly crafted, and wholly original. The central question it brings up offers plenty of food for thought, and it provides one of the more heart-pounding zingers-of-an-ending in recent cinematic memory. Don’t miss this one.

Chappie

Director Neill Blomkamp hasn’t exactly been able to keep up the quality of his debut film District 9, showing once again with Chappie that the initial success may in fact have been a fluke. The titular, artificially intelligent robot is played well by Sharlto Copley, and the film is so constantly concerned with making its audience care for the robot that it forgets to make any sort of broader statements about the implications of artificial intelligence -- a rather egregious error in an age where such technology is potentially right around the corner. Instead, Chappie is your run-of-the-mill action movie. It’s conventionally entertaining, and fueled by some memorably over-the-top performers, including Hugh Jackman’s muscled, mulleted antagonist Vincent, and the hilariously hyperbolic gangster duo portrayed by Die Antwoord members Yolandi Vissr and Ninja. However, Chappie’s predictable nature and ludicrous logical leaps prevent it from being anything beyond a passable popcorn-muncher.