Screening Room Movies at Home: “Ender’s Game,” “The Counselor,” “The Armstrong Lie”

KANSAS CITY, Mo—

1. ENDER’S GAME (PG-13)
Summit Entertainment

RUSS
Orson Scott Card’s popular 1985 science fiction novel “Ender’s Game” finally gets the big screen treatment. Asa Butterfield plays a brilliant 12-year-old who, in the distant future, trains for battle against invading aliens.

SHAWN
It’s like the most boring video game you have ever played. A total slick looking bore that limps around without a pulse.

RUSS
While modestly entertaining, “Ender’s Game” never quite makes the most of its provocative themes about pacifism and militarism.

SHAWN
I have read technical manuals more exciting than “Ender’s Game.” Game over. And the bonus material is pedestrian as well. Just an overall super non-eventful DVD release.

RUSS: 3 Popcorn Bags
SHAWN: 2 Popcorn Bags

2. THE COUNSELOR (R)
20th Century Fox

RUSS
The combination of Oscar-winning director Tony Scott, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Cormac McCarthy and a first-rate cast should have resulted in a riveting drama.

SHAWN
Should of, could of, would of. A lot of movies look good on paper then you have to watch then and “The Counselor” is a hot mess. A Quentin Tarantino that’s missing the Q and the T as well as a few other things.

RUSS
Unfortunately, “The Counselor” is a dark, ugly and off-putting thriller about the fruits of greed. It’s a convoluted and ultimately dreary drama with a depressingly bleak worldview.

SHAWN

Bleak. Perfectly describes this epic miss fire. This A-list cast is wasted like food at a buffet. And basically the extras are an extended unrated cut of the movie.

RUSS: 2 Popcorn Bags
SHAWN: 1 Popcorn Bag

3. THE ARMSTRONG LIE (R)
Sony Pictures Classics

RUSS
In the unsettling documentary, “The Armstrong Lie, the famed biking champion Lance Armstrong is exposed as the ringleader of a conspiracy that defrauded millions of sports fans and competitors.

SHAWN
It’s a solid documentary. But nothing really new or shocking is revealed.

RUSS
But perhaps the most disturbing part of the whole affair was Armstrong’s choice to throw longtime friends under the bus. It’s a sad commentary on our times.

RUSS: 3 Popcorn Bags
SHAWN: 3 Popcorn Bags