The ghost with the most is back.
‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’
In this sequel to the beloved 1988 comedy, both directed by Tim Burton, a tragedy brings the Deetz family (Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara and Jenna Ortega) back home, where the chaos of the afterlife is unleashed in the form of the undead trickster Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton).
From our review:
Beetlejuice hasn’t exactly reformed, but somewhat like Burton, he’s straighter, smoother, less tightly wound and less a destabilizing force. He’s also become a boss, with a crew at his beck and call. Like the rest of the Beetlejuice brethren, he seems almost grown-up. Going into this movie, I wondered if the entertainingly unrepressed can ever return. No, it cannot, ever — but I still giggled.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Haunted by the spirits of better movies.
‘The Front Room’
After the pregnant Belinda (Brandy Norwood) allows her mother-in-law (Kathryn Hunter) to move in with her and her husband, she starts to suspect that the older woman is planning something sinister.
From our review:
“The Front Room” has its virtues, including the funereal production design, with its forlorn rooms and faded wallpaper. Yet from its goo to boos, the whole enterprise is so familiar and at times rote that it feels as though Sam and Max Eggers haven’t so much directed the movie as reverse-engineered it. They’ve obviously studied fairy tales, haunted-house flicks, religiously informed freakouts and pregnancy-themed horror films … The problem is that the rest of us know those sources, too, so we’re primed to want better.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Reinventing Rambo.
‘Rebel Ridge’
When a local cop unjustly confiscates his cousin’s bail money, a former Marine (Aaron Pierre) challenges small-town corruption in this somewhat somber thriller from Jeremy Saulnier.
From our review:
Saulnier (“Blue Ruin,” “Green Room”), a specialist in thrillers set in the margins of society, keeps this efficient tale of ethical outrage as simple as a punch to the throat — or rather, given its stark cinematography, like a shot of someone patiently walking up to a bully and then punching them in the throat.
Watch on Netflix. Read the full review.
Critic’s Pick
No objections.
‘The Goldman Case’
Based on a 1976 case, this drama directed by Cédric Kahn follows the trial of Pierre Goldman (played by Arieh Worthalter), who was convicted of four armed robberies but maintained he was not responsible for two deaths that occurred during one of the crimes.
From our review:
Set almost entirely within the courtroom, “The Goldman Case” is not a Hollywood-style heart-pumping work. But it’s plenty thrilling. Kahn … wrote the “Goldman” screenplay with Nathalie Hertzberg, who used newspaper articles and meticulous research to reconstruct what happened in the courtroom. The pair imbues the result with urgent, stirring drama even though it is, for the most part, just people standing at microphones, talking.
In theaters. Read the full review.
A portrait of the artist as an ingénue.
‘My First Film’
In this meta feature, the writer-director Zia Anger tells the story of her first movie, which she never finished, through a fictional stand-in (Odessa Young).
From our review:
Everything in “My First Film” doubles back on itself, which can make it feel repetitive at times. If you’ve never been a young person harboring dreams of creative genius, it might start to feel a little forced, a little twee. Even if you have, impatience lurks. But those who’ve been that person, or been around that person, will most likely find themselves nodding, or cringing, in wry recognition.
Watch on Mubi. Read the full review.
Overprotective and underdeveloped.
‘I’ll Be Right There’
Edie Falco stars as Wanda, a parent who is constantly rushing to help her adult children, Sarah and Mark, and her mother, Grace, in this drama directed by Brendan Walsh.
From our review:
The screenplay, by Jim Beggarly, is uneven, and many of the movie’s jokes are spoiled by a conservative strain that finds Sarah hellbent against giving birth out of wedlock and Grace making light of Wanda sleeping with a woman. Even as the gifted actresses trade jabs and punchlines gamely, the moments leave a sour taste.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Critic’s Pick
One woman’s trash is another’s cinematic treasure.
‘Hoard’
Luna Carmoon’s debut feature centers on Maria, who as a child gleefully helps her hoarder mother dig through trash, and as a teenager lives in a foster home and connects with a garbage collector.
From our review:
Though at times squirmingly unpleasant, “Hoard” is never a drag. The insolence of the filmmaking and the artlessness of the leads energize a plot of stunning recklessness and unexpected humor. Combining joy and tragedy, realism and surrealism, Carmoon — who completed the film before she was 25 — loiters defiantly on incidents of distressing rawness.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Critic’s Pick
She can’t look away; neither can we.
‘Red Rooms’
Kelly-Anne (Juliette Gariépy), a young model, obsesses over the murder trial of Ludovic Chevalier, who is accused of torturing and killing three teenage girls on video for paying voyeurs in this Quebec thriller from Pascal Plante.
From our review:
The film’s tension rides on the unknown, a paranoid vibe accented by Kelly-Anne’s shady online presence and Gariépy’s stark, sphinx-like performance. With a gaze that flings daggers, Gariépy’s an anchoring force that makes the more deranged second act feel credible. Most importantly, it’s her face — the way she looks at Ludovic in the courtroom or reacts to audio of screaming and chainsaw-whizzing — that works together with the film’s restraint to tug at our morbid curiosity.
In theaters. Read the full review.
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