Critic’s Pick
Coming-of-age meets midlife crisis.
‘My Old Ass’
After taking hallucinogenic mushrooms, 18-year-old Elliott (Maisy Stella) gets a visit from her older self (Aubrey Plaza).
From our review:
“My Old Ass,” written and directed by Megan Park, does not go in expected coming-of-age directions. It’s as much about reframing middle-aged regrets as it is a story about youth, love and possibility — and thus the emotional heft it wields is two-pronged. … In addition to its encouraging note about cherishing the present, the film is full of thoughts about looking toward the past with grief.
In theaters. Read the full review.
A remake that sees less evil.
‘Speak No Evil’
An American couple (Mackenzie Davis and Scoot McNairy) accept an invitation to stay at the cottage of a new acquaintance (James McAvoy), where they’re given a weird welcome in this horror film directed by James Watkins.
From our review:
Sleek and ever more unsettling, “Speak No Evil” is closely based on a far colder, downright nasty 2022 movie of the same title from the Danish director Christian Tafdrup. For the most part, Watkins adheres to the original’s overall design and trajectory while adding some new details and scenes; he also pads the running time an unnecessary 15 or so minutes. … Watkins also softens the material, particularly when it comes to the child characters (a relief).
In theaters. Read the full review.
Growing up but staying juvenile.
‘The 4:30 Movie’
In this semi-autobiographical comedy from Kevin Smith, a young boy comes of age and fosters a love for the movies in small-town, 1980s New Jersey.
From our review:
You can tell Smith has put more effort into this movie than both his trite studio cash-ins (“Cop Out”) and his dashed-off experiments (“Yoga Hosers”), trying earnestly to account for how he fell in love with cinema and became a filmmaker. It’s like “The Fabelmans” if Steven Spielberg had grown up to make bad movies.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Pretty hurts.
‘Uglies’
In a future society where everyone undergoes cosmetic surgery when they turn 16, a teenager (Joey King) stumbles across a rebellion in this dystopian drama directed by McG.
From our review:
McG has concocted a fantastical, glossily repellent digital landscape that glows with neon and constant fireworks, causing the film to feel at once too sincere and too artificial. King plays Tally with more conviction than the movie deserves, alongside Keith Powers and Chase Stokes as her crushes and Brianne Tju as a punkish hoverboarder who yearns to join an anti-surgery agrarian conclave whose members reach self-actualization by reading Thoreau’s “Walden.” Though viewers can’t help but notice that the rebels are also naturally telegenic.
Watch on Netflix. Read the full review.
Cool stunts, lukewarm story.
‘The Killer’s Game’
An assassin (Dave Bautista) falls in love, but after learning he has an incurable disease, he orders a hit on himself.
From our review:
J.J. Perry (“Day Shift”), a stunt performer and coordinator who’s worked on the “John Wick” franchise, directs this rom-com action movie, whose conceits borrow from the “Wick” franchise rather heavily. While those conceits work well enough in movies starring Keanu Reeves, here they fall flat. The action choreography is better than passable, although Perry adds grindhouse-movie levels of gore and dismemberment in a dubious effort to up the thrill quotient.
In theaters. Read the full review.
The mother of all crushes.
‘Girls Will Be Girls’
This debut feature from the Indian filmmaker Shuchi Talati follows Mira (Preeti Panigrahi), a high school senior who finds her repressed mother taking an interest in her crush.
From our review:
The screenplay suffers from some unevenness, but it never wavers in its empathy. It helps that Talati demonstrates a keen eye for composition; her static shots often make use of mirrors and other frames within the frame. These elements give “Girls Will Be Girls” a distinct sense of perspective, and imbue even the more familiar aspects of its story with fresh feeling.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Secrets and stumbles.
‘Winner’
This biopic, directed by Susanna Fogel, follows the life of Reality Winner (played by Emilia Jones), a former National Security Agency contractor who was convicted after leaking a classified report about Russian interference in the 2016 United States presidential election.
From our review:
This quirky girl-power comedy gives way to something darker as Winner becomes aware of U.S. government secrets, with the director drawing a connection between Winner’s political idealism and the public’s seemingly willful indifference toward corruption and human rights abuses. In this sense, the character plays to the archetype of the “social justice warrior” with some conservative touches. That’s the big problem with this strange film, which tries to humanize its protagonist but winds up making her feel plastic.
In theaters. Read the full review.
This academic romance needs to hit the books.
‘Matt and Mara’
Mara (Deragh Campbell) is a young professor whose comfortable life with her husband and young daughter is upended by the appearance of Matt (Matt Johnson), a figure from her past.
From our review:
A nebulous bid to capture the tension between a seemingly cozy marriage and a romantic fling, and between the academy and the outside world, “Matt and Mara” is less a movie than an idea for one. It doesn’t help that neither character is likable, or that the director and writer, Kazik Radwanski, fills the screen with close-ups in lieu of information.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Everyone hates a critic.
‘The Critic’
Ian McKellen stars as Jimmy Erskine, a theater critic who conspires with Nina Land (Gemma Arterton), a rising actress, to save his position at a newspaper.
From our review:
Visually, “The Critic” is polished enough, despite some splashes of apparent digital lacquer. But [screenwriter Patrick] Marber hasn’t supplied an incontrovertible motive to bind Nina to Jimmy. And there is something arguably troubling about the way McKellen’s character has been conceived. … As a gay man in an era when Britain criminalized homosexual activity, he would, one assumes, be far more likely to be a victim of blackmail than its perpetrator.
In theaters. Read the full review.
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