Critic’s Pick
A double dose of dark comedy.
‘A Different Man’
Edward (Sebastian Stan), a man with a condition that warps his facial features, discovers his problems are internal after he gets cosmetic surgery and meets another man, Oswald (Adam Pearson), who has the same condition in this dark comedy written and directed by Aaron Schimberg.
From our review:
Like many literary and cinematic fables before it — think of “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” or “The Elephant Man” — “A Different Man” is really a morality play, of a kind. It’s just that the moral isn’t all that straightforward. It’s about a societal obsession with particular standards of beauty. The fact that conventionally attractive people, or people with certain features and skin colors, tend to encounter more success in life simply by dint of genetic luck is explicit throughout. But that fact is so obvious, and stated so blatantly outright, that it feels like a joke.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Like two cool cats who just swallowed the canary.
‘Wolfs’
George Clooney and Brad Pitt play underworld fixers — the people you call to make criminal evidence disappear — who begrudgingly team up for a job.
From our review:
It isn’t remotely tense or mysterious, and its modest thrills derive wholly from the spectacle of two beautifully aged, primped, pampered and expensive film stars going through the motions with winks and a degree of brittle charm. The movie is a trifle, and it knows it. Mostly, though, “Wolfs,” written and directed by Jon Watts, is an excuse for its two leads to riff on their own personas, which can be faintly amusing and certainly watchable but also insufferably smug. It’s insufferable a lot.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Critic’s Pick
Girls gone gory.
‘The Substance’
In this body horror stunner directed by Coralie Fargeat, Elisabeth (Demi Moore) is an aging starlet who tries a new drug that promises to create a younger, better version of herself (Sue, played by Margaret Qualley). It performs as advertised, but with disastrous and disgusting consequences.
From our review:
Be warned: This is a very gory and often bombastic movie. The logic is also not airtight, especially when it comes to whether, and how, Sue and Elisabeth share a consciousness. … It’s all metaphor, though, not in the least bit meant for a literal analysis. That’s an awkward thing to mix into a movie that turns every subtext into text, which means its constant hammering of its points starts to feel patronizing, as if we might not get it. But it’s also quite funny, and the worse things become for Elisabeth, the harder it is not to giggle with glee. By the end, things have become monstrous and mad.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Critic’s Pick
Sisters, under the skin.
‘His Three Daughters’
Natasha Lyonne, Carrie Coon and Elizabeth Olsen play estranged sisters who reunite to care for their dying father in this tender drama written and directed by Azazel Jacobs.
From our review:
Jacobs doesn’t sentimentalize his characters, which deepens the story’s realism. Instead, working with his three strong, nicely syncopated leads, he gradually pries open each sister until you see just enough of her darkness and her light to sense where she’s coming from and why. Just enough for you to grasp how life has roughed them up and, by turns, strengthened or weakened their defenses.
Watch on Netflix. Read the full review.
Toy-smashing thrills.
‘Transformers One’
This animated prequel directed by Josh Cooley outlines the origin stories of the giant transforming robots Optimus Prime (Chris Hemsworth) and Megatron (Brian Tyree Henry).
From our review:
The film offers a different kind of nostalgia, one that harks back to and indulges the toy-smashing thrills that an ’80s kid would get from a dose of the original animated cartoons. … The missteps can be forgiven and even feel somewhat appropriate when it becomes clear just what kind of itch the film means to scratch: to plot out an immersive mythology in order to have some pulpy fun.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Postcards from summer vacation.
‘In the Summers’
Told in chapters over a series of summers, this Sundance winner, directed by Alessandra Lacorazza, follows two children, Violeta and Eva, and their shifting relationship with their father, Vicente, whom they spend the warmer months with.
From our review:
The structural conceit is the most engaging aspect of “In the Summers,” even if it gives the storytelling some perspective issues. (While Vicente sees Violeta and Eva only during the summer, they in theory see each other much more regularly.) Lacorazza’s deftness with actors, feel for the setting and aesthetic decisions — shooting in the snapshot-like 1.66-to-1 aspect ratio, or leaving the characters’ Spanish without subtitles — help the drama ring true.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Critic’s Pick
Like a Hayao Miyazaki movie, but make it French.
‘Sirocco and the Kingdom of the Winds’
When two sisters are transported into a storybook world and turned into cats, they must work together to find their way home in this animated tale.
From our review:
Directed by Benoît Chieux, who wrote the screenplay with Alain Gagnol, “Sirocco” feels drawn from the same extended family of stories as those from the great Hayao Miyazaki — contemporary fairy tales that skip genre clichés and conventions to provide novel plots where the next step in the journey is always a mystery.
Available to rent or buy on most major platforms. Read the full review.
Critic’s Pick
When only love remains.
‘All Shall Be Well’
After her partner of many years passes away unexpectedly, Angie (Patra Au Ga Man) discovers that she will inherit nothing because they didn’t have an official marriage license and Pat didn’t leave a will.
From our review:
The indignity of being someone’s spouse while they are alive and merely a friend after their death is the theme of this moving film, which brims with compassion and uses a silky light touch. The writer-director, Ray Yeung, prefers his camera static or, when observing Angie’s queer chosen family, dollying ever so slightly, as if to telegraph the buoyancy they bring.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Indigenous stories told with ingenuity.
‘Eureka’
Several different timelines tell a sprawling story of life as an Indigenous American in various time periods in this ambitious film directed by Lisandro Alonso.
From our review:
Ultimately, the film feels a bit misshapen. A third act set in the jungles of Brazil in the 1970s depicts tribe members discussing their livelihoods as gold prospectors encroach on their lands. Here, extra-long shots of wild splendor and oblique talk of dreams makes the film go from patient to listless. At this stage, it’s a challenging sit, but perhaps that’s the point considering where we started.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Packs a (lightweight) punch.
‘The Featherweight’
James Madio plays real-life boxer Willie Pep as he makes his big comeback in this faux documentary directed by Robert Kolodny.
From our review:
Kolodny handles his movie-as-documentary conceit with subtle flair and finesse. For a subgenre as crowded with movies as boxing has weight classes, “The Featherweight” isn’t a knockout. But it does land more than a glancing blow.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Shock with no value.
‘Never Let Go’
Directed by Alexandre Aja, this horror movie centers on a mother (Halle Berry) and her two young children, who must remain tethered to their house to protect against “the Evil” in the woods.
From our review:
After one of the boys does something unspeakably stupid (he’s a kid, yes, and an ostensibly brainwashed one, yes, but still), it’s hard to keep caring. Berry is drained of glamour for her role here, and she performs with fierceness; the two boys are also stalwart, but what the movie asks these child performers to do doesn’t add up to effective horror — it’s just opportunistic and gross.
In theaters. Read the full review.
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