Critic’s Pick
An exploration epic that doesn’t pander.
‘Magellan’
This portrait of Ferdinand Magellan (Gael García Bernal) directed by Lav Diaz traces the explorer’s global escapades.
From our review:
[Diaz] skims over historic events and omits crucial travelers, and characters at times enter and exit without much introduction. They also don’t deliver the simple, convenient lessons and summations that are familiar from more conventional movies; it’s gratifying not being pandered to. Here, history and story tend to convene in crystallizing moments, in faces, gestures, actions and in blunt, cruel words.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Critic’s Pick
New parents, old wounds.
‘Young Mothers’
In a Belgian maternity shelter, four teenage moms tackle the challenges of parenthood in this naturalistic drama directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne.
From our review:
Because of the ensemble structure, each tale is interrupted by another, so “Young Mothers” lacks some of the suspense that powers many of the Dardennes’ other films. Yet that slower pace allows a tenderness to develop, and the tension between the girls’ youth and newfound maternal instincts to emerge.
In theaters. Read the full review.
A dramatization that’s missing the drama.
‘Dead Man’s Wire’
Based on a real incident from 1977, this crime film follows Anthony Kiritsis (Bill Skarsgard), who abducts a mortgage company executive, Richard Hall (Dacre Montgomery), as revenge for a land deal gone wrong.
From our review:
For “Dead Man’s Wire,” Gus Van Sant appears to have proceeded from the notion that somebody ought to make a 1970s-style crime film like they used to. But they used to make them a lot more energetic.
In theaters. Read the full review.
As light and airy as a tropical vacation.
‘People We Meet on Vacation’
This rom-com directed by Brett Haley takes place over the course of 12 years as college friends Poppy and Alex (Emily Bader and Tom Blyth) reunite each summer for an international vacation.
From our review:
If you make it to the end of “People We Meet on Vacation” — a movie that once would have slipped unremarked among its rom-com brethren on Lifetime — you will experience exactly the ending you expect. For fans of the movie’s source material (Emily Henry’s 2021 novel of the same name), that’s the good news; the bad news is the mountain of cliché you have to scale to get there.
Watch on Netflix. Read the full review.
A better movie after the disaster.
‘Greenland 2: Migration’
Gerard Butler returns as a man leading his family through a postapocalyptic world in this sequel directed by Ric Roman Waugh.
From our review:
Though this sequel’s brisk plot hits familiar postapocalyptic beats, Waugh strikes them with immense force. … Conversely, Butler is a steady presence, adding poignancy to a spectacle-obsessed film.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Monkey see, monkey kill.
‘Primate’
A rabies-infected chimpanzee goes on a rampage in this gore-fest directed by Johannes Roberts.
From our review:
What we have, in other words, is a movie of simple, silly pleasures, maybe knowingly, but not always. You get that sense even earlier, in the opening scene, when said chimp rips the skin clean off a veterinarian’s skull, and we see flesh, blood, bones and all. Reading the barest logline for this film, directed by Johannes Roberts, is about the same as watching it: chimp crazy, chimp kill.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Powerhouse actors, weak script.
‘My Neighbor Adolf’
A Holocaust survivor (David Hayman) living in Colombia becomes convinced that his new next door neighbor (Udo Kier) is Hitler in this drama directed by Leon Prudovsky.
From our review:
The German actor Udo Kier, whose performances can be both frighteningly intense and wryly funny, is paired with David Hayman, the stalwart Scottish character actor who in turn can morph from steely to vulnerable in the blink of an eye. … While the lead actors are clearly committed, the movie gives them little to do besides exchange verbal invective.
In theaters. Read the full review.
A one-of-a-kind digital nightmare.
‘OBEX’
This indie adventure directed by and starring Albert Birney follows a reclusive tech nerd who enters the world of a mysterious video game to save his dog.
From our review:
The film sparkles with freak show originality, from stop-motion skeletons to humanoid cicadas. It’s enough to distract from an otherwise humdrum redemption epic with all the flat beats of analog gameplay.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Compiled by Kellina Moore.
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