The joke’s on us.
‘Joker: Folie à Deux’
Directed by Todd Phillips, this crime-thriller-musical follows Joker (Joaquin Phoenix) as he stands trial for murder and falls for Harley Quinn (Lady Gaga) in Arkham Asylum.
From our review:
“Joker: Folie à Deux” is such a dour, unpleasant slog that it is hard to know why it was made or for whom. That’s admittedly nonsensical — it’s for us! — though no more ridiculous than anything in this sequel to “Joker” (2019). … All things considered, and with oodles of money in the offing, a sequel was inevitable even if Phoenix’s sour frown, the movie’s barely-there story, its unrelenting grimness and its commitment to forced eccentricity suggest that no one involved was really stoked to make it.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Critic’s Pick
If this is Oscar bait, we’re hooked.
‘The Outrun’
Saoirse Ronan stars as the alcoholic Rona, who moves to the Orkney Islands off Scotland to heal in this drama directed by Nora Fingscheidt.
From our review:
One might reasonably have expected “The Outrun,” in which Ronan plays a recovering addict desperately hanging onto sobriety, to be a more conventionally brash or hyperbolic role than usual, the kind designed for awards attention. Woman out of control, woman on the road to healing — you know the type. But Ronan is no ordinary actress, and she makes “The Outrun,” which occasionally veers near overdone territory, into a thing of beauty and hard-won joy.
In theaters. Read the full review.
A body-swap movie that could use some switch-ups.
‘It’s What’s Inside’
The night before a wedding, college friends reunite and play a game that allows them to swap bodies in this comedy directed by Greg Jardin.
From our review:
“It’s What’s Inside” plods straightforwardly. Even the twists feel obvious. … Some of the fault is in the casting; while half of the actors give performances that are fun and quirky, the others feel as though they’re reading lines, and not particularly well. A little of it is also in a self-consciously showy filmmaking style (weird lighting, fast cutting, freeze-framing) that doesn’t add anything to the film. At times, it distracts, or maybe subtracts. But the roughest thing about “It’s What’s Inside” is that it simply misses what makes body-swapping movies fun. There’s little humor to be found in juxtaposition here.
Watch on Netflix. Read the full review.
A bully learns his (history) lesson.
‘White Bird’
After his first day at a new school, a boy (Bryce Gheisar) with a history of bullying classmates sits down with his grandmother (Helen Mirren), who tells him about her girlhood in France during the Nazi occupation.
From our review:
The director, Marc Forster, sets the period action in Movie France, a France whose language is English — English that is spoken by some actors with a French accent, and by others in a British accent. Period detail is conveyed by way of smoothed-out production design and cinematography. One could argue that Forster and company calibrate their anodyne effects to make a Holocaust narrative that’s palatable for younger viewers. But what mostly resonates is a particularly lachrymose brand of show-business hedging.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Melting clocks and minds.
‘Daaaaaalí!’
Quentin Dupieux directs this experimental biopic, in which a young journalist interviews Salvador Dalí — though nothing is quite that simple.
From our review:
Set to a jaunty acoustic score by Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter, “Daaaaaalí!” feels like a dispatch from Dalí’s mind (and that of his old accomplice Luis Buñuel). The film follows a dream logic with scant interest in anything linear. The chronology is askew, frames are played backward; an extended joke becomes the equivalent of a set of infinitely nesting Russian dolls. Dupieux captures Dalí’s self-promoting genius but the constant trickery eventually becomes a little tiresome.
In theaters. Read the full review.
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