Vvvvvrooooommm.
‘F1: The Movie’
Brad Pitt stars as a down-and-out racecar driver who lands a second chance in this sports tale directed by Joseph Kosinski.
From our review:
An enjoyably arranged collection of all the visual attractions and narrative clichés that money can buy, “F1” is very simply about the satisfactions of genre cinema and the pleasures of watching attractive characters navigating fast, expensive cars that whine like juiced-up mosquitoes. It’s also about the pleasures of that ultrasmooth performance machine, Brad Pitt.
In theaters. Read the full review.
A campy bonanza that’s surprisingly thoughtful.
‘M3gan 2.0’
When a mysterious new weapon turns up, the killer dancing robot M3gan returns to serve and slay in this action-horror directed by Gerard Johnstone.
From our review:
Watching “M3gan 2.0,” I got the sense someone had done their homework, thinking about the ways that rhetoric about enhancing mankind’s future and creating a better world can, and do, function as a smoke screen for less altruistic ends. Once in a while, I caught myself thinking this movie was more grounded in the reality of A.I. in our world than films like the “Mission: Impossible” series.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Critic’s Pick
Her trauma doesn’t define her — or the film.
‘Sorry, Baby’
Eva Victor wrote, directed and stars in this drama that follows a woman before and after a sexual assault.
From our review:
In “Sorry, Baby,” Victor makes the case that there’s another way to tell stories about bad things, partly by shrugging off moral authority (and sermons) while telling stories about other things. … With sincerity and thoughtfulness, Victor invites you into a rounded world of vibrant, real faces and places that seem like they were there before the movie opens; it’s a modest miracle that when it ends, you don’t want to say goodbye — it sticks, beautifully.
In theaters. Read the full review.
The mother of all toxic relationships.
‘Hot Milk’
Sofia (Emma Mackey) meets a woman who upends her codependent relationship with her disabled mother (Fiona Shaw) in this drama directed by Rebecca Lenkiewicz.
From our review:
Shaw, at the very least, is a hypnotizing and treacherous presence, her seemingly guileless prattle masking deep trauma and cruelty. Mackey, despite flashes of ferocity, feels miscast. Beautiful and angsty, her Sofia doesn’t carry the story’s psychological layers about manipulation and masochism. The film eventually finds its footing, but the journey there might convince you not to care.
In theaters. Read the full review.
A gangster film carving out new territory.
‘Ponyboi’
This crime-thriller follows Ponyboi, an intersex sex worker (played by River Gallo, who also wrote the screenplay) as he navigates the world of New Jersey gangsters.
From our review:
Directed by Esteban Arango, “Ponyboi” mimics the visual style and thematic tropes of pulpy crime noir … What better distillation of old-school manliness than sleazy swagger and neon-lit vendettas? Yet Gallo’s star-making turn pushes back against this version of hypermasculinity, reshaping genre conventions that have privileged rigid gender binaries. Watching Gallo carve out space for Ponyboi is its own kind of powerful assertion.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Royale with too much cheese.
‘Stealing Pulp Fiction’
Two film nerds hatch a plan to steal Quentin Tarantino’s personal copy of “Pulp Fiction” in this homage directed by Danny Turkiewicz.
From our review:
Turkiewicz apes Tarantino’s great film by giving chapter titles to its sections and setting multiple scenes in a diner. These sequences don’t resemble “Pulp Fiction” so much as they do television ads for Chili’s — a locale where you’ll have a better time than watching this utterly misbegotten movie.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Compiled by Kellina Moore.
The post 6 New Movies Our Critics Are Talking About This Week appeared first on New York Times.
