OPENING
Baby John (NR) This Hindi-language remake of the Tamil film Theri is an action thriller about an honest cop (Varun Dhawan) and a crooked politician (Jackie Shroff) who seek revenge on each other. Also with Keerthy Suresh, Wamiqa Gabbi, Zara Zyanna, Rajpal Yadav, Sheeba Chaddha, Diljit Dosanjh, Thaman S, Sanya Malhotra, and Salman Khan. (Opens Wednesday)
Babygirl (R) Halina Reijn’s S&M romance has such a suffocating atmosphere that it isn’t believable for a second. Nicole Kidman portrays a high-powered tech CEO and a married mother of two who nevertheless begins an affair with a considerably younger intern (Harris Dickinson) and discovers the joys of submissiveness. This plays like the stage play being put on by the characters in Clouds of Sils Maria, and despite some admirable performances (especially from Kidman), Reijn makes the movie so hermetic that there isn’t any air in it. Honestly, Nightbitch is the better movie about a frustrated mother who doesn’t know how to ask for what she wants. Also with Antonio Banderas, Esther McGregor, Vaughan Reilly, Victor Slezak, Leslie Silva, and Sophie Wilde. (Opens Wednesday)
The Fire Inside (PG-13) Rachel Morrison’s boxing film is half of a super-conventional sports movie, and then it gets interesting. Ryan Destiny portrays Claressa “T-Rex” Shields, the first American woman to win an Olympic gold medal for boxing. The movie behaves like so many other inspirational dramas up until the point that Claressa wins gold in 2012, then follows her after that as the expected commercial endorsements fail to materialize and she still has trouble paying rent in Flint, Mich., and wonders what all that hard work was for. The performances are fine (especially by Brian Tyree Henry as Claressa’s coach), and Barry Jenkins’ script delves into issues like Claressa’s fight for equal pay for women and her trouble finding agents. The movie takes so long to get there, though. It might have been a great sports movie with some better sense of dramatic proportion. Also with Oluniké Adeliyi, De’Adre Aziza, Jazmin Headley, Teanna Weir, Lanette Ware, Sekhai Smith, Sarah Allen, and Idrissa Sanogo. (Opens Wednesday)
Max (NR) Sudeepa stars in this Kannada-language thriller as a police inspector who must protect his police station on one harrowing night. Also with Varalaxmi Sarathkumar, Samyukta Hornad, Sunil, and Pramod Shetty. (Opens Wednesday at AMC Grapevine Mills)
NOW PLAYING
Bachhala Malli (NR) Allari Naresh stars in this Telugu-language action-thriller. Also with Amritha Aiyer, Hari Teja, Rao Ramesh, Sai Kumar, and Achyuth Kumar.
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (PG) Judy Greer provides the only note of astringency or liveliness in this rote, muddy-looking adaptation of Barbara Robinson’s beloved novel. The treasured character actress stars a full-time mother who takes over directing her church’s Christmas pageant just in time for the neighborhood’s worst-behaved family of kids to assume the main roles. The book was written back in the 1970s, and the movie unfortunately feels trapped in period amber, as the unparented kids’ antics seem too tame by half. The movie’s religious message is muffled amid the family-friendly cutesiness. Also with Pete Holmes, Molly Belle Wright, Beatrice Schneider, Matthew Lamb, Mason D. Nelligan, Essek Moore, Ewan Wood, Kynlee Heiman, Lorelei Olivia Mote, Danielle Hoetmer, Daina Leitold, Stephanie Sy, and Lauren Graham.
Gladiator II (R) Denzel Washington steals the show in Ridley Scott’s sequel to his 2000 Best Picture Oscar winner. Paul Mescal stars as the son of Russell Crowe’s Maximus who swears revenge on Rome after they invade his adopted homeland and kill his wife, and Denzel plays the wealthy owner of gladiators who seeks to use him to bring down the rotting empire. Portraying an ex-slave who plays senators, generals, and Rome’s co-emperor brothers (Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger) against one another, Washington seems to take a caffeine jolt from the fact that he’s not playing The Guy, and his gleeful cynicism punctures the high seriousness that has plagued Scott’s other recent films. The fight sequences, as outlandish as they are, give us a break from the political machinations, and the movie’s jaded attitude seems to fit the current mood. Also with Pedro Pascal, Connie Nielsen, Tim McInnerny, Rory McCann, Lior Raz, Peter Mensah, Matt Lucas, Alexander Karim, Yuval Gonen, and Derek Jacobi.
Homestead (PG-13) Neal McDonough stars in this drama as a military veteran who joins a community of doomsday preppers. Also with Dawn Olivieri, Jesse Hutch, Susan Misner, Currie Graham, Bailey Chase, Kevin Lawson, and Olivia Sanabia.
Kraven the Hunter (R) Strangely uninvolving. Aaron Taylor-Johnson plays the Spider-Man-adjacent supervillain as the son of a Russian mob boss and big-game hunter (Russell Crowe). As a teenager, he’s torn up by a lion on an African safari only to have his life saved by some African potion that also gives him super-hearing, strength, and agility. He runs away from home and devotes himself to murdering bad people on his list. The film has a couple of interesting supervillains (Alessandro Nivola as a guy with bulletproof skin and Christopher Abbott as an assassin who hypnotizes people into killing themselves), and some interesting ideas float around in the script. Yet director J.C. Chandor (Margin Call, All Is Lost) can’t manage the tone properly, so the movie refuses to catch fire despite everything it has going for it. Also with Ariana DeBose, Levi Miller, Billy Barratt, Yuri Kolokolnikov, Murat Seven, and Fred Hechinger.
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim (PG-13) A chance for anime fans to meet Tolkien fans, and not much more. This prequel drawn by Japanese animators is about a heroine named Héra (voiced by Gaia Wise) who has to lead her people during a siege after an incel of a lord (voiced by Luke Pasqualino) who’s proposed as a husband launches a war against her kingdom. It’s strange how neatly this story (which is considerably fleshed out from Tolkien’s genealogies) fits into the template of anime fantasies. There are some neat little story elements, but director Kenji Kamiyama fails to bring much in the way of memorable visuals. The gender flip doesn’t do much, either, and the movie is middling at best compared to other anime films. It still points an intriguing way for future Tolkien movies to go, but it fails to go there itself. Additional voices by Brian Cox, Yazdan Qafouri, Benjamin Wainwright, Lorraine Ashbourne, Shaun Dooley, Laurence Ubong Williams, Michael Wildman, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, and Miranda Otto.
Moana 2 (PG) The backwash hits the Disney animated sequel pretty hard. Auli’i Cravalho returns as the voice of our Polynesian heroine, who’s sent back out on the ocean to reunite her scattered people and meet back up with Maui (voiced by Dwayne Johnson). She’s given a crew this time, but her interactions with them aren’t as interesting as you’d hope for. More grievously, Lin-Manuel Miranda has jumped ship, and new songwriters Emily Bear and Abigail Barlow appear to have been given the assignment too soon. Maui remains the best thing about this sequel, with The Rock getting to wisecrack irreverently and sing the movie’s musical highlight, “Can I Get a Chee Hoo?” The sequel shows flashes of some great ideas like a sea monster that looks like a mountainous island, but those can’t keep this from feeling rote. Additional voices by Temuera Morrison, Rachel House, Rose Matafeo, Hualālai Chung, David Fane, Awhimai Fraser, Khaleesi Lambert-Tsuda, Tofiga Fepulea’i, Alan Tudyk, Jemaine Clement, and Nicole Scherzinger.
Mufasa: The Lion King (PG-13) More interesting, though not necessarily better, than any of Disney’s recent live-action remakes. This prequel shows the young Mufasa (voiced by Aaron Pierre) being orphaned at an early age, taken in by a rival pride, then sent away as a bodyguard to the king’s son (voiced by Kelvin Harrison Jr.), who will betray him and become Scar. Much of the humor comes from the framing story, as Rafiki (voiced by John Kani) narrates the tale along with Timon and Pumbaa (voiced by Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen). We get to see Rafiki prove his mettle as a sage, and Lin-Manuel Miranda’s song for the villainous lion (voiced by Mads Mikkelsen) gratifyingly dings Mufasa’s circle-of-life philosophy. However, director Barry Jenkins seems miscast and uncomfortable with the big climax during an earthquake, and the romantic triangle that drives Mufasa and Scar apart doesn’t land. Still, this seems like a direction Disney should pursue, using these live-action films to continue the animated movies’ stories instead of remaking them. Additional voices by Tiffany Boone, Kagiso Lediga, Preston Nyman, Blue Ivy Carter, Thandiwe Newton, Lennie James, Braelyn Rankins, Theo Somolu, Donald Glover, and Beyoncé.
Red One (PG-13) This Christmas movie starts off well, with a terrific premise. After Santa Claus (J.K. Simmons) is kidnapped by persons unknown two days before Christmas, his head of security (Dwayne Johnson) contacts the blackhat hacker (Chris Evans) who helped the bad guys locate Saint Nick. Their attempts to recover the hostage are filmed like a spy thriller, along with the workings of Santa’s workshop. Kristofer Hivju turns up as Krampus, too. It all goes well for a while, but Johnson is the wrong actor to portray someone who’s jaded underneath his businesslike exterior. Evans, turning up his native Boston accent considerably, fares better as a shady guy who makes wisecracks as he’s dragged across the globe, but the script dampens down the comedy by making him a crappy dad to a teenage boy (Wesley Kimmel). The sleigh ride runs out of power before the movie is halfway through. Also with Lucy Liu, Bonnie Hunt, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, Kiernan Shipka, and Nick Kroll.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (PG) About what you’d expect, and not in a good way. When an evil superpowered hedgehog (voiced by Keanu Reeves) breaks out of his prison on Earth, Sonic and his friends (voiced by Ben Schwartz, Colleen O’Shaughnessey, and Idris Elba) have to do the unthinkable and team up with Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey) to stop him. Unfortunately, the mad scientist betrays them when he’s reunited with his long-lost grandfather (also Carrey). The hedgehogs go to Tokyo and London as part of their fight, but the movie bogs down in so many platitudes about family that it could qualify as an installment in the Fast & Furious franchise. Even the movie’s left turn into a clone of The Shape of Water can’t save it. Also with James Marsden, Tika Sumpter, Lee Majdoub, Adam Pally, Shemar Moore, Natasha Rothwell, Alyla Browne, Tom Butler, Jorma Taccone, and Krysten Ritter.
UI (NR) Upendra directs and stars in this Kannada-language science-fiction thriller about a future colony taken over by a dictator. Also with Sunny Leone, Reeshma Nanaiah, Sadhu Kokila, Jisshu Sengupta, and Murali Sharma.
Wicked (PG) Better than the Broadway hit in some spectacular ways. Cynthia Erivo portrays the future Wicked Witch of the West, who enrolls at a magical school and is forced to room with the future Good Witch of the North (Ariana Grande). This movie only covers the first half of the show and somehow comes off as maximalist rather than bloated. The vocal contributions come from many different places in the cast, with Jeff Goldblum as the Wizard of Oz and Jonathan Bailey showing some springy dance moves in “Dancing Through Life,” performed in front of a rotating bookcase. Grande nails the vibe of a princess with a bitchy “me first” streak, but even she can’t take the spotlight from Erivo. Her skillful handling of the reflective numbers keeps the movie from collapsing, and the climax of “Defying Gravity” blows out the lights in the Emerald City. She doesn’t just sing the showstopper, she is the showstopper. Also with Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater, Marissa Bode, Bowen Yang, Bronwyn James, Andy Nyman, Keala Settle, Kristin Chenoweth, and Idina Menzel.
NOW PLAYING IN DALLAS
Day of the Fight (R) Jack Huston makes his directing debut with this drama about a disgraced boxer (Michael Pitt) who prepares for his first match after serving a prison sentence. Also with Steve Buscemi, John Magaro, Ron Perlman, Nicolette Robinson, Anatol Yusef, and Joe Pesci.
Oh, Canada (NR) Richard Gere stars in Paul Schrader’s drama as a Vietnam War draft dodger who reveals the truth about his life in exile in Canada. Also with Uma Thurman, Jacob Elordi, Victoria Hill, Caroline Dhavernas, Kristine Froseth, Jake Weary, and Michael Imperioli.
