OPENING
Boonie Bears: Time Twist (PG) This Chinese animated film is about a logger (voiced by Paul “Maxx” Rinehart) who must travel through time and space to save his friends. Additional voices by Chris Boike, Patrick Freeman, Joseph S. Lambert, and Olivia Seaton-Hill. (Opens Friday in Dallas)
Brave the Dark (PG-13) This Christian drama stars Nicholas Hamilton as a troubled drama student who’s bailed out of jail by his teacher (Jared Harris). Also with Will Price, Sasha Bhasin, Elise Hudson, and Jamie Harris. (Opens Friday)
The Colors Within (PG) This Japanese anime film yields some great visuals. If only the story were able to match them. It’s about a teenage girl (voiced by Sayu Suzukawa in the Japanese version and Libby Rue in the English-language one) who sees people as colors but cannot perceive her own color. She conceives a crush on another girl (voiced by Akari Takaishi and Kylie McNeill) whose color is the clearest blue and cozies up to her by asking her to join the rock band that she’s forming. The elements of an interesting story are here, with all this taking place at a Catholic school, but somehow it never comes together into something special. Director Naoko Yamada nevertheless conjures some striking visions in pastels to the J-pop music that the movie gives us. Additional voices by Taisei Kido, Eddy Lee, Minako Kotobuki, Maxine Wanderer, Aoi Yuki, and Yui Aragaki. (Opens Friday)
Dune: Part Two (PG-13) Not only a better movie than the first part, this sequel makes the original look better in retrospect. Timothée Chalamet reprises his role as the scion of a fallen family who takes up with revolutionaries to help them overthrow their oppressors, while also wrestling with the widely held belief that he’s the chosen one sent to liberate them. The supporting characters come off as more rounded, and while Chalamet is swallowed up for much of the film, he takes charge unambiguously and disturbingly when he goes full cult leader to rally the natives in their climactic battle. Denis Villeneuve does not disappoint in the movie’s two big set pieces, and the movie says some keen things about the advantages and booby traps of religious faith. The film features great turns by Austin Butler as a shaven-headed psychopathic villain and Zendaya as the love interest who is cruelly betrayed. Also with Rebecca Ferguson, Javier Bardem, Florence Pugh, Dave Bautista, Josh Brolin, Léa Seydoux, Charlotte Rampling, Stellan Skarsgård, Roger Yuan, Babs Olusanmokun, and an uncredited Anya Taylor-Joy. (Re-opens Friday)
Flight Risk (R) Mel Gibson’s thriller stars Mark Wahlberg as a small airplane pilot who turns out to be a mob hitman assigned to kill his fugitive passenger (Topher Grace). Also with Michelle Dockery, Paul Ben-Victor, and Leah Remini. (Opens Friday)
The Girl With the Needle (NR) Trine Dyrholm stars in this Danish historical thriller as the real-life adoption agency worker who murdered hundreds of babies in Copenhagen in the 1910s. Also with Vic Carmen Sonne, Besir Zeciri, Ava Knox Martin, Joachim Fjelstrup, Tessa Hoder, and Ari Alexander. (Opens Friday in Dallas)
Inheritance (R) Phoebe Dynevor stars in this thriller as an American woman who’s caught in a spy plot after learning that her father (Rhys Ifans) is an ex-CIA agent. Also with Clara Baxendale, Kersti Bryan, Byron Clohessy, and Majd Eid. (Opens Friday)
Nickel Boys (PG-13) In this movie adapted from Colson Whitehead’s novel, director RaMell Ross keeps the camera either directly behind the protagonist (Ethan Herisse) or adopting his point of view. The technique works astonishingly well as it tells the story of a Black boy who is sent to a Florida reform school in the 1960s, where he and other Black kids are tortured while the white kids receive relatively cushy treatment. Decades later, the grown-up version of the hero (Daveed Diggs) hears news reports about mass graves at the school and comes forward with his experience. Ross’ approach yields some tremendous visuals, including a “How did they do that?” shot with the boy and his best friend (Brandon Wilson) looking up at a mirrored ceiling. The story of racial injustice echoing through the ages may be somewhat muted, but Ross proves to be quite a bright talent. Also with Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Sam Malone, Najah Bradley, Taraja Ramsess, Hamish Linklater, and Fred Hechinger. (Opens Friday)
Presence (R) Steven Soderbergh adopts a first-person perspective on this fascinating if ultimately unsatisfying horror film about a teenage girl (Callina Liang) who moves into a new house and detects a spiritual presence that she initially believes to be her best friend who committed suicide. The movie is shot in single takes, some of them quite short, separated by black screens. The camera at times seems to be an objective observer but at other times takes the point of view of the ghost. I do wish the film had more on its mind than having the spirit save the heroine from a terrible fate, but the experiment proves to be worth doing. Also with Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan, West Mulholland, Eddy Maday, and Julia Fox. (Opens Friday)
A Real Pain (R) Jesse Eisenberg proves to be the equal of any comedy writer in this movie that he wrote and directed. He portrays a New Yorker who takes his cousin (Kieran Culkin) on a tour of Poland after their Holocaust-surviving grandmother’s recent death. Eisenberg happily cedes the dramatic fireworks to Culkin as a tousle-haired, unemployed, witty, charming man who’s struggling to gain any traction in his life. As a director, Eisenberg moves easily from scene, keeps the story shaggy and episodic, and knows to tone down the hijinks when the tour group reaches Majdanek, a concentration camp site that’s in better condition than most of the others. It’s all worthy of a “l’chaim” over a sturdy Polish beer. Also with Will Sharpe, Daniel Oreskes, Liza Sadovy, Kurt Egyiawan, and Jennifer Grey. (Re-opens Friday)
Sky Force (NR) Akshay Kumar stars in this Indian historical thriller dramatizing the country’s first military air strike during the 1965 Indo-Pakistani War. Also with Veer Pahariya, Sara Ali Khan, Nimrat Kaur, Sharad Kelkar, and Mohit Chauhan. (Opens Friday)
Sunray: Fallen Soldier (NR) Tip Cullen stars in this thriller as a military veteran seeking revenge on the criminal organization responsible for his daughter’s death. Also with Tom Leigh, Luke Solomon, Steven Blades, Nicholas Clarke, Will Bowden, and Daniel Davids. (Opens Friday in Dallas)
Theatre of Thought (NR) Werner Herzog’s documentary examines the human brain. (Opens Friday in Dallas)
Vermiglio (R) Maura Delpero’s historical thriller is about an Italian soldier (Giuseppe de Domenico) who deserts the army during World War II and arrives in a remote Alpine village. Also with Tomasso Ragno, Martina Scrinzi, Roberta Rovelli, Carlotta Gamba, Orietta Notari, and Santiago Fondevila. (Opens Friday in Dallas)
NOW PLAYING
Anora (R) This wild sex comedy won the Golden Palm at Cannes, and is it ever a blast. Mikey Madison plays a Russian-speaking stripper in New York City who’s introduced to a Russian oligarch’s 21-year-old son (Mark Eydelshteyn), who becomes so infatuated with her that he proposes marriage to her so that he won’t have to return to Russia. Writer-director Sean Baker displays some old-school filmmaking chops to go with his oft-remarked-on non-judgmental view of the sex trade, and he executes a great comic set piece where the oligarch’s goons are reduced to helplessness by this tiny woman who’s throwing heavy glass ornaments. I don’t buy the idea that the stripper actually falls in love with her new husband, or that he might ever stand up to the parents who are paying for his partying. Yura Borisov puts in a nicely turned performance as a Russian thug who’s the only man who tries to treat Anora decently, and Madison looks like a new star. Also with Karren Karagulian, Vache Tovmasyan, Vincent Radwinsky, Darya Ekamasova, and Aleksey Serebryakov.
Autumn and the Black Jaguar (PG) This kids’ film stars Lumi Pollack as a 14-year-old girl who returns to a jungle village in the Amazon where she once spent time. Also with Emily Bett Rickards, Wayne Charles Baker, Paul Greene, Kelly Hope Taylor, Airam Camacho, and Eva Avila.
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.
Better Man (R) Having a walking, talking, singing, dancing CGI monkey portray Robbie Williams helps distinguish this from the herd of music biopics. The monkey (whose voice is done by Williams and whose movements are by mocap actor Jonno Davies) shoots up drugs, has sex with groupies, and pulls superhuman dance moves as the movie tells the story of Williams’ life from a 15-year-old member of the boy band Take That to a solo music superstar and “narcissistic, punchable, shit-eating twat,” as Williams describes himself. The movie does commit to the bit and features a great epic dance number on Regent Street to “Rock DJ.” One wishes that the film went deeper than the usual cliches about famous people becoming hooked on the temptations of fame, but this is still so much more interesting than most music biopics. Also with Steve Pemberton, Alison Steadman, Raechelle Banno, Kate Mulvany, Frazer Hadfield, Damon Herriman, Tom Budge, Jake Simmance, and Chris Gun.
The Brutalist (R) The longest of all this year’s Oscar contenders is Brady Corbet’s epic starring Adrien Brody as a Hungarian Jewish architect who immigrates to Philadelphia after World War II. The first half of this movie rather cruises on the strength of its acting, writing, and direction, with Corbet generating some great visuals like the overhead shot of a trainwreck. The film only crystallizes, imperfectly but well enough, in its second half, when the protagonist’s benefactor (Guy Pearce) does something really horrible in the streets of Italy that makes us question everything we’ve come to know about the character. Pearce gives the performance of his career, and the film goes from being about an uncompromising artist into something unique. The film’s 3 hour and 35 minute running time includes a 15-minute intermission, which you will need. Also with Felicity Jones, Raffey Cassidy, Joe Alwyn, Stacy Martin, Isaach de Bankolé, Emma Laird, Ariane Labed, and Alessandro Nivola.
A Complete Unknown (R) The Walk Hard version of Bob Dylan’s life stars Timothée Chalamet as the singer-songwriter during the years 1961-65. Chalamet does a worthy impression of the man whether he’s singing or acting like a jerk in pursuit of his art, and the movie has other terrific musical performances by Monica Barbaro (as Joan Baez), Edward Norton (as Pete Seeger), and Boyd Holbrook (as Johnny Cash). The movie’s depiction of Dylan’s electric performance at the Newport Folk Festival is well-captured as well, with the folk purists throwing garbage on the stage, but the movie can’t convince us in the 2020s that this is any more than a tempest in a teacup. Other movies have done better at puncturing folkie pretensions or the conventions of music biopics. You might as well buy a greatest-hits album or this movie’s soundtrack than buy a ticket. Also with Elle Fanning, Scoot McNairy, Eriko Hatsune, Dan Fogler, Joe Tippett, Andy Talen, P.J. Byrne, and Norbert Leo Butz.
Conclave (PG) They really should make more movies about electing a pope. Ralph Fiennes portrays a Catholic cardinal who’s tasked with running the election for a new pontiff after the previous one passes away. Director Edward Berger (All Quiet on the Western Front) revels in the little details about this infrequent occasion, and the script pretty faithfully follows Robert Harris’ novel with its artfully placed bombshells. The supporting characters are nicely acted by the supporting cast, and Fiennes is in excellent form as a man full of private religious doubts while performing this administrative duty. The setting is so faithfully re-created that you’ll swear the filmmakers snuck the actors and cameras into the Vatican itself. This is the year’s best Christian film, and its best political thriller. Also with Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, Lucian Msamati, Sergio Castellitto, Brían F. O’Byrne, Jacek Koman, Carlos Diehz, Merab Ninidze, and Isabella Rossellini. (Re-opens Friday)
Daaku Maharaaj (NR) Nandamuri Balakrishna stars in this Indian thriller as a criminal who battles more powerful criminals in a bid to become self-sufficient. Also with Bobby Deol, Urvashi Rautela, Shraddha Srinath, Ronit Roy, and Prakash Raj.
Den of Thieves 2: Pantera (R) Like one of Michael Mann’s films, if everything about it sucked. Gerard Butler reprises his role as a cop who goes to Antwerp, ostensibly on vacation but really to hook up with the outlaw (O’Shea Jackson Jr.) who got away from him and a bunch of Serbs to rob the World Diamond Center of $800 million in stones. The heist itself and the aftermath of it take up the last half hour or so of the movie, but everything leading up to it is a slog as the would-be robbers case the joint and fabricate cover identities to get in. Writer-director Christian Gudegast mistakes heaviness and humorlessness for gravity. Also with Evin Ahmad, Salvatore Esposito, Orli Shuka, Nazmiye Oral, Cristian Solimeno, Mark Grosy, Dino Kelly, Fortunato Cerlino, and Stéphane Coulon.
Flow (PG) In this dialogue-free animated film from Latvia, an apocalyptic event has destroyed all human life, and a cat finds that it has to work with a Labrador retriever, a lemur, a capybara, and a secretary bird to survive. Never mind that these animals live in different parts of the world, we’re assuming that global warming has brought them together as well as creating the flood conditions that threaten all of them. I’m less convinced by the part where the animals figure out how to steer a boat through the rising waters. Director Gints Zilbalodis comes up with some breathtaking vistas as the animals make their way through the wreckage of human civilization, including a Roman-style mountain city whose streets the animals paddle through. For all that, I think The WIld Robot covered the same ground more effectively.
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.
Grand Theft Hamlet (R) The race for the best documentary of 2025 gets off to a flying start with this. Sam Crane and Mark Oosterveen were unemployed actors during Britain’s Covid lockdown in 2021, and when they found an outdoor amphitheater in the world of Grand Theft Auto, they conceived the idea of staging a performance of Shakespeare’s Hamlet within the video game. The film is directed by Crane and his wife Pinny Grylls, who started playing the game herself to take part in the theater production. The movie is less good about the obsessive personalities involved with this kind of project, but much better about how the players use the video game to make a production that would be much more difficult in another medium. The scene with Hamlet meeting his father’s ghost on top of the blimp is truly breathtaking, and the bits punctuated with video-game violence are quite funny. The film is a tribute to the creativity of gamers and theater nerds.
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.
The Last Showgirl (R) Pamela Anderson finally gives a real performance in this indie drama as a Las Vegas showgirl who has to ponder her next step after her show closes down following a 38-year run on the Strip. As always with Gia Coppola’s movies, this one has lots of atmosphere and fatally little as far as plot goes, and Kate Gersten’s script makes the mistake of positing those old-school Vegas entertainments as an art form that we’re losing to sleazy shows that prioritize sex. Better stuff comes from the main character’s attempt to reconcile with her estranged college-age daughter (Billie Lourd). The Baywatch star isn’t always good, but she is never less than committed to the role and hits some good notes. It’s better late than never that she shows this side of herself. Also with Kiernan Shipka, Brenda Song, Dave Bautista, Jason Schwartzman, and Jamie Lee Curtis.
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.
Nosferatu (R) Robert Eggers’ remake of F.W. Murnau’s 1922 silent classic is lustrously beautiful and faithful to a fault. Like the original, it takes place in a fictitious city on the Prussian seacoast in the early 19th century, where a real estate agent (Nicholas Hoult) is lured to Transylvania by a count (Bill Skarsgård) who wants to feast on the blood of the man’s wife (Lily-Rose Depp). The urban setting is new for Eggers’ horror films, and he and cinematographer Jarin Blaschke take full advantage of it for pictorial beauty, while composer Robin Carolan contributes a properly eerie score. Depp creates a scary scene when she starts to have full-body convulsions while somehow remaining lucid as she accuses her husband of prioritizing his career over her. Yet there’s too little of all of Eggers’ strengths as a horror filmmaker, and after more than 100 years of vampire lore, this movie doesn’t do enough that’s new. Also with Willem Dafoe, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ralph Ineson, Emma Corrin, and Simon McBurney.
One of Them Days (R) Keke Palmer and SZA make a capable comedy team in this film that occasionally catches a groove. They portray two women in L.A. who are hard up when one’s boyfriend blows their rent money, so they have nine hours to come up with $1,500 or face eviction. Despite the clock that these characters are on, I really wish director Lawrence Lamont had generated a sense of the time crunch and increasing desperation as the hours go by. Still, the movie has a white woman (Maude Apatow) who moves into this Black apartment complex as part of the gentrification process, and when the women try to take out a payday loan, everything about the business is funny, from the 1,900 percent interest rate to the homeless man (Katt Williams) who begs customers not to take the loan. Also with Vanessa Bell Calloway, Patrick Cage, Joshua David Neal, Gabrielle Dennis, Janelle James, Amin Joseph, Aziza Scott, Dewayne Perkins, Rizi Timane, and Lil Rel Howery.
The Room Next Door (PG-13) Pedro Almodóvar’s first feature in English is rather underwhelming, to be perfectly honest. Adapted from Sigrid Nunez’ novel, the movie stars Julianne Moore as a New York journalist whose ex-colleague (Tilda Swinton) has terminal cancer and requests that her presence when she commits suicide at a rented house upstate. The performances by the two lead actresses are worthy of them without transcending the material, and the movie has all those lush colors that you expect from an Almodóvar film, but the story winds up not coming to all that much. English-speaking filmmakers without Almodóvar’s pedigree have made more effective tearjerkers recently. Also with John Turturro, Juan Diego Botto, Raúl Arévalo, Alvise Rigo, Melina Matthews, and Alessandro Nivola.
Sankranthiki Vasthunam (NR) This Indian cop thriller stars Venkatesh as a detective called out of retirement to solve the kidnapping of a wealthy tech mogul. Also with Meenakshi Chaudhary, Aishwarya Rajesh, Avasarala Srinivas, Upendra Limaye, Sai Kumar, and Naresh.
September 5 (R) This almost completely anonymous thriller is about an ABC Sports crew headed by Roone Arledge (Peter Sarsgaard) who are in Munich covering the 1972 Summer Olympics when they receive word about Arab terrorists taking 11 Israeli athletes hostage. Director Tim Fehlbaum sticks with the control room and the camera crew, and it renders the drama so dry as to be indigestible. The movie is taken up with discussions of journalistic ethics, and the procedural elements of how the reporters get the story fail to engage a lay audience. The film is so grim and serious-minded that the issues behind the Olympic terror attack can’t gain any traction. Munich this isn’t. Also with John Magaro, Ben Chaplin, Leonie Benesch, Zinedine Soualem, Corey Johnson, Georgina Rich, Marcus Rutherford, Daniel Adeosun, and Benjamin Walker.
Sing Sing (R) Good enough to make you wish it had been better. Colman Domingo stars in this drama as an upstate New York prison inmate who runs a theater program for his fellow inmates while also being a jailhouse lawyer and working for free on his fellow inmates’ appeals. The story of the performing arts helping prisoners achieve individuality and dignity in a place that’s designed to rob them of those things should be uplifting, and yet Greg Kwedar’s film stubbornly refuses to budge because it’s so tied down to feel-good formulas. The film is worth seeing for the performances by Domingo and Clarence Maclin as a hard case who takes to Shakespeare, but too much of the movie glosses over the harsh realities of life in prison. Also with Johnny Simmons, Brent Buell, Sean San Jose, Sean “Dino” Johnson, Mosi Eagle, David “Dap” Giraudy, Patrick “Preme” Griffin, James “Big E” Williams, and Paul Raci. (Re-opens Friday)
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.
The Substance (R) The culmination of Demi Moore’s career. She stars as an aging Hollywood star who receives word of a black-market beauty product and uses it to transform into a younger, hotter self (Margaret Qualley). French writer-director Coralie Fargeat (Revenge) keeps both actresses naked for much of the time as a way of illustrating that while our protagonist has a physique that many 60-year-olds would envy, she can’t resist wanting to stay in the younger body. Qualley, who usually plays self-possessed types, comes memorably unhinged as she takes out her rage on her older alter ego, and Moore also seems to be tapping into a deep well of anger as she turns into a reclusive monster full of anger at herself and the culture that leaves her behind. It all plays like David Cronenberg meets The Picture of Dorian Gray from a female perspective, and that’s something we haven’t seen. Also with Dennis Quaid, Oscar Lesage, Hugo Diego Garcia, and Joseph Balderrama. (Re-opens Friday)
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.
Wish You Were Here (PG-13) Julia Stiles’ directing debut is this romantic comedy about a woman (Isabelle Fuhrman) who falls in love with a terminally ill man (Mena Massoud). Also with Jennifer Grey, Jimmie Fails, Jordan Gavaris, Jane Stiles, and Kelsey Grammer.
Wolf Man (R) Leigh Whannell’s follow-up to his remake of Invisible Man unfortunately falls short of that movie’s expectations. This film largely junks the original movie’s story in favor of one with Christopher Abbott portraying a San Francisco writer who brings his wife and daughter (Julia Garner and Matilda Firth) to his father’s remote cabin in the Oregon wilderness to go through his things, when the family are attacked — and scratched, in the father’s case — and the father starts transforming into a wild beast. The adult leads give their parts everything they have, but Whannell regrettably mixes up his metaphors, and the movie fails to become anything more than just another creature feature. Also with Benedict Hardie and Sam Jaeger.
Dallas Exclusives
Alarum (R) Sylvester Stallone and Scott Eastwood star in this thriller as secret agents who are besieged at a remote cabin after stealing a hard drive. Also with Willa Fitzgerald, Mike Colter, Isis Valverde, Anton Narinskiy, Bailey Edwards, and D.W. Moffett.
Los Frikis (R) Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz’ drama based on real events is about a group of 1990s Cuban punk rockers who deliberately infect themselves with AIDS to live off government support. Starring Adria Arjona, Héctor Medina, Eros de la Puente, Jorge Perugorría, Luis Alberto García, Jorge Enrique Caballero, Manuel Alejandro Rodríguez Gomez, Pedro Martínez, and Reiner Díaz.
Porcelain War (R) Brendan Bellomo and Slava Leontyev’s documentary follows Leontyev and two other Ukrainian artists as they serve in the military and also create art during the Russian invasion.
