OPENING
Allswell in New York (R) This comedy is about three Nuyorican sisters (Liza Colón-Zayas, Elizabeth Rodriguez, and Daphne Rubin-Vega) navigating middle age together. Also with Bobby Cannavale, Felix Solis, Max Casella, and Michael Rispoli. (Opens Friday in Dallas)
Bookworm (NR) The latest film by Ant Timpson (Come to Daddy) is about a girl (Nell Fisher) whose estranged father (Elijah Wood) takes her on a camping trip to find a mythical beast. Also with Morgana O’Reilly, Nikki Si’ulepa, Theo Shakes, and Michael Smiley. (Opens Friday in Dallas)
Carville: Winning Is Everything, Stupid (NR) Matt Tyrnauer’s documentary profiles Democratic political strategist James Carville and his marriage to Republican strategist Mary Matalin. Also with George Stephanopoulos, Mandy Grunwald, Paul Begala, Sidney Blumenthal, Donna Brazile, and Al Sharpton. (Opens Friday in Dallas)
The Cowboy and the Queen (NR) Andrea Nevins’ documentary profiles horse trainer Monty Roberts and his friendship with Queen Elizabeth II of England over their shared love of horses. (Opens Friday in Dallas)
Exhibiting Forgiveness (R) André Holland portrays a successful artist who must reconcile with his father (John Earl Jelks) when he suddenly reappears in his life. Also with Andra Day, Ian Foreman, and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor. (Opens Friday)
Goodrich (R) Michael Keaton stars in this comedy as a man who must raise his young children by himself after his wife enters a rehab program. Also with Mila Kunis, Carmen Ejogo, Poorna Jagannathan, Laura Benanti, Kevin Pollak, and Andie MacDowell. (Opens Friday)
Gracie and Pedro: Pets to the Rescue (NR) This animated film is about a show dog and a stray cat (voiced by Claire Alan and Cory Doran) who must travel across the country after being separated from their family. Additional voices by Bill Nighy, Danny Trejo, Alicia Silverstone, Brooke Shields, Al Franken, and Susan Sarandon. (Opens Friday)
Kensuke’s Kingdom (PG) This British animated film is about a boy (voiced by Aaron McGregor) who is shipwrecked on a deserted island. Additional voices by Cillian Murphy, Sally Hawkins, Raffey Cassidy, and Ken Watanabe. (Opens Friday)
Panda Plan (NR) Jackie Chan stars in this comedy as himself, trying to rescue a panda from kidnappers. Also with Wei Xiang, Shi Ce, Han Yanbo, Andy Friend, Sean Kohnke, and Aleksandra Smirnova. (Opens Friday in Dallas)
Rippy (NR) This Australian comedy stars Tess Haubrich as a sheriff who must stop a kangaroo from tearing the people of her town to shreds. Also with Michael Biehn, Aaron Pedersen, Angie Milliken, Nancy Rizk, Don Bridges, and Mungo McKay. (Opens Friday in Dallas)
Rumours (R) Cate Blanchett stars in this apocalyptic comedy about the leaders at the G7 summit becoming lost in a forest in Germany. Also with Charles Dance, Denis Ménochet, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Roy Dupuis, Takehiro Hira, Rolando Ravello, and Alicia Vikander. (Opens Friday)
The Sisters (NR) This Vietnamese horror film takes place in a remote village where the dead start coming back to life. Starring Quốc Cường, Ngô Hải Nam, Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Hiệp, Thuý Diễm, Rima Thanh Vy, and Lam Thanh My. (Opens Friday at AMC Parks at Arlington)
Stand by Me (NR) Not the 1986 teen movie, this Chinese drama is about two orphaned boys who meet by chance and form a lifelong friendship. Starring Karry Wang, Deng Jiajia, Guan Zi Xie, Pan Bin Long, Chen Yong Sheng, and Chi Xing Kai. (Opens Friday at AMC Grapevine Mills)
NOW PLAYING
Am I Racist? (PG-13) Matt Walsh stars in Justin Folk’s documentary about DEI practices.
The Apprentice (R) Neither the movie that Trump-lovers or Trump-haters will want, this isn’t much of anything at all. Sebastian Stan portrays young Donald Trump in the 1970s through the 1980s as he’s mentored in the way of public relations by cobra-like lawyer Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong). The central relationship isn’t colored in well enough to shed much light on Trump and his continuing hold on one major political party and millions of voters. Maria Bakalova is inspired casting as Ivana Trump, but she flits in and out of the proceedings with so little logic that it makes little impact when Donald rapes her. Director Ali Abbasi (Border) captures the decadent atmosphere of 1980s New York well enough, but the movie struggles so much to be evenhanded that it winds up with no point of view, only concepts of a plan. Also with Martin Donovan, Catherine McNally, Charlie Carrick, and Mark Rendall.
Average Joe (PG-13) Eric Close stars in this Christian drama as a Marine-turned-high school football coach who fights to preserve his team’s right to pray. Also with Amy Acker, Paul Rae, Austin Woods, Annabelle Holloway, Andrea Figliomeni, and Liam Montgomery.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (PG-13) Oddly comforting. Among many reprising their roles from Tim Burton’s 1988 film, Winona Ryder plays the grown-up Lydia Deetz who’s back in Connecticut to go through her deceased father’s things when her teenage daughter (Jenna Ortega) gets dragged into the afterlife, and Lydia has to enlist Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton) to get her back. There are even more subplots that cause this movie to run all over the place, although tight plotting was never what we went to Burton’s movies for. None of the actors in this heavyweight cast seem to quite bring their best, either, but the macabre comedy bits hit at an agreeable pace, especially with the waiting room for dead people and a flashback that parodies Mario Bava’s 1960s horror movies. It’s enough to make this return trip to Burton’s old stomping grounds worth taking. Also with Catherine O’Hara, Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci, Arthur Conti, Santiago Cabrera, Amy Nuttall, Danny DeVito, and Willem Dafoe.
Blink (PG) When the Pelletier family of Montreal found out that three of their four small children would eventually lose their eyesight to retinitis pigmentosa, they spent a year traveling around the world so that their kids could swim in the Amazon, hike in the Himalayas, and see giraffes in Namibia. This documentary by Daniel Roher and Edmund Stenson follows them on their trip. The family are not staying in five-star accommodations, and yet I can’t help thinking that it sure is nice to have the financial means to give these children such an experience. Even so, the directors and cinematographer Jean-Sébastien Francoeur shoot some magnificent visuals for this Disney/National Geographic film, and the interviews with the parents and kids yield some moving details about having an expiration date on one of one’s senses.
Chhakka Panja 5 (NR) In this fifth film in the Nepali comedy franchise, the king is forced to leave the country by his marital woes. Starring Deepak Raj Giri, Kedar Prasad Gimire, and Barsha Siwakoti.
Deadpool & Wolverine (R) The partnership of Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman has been teased for so long, it would have been easy for the thing to disappoint. Fortunately, Jackman’s eternally grumpy Wolverine and Reynolds’ Deadpool with his psychological need to make a joke out of everything is comedy gold. Deadpool has to save his world from annihilation, so he teams up with the worst version of Wolverine and goes to The Void, a funny dystopia where superheroes past are banished because their storylines never got resolved. It may not add up to great art, but it is very funny. Also with Emma Corrin, Morena Baccarin, Karan Soni, Matthew Macfadyen, Leslie Uggams, Brianna Hildebrand, Dafne Keen, Tyler Mane, Ray Park, Aaron Stanford, Henry Cavill, Jon Favreau, Jennifer Garner, Wesley Snipes, Channing Tatum, and Chris Evans. Voices by Stefan Kapicic, Nathan Fillion, Blake Lively, and Matthew McConaughey.
Devara: Part 1 (NR) N.T. Rama Rao Jr. stars in this Indian epic about a sailor and his son who protect India against its enemies. Also with Saif Ali Khan, Janhvi Kapoor, Shruti Marathe, Prakash Raj, Srikanth, and Murali Sharma.
I, the Executioner (NR) A huge hit in South Korea, this action-comedy by Ryoo Seung-wan (Escape from Mogadishu) stars Hwang Jung-min as a police detective trying to bring down a mob boss protected by a wealthy family. Also with Jung Hae-in, Jang Yoon-ju, Jin Kyung, Jung Man-sik, Shin Seung-hwan, and Oh Dal-su.
Jigra (NR) Alia Bhatt stars in this Indian action-thriller as a woman who must spring her brother (Vedang Raina) from prison in a foreign country. Also with Aditya Nanda, Sobhita Dhulipala, Manoj Pahwa, Rahul Ravindran, and Akansha Ranjan Kapoor.
Joker: Folie à Deux (R) We don’t appreciate how deeply weird a musical about the Joker is. Joaquin Phoenix returns as Arthur Fleck, who falls in love with a psychotic patient (Lady Gaga) at Arkham while he’s awaiting trial for quintuple homicide. The songs they sing are Broadway and jazz standards, but their performances only rarely carry the emotions in the story, and Lady Gaga’s attempts to turn Harley Quinn into a figure of pathos keep her from being the blazing screen presence from A Star Is Born. Writer-director Todd Phillips stages the numbers competently but without the proper flair or any sense that they’re emanating from two disintegrating minds. The movie demonstrates some glints of awareness as to why people hated the first Joker, but only glints. That’s why it earns a half-measure of redemption, but only a half-measure. Also with Brendan Gleeson, Zazie Beetz, Harry Lawtey, Leigh Gill, Ken Leung, Jacob Lofland, Bill Smitrovich, Connor Storrie, Steve Coogan, and Catherine Keener.
Lubber Pandhu (NR) This Indian sports movie stars Harish Kalyan and Attakathi Dinesh as local cricket stars whose rivalry spans years. Also with Swasika, Sanjana Krishnamoorthy, Kaali Venkat, Bala Saravanan, Devadarshini, Geetha Kailasam, and Jenson Divakar.
My Hero Academia: You’re Next (PG-13) The latest installment of the anime series has the high-school class battling a mob family. Voices by Kenta Miyake, Christopher Sabat, Mamoru Miyano, Mauricio Ortiz-Segura, Meru Nukumi, Anna Scervino, Yȗki Kaji, and Daiki Yamashita.
Never Let Go (R) Halle Berry stars in this horror film as a mother who’s raising her two young sons (Anthony B. Jenkins and Percy Daggs IV) off the grid in a remote cabin after an apocalyptic event, except that the boys are now old enough to wonder whether Momma might just be delusional, especially since she’s the only one who seems able to see the evil that she claims is out there in the woods. Director Alexandre Aja (Crawl) keeps things moving and Daggs is particularly good as the youngest and most skeptical son, but the writers try to have it too many different ways when the movie ends. Lee Daniels’ The Deliverance is another current movie about an unstable Black mother, and while it’s a lot messier than this, it’s the better movie because it touches on more subjects. This claustrophobic exercise is too thin intellectually when you take a step back. Also with William Catlett and Matthew Kevin Anderson.
Piece by Piece (PG) Morgan Neville’s animated documentary chronicles the life and career of Pharrell Williams (who voices himself), with him and his musical collaborators depicted as Lego figures. Additional voices by Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, Gwen Stefani, Justin Timberlake, Busta Rhymes, Pusha T, Daft Punk, and Jay-Z.
Reagan (PG-13) Weird, very weird. This biography of the movie star-turned-40th president of the United States applies a ton of CGI de-aging to Dennis Quaid and to Penelope Ann Miller as Nancy Reagan. That’s not nearly as bizarre as the framing story of a retired KGB agent (Jon Voight) in the present day telling the story of Reagan’s ascent to power. In addition to whitewashing the president’s record on civil rights, AIDS, and propping up dictatorships abroad, the movie also casts hideous studio boss Jack Warner (Kevin Dillon) as a hero of anti-communism. Other than about a thousand dead spots, this movie’s cavalier approach to history is a ton of fun. Also with Mena Suvari, C. Thomas Howell, Justin Chatwin, Amanda Righetti, Xander Berkeley, Lesley-Anne Down, Jennifer O’Neill, Robert Davi, Mark Moses, Nick Searcy, Scott Stapp, and Kevin Sorbo.
Sam and Colby: The Legends of the Paranormal (NR) Colby Brock and Sam Golbach write, direct, and star in this horror-comedy as paranormal investigators. Also with Nate Hardy, Becky Vickers, Jeff MacBurnie, and Chris Roberts.
Saturday Night (R) Jason Reitman too often forgets the punchline in this backstage drama about the chaos leading up to the first episode of Saturday Night Live. Gabriel LaBelle portrays Lorne Michaels as he tries to wrangle an unruly cast and crew while convincing TV executives that his idea about a live comedy show is going to work. Unfortunately, Reitman and Gil Kenan’s script cuts off after the first sketch of the first episode, so we don’t get the glorious moments that made the program into such a hit. Instead, the movie darts from one subplot to another without giving us anything to hold on to. Some of the young cast do worthy impressions of the original Not Ready for Prime Time Players, but this movie is considerably less illuminating than the myriad oral and written histories about the comedy institution. Also with Rachel Sennott, Willem Dafoe, Cooper Hoffman, Cory Michael Smith, Matt Wood, Dylan O’Brien, Ella Hunt, Lamorne Morris, Emily Fairn, Kim Matula, Jon Batiste, Paul Rust, Nicolas Braun, Andrew Barth Feldman, Nicholas Podany, Tommy Dewey, Matthew Rhys, Tracy Letts, Finn Wolfhard, Kaia Gerber, and J.K. Simmons.
Speak No Evil (R) Fine, as long as you’re not expecting it to stick to the 2022 Danish film that it’s based on. This remake is about an American expat family in London who visit a British family in the countryside only to realize that they’re very wrong. James McAvoy is pretty well the right shade of uncomfortable as the British father who bullies both his guests and his 10-year-old mute son (Dan Hough) — his performance generates the queasy feeling that you get when you see a Karen berating a service employee, when you don’t know if intervening might make the situation worse. Still, more interesting stuff in this remake comes with the treatment of the ineffectual American father (Scoot McNairy), who blows two good chances of killing people threatening his family and is full of repressed anger over his family situation. It all makes for a flawed but effective piece of entertainment. Also with Mackenzie Davis, Aisling Franciosi, Alix West Lefler, Motaz Malhees, and Kris Hitchen.
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.
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (PG-13) Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui’s documentary profiles the Hollywood star and his activism following his paralysis in a horse riding accident.
Terrifier 3 (NR) Not near as good as the last movie, I’m afraid. Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton) returns for this Christmas-themed installment to wreak havoc once again on the traumatized heroine (Lauren LaVera). Unlike other horror movie series, this one works better the more the killer is onscreen. Unfortunately, this film spends too much time with the heroine who’s hallucinating about her murdered friends and randomly lashing out at the people around her. Art does kill a department store Santa Claus (Daniel Roebuck), but this movie sorely needed the wit of Terrifier 2. Also with Jason Patric, Elliott Fullam, Antonella Rose, Samantha Scaffidi, Jon Abrahams, and Chris Jericho.
Transformers One (PG) The irreverent tone of this animated origin story is just about right for little kids. Too bad the writing isn’t sharp enough for the grown-ups. The story goes back to when Optimus Prime and Megatron (voiced by Chris Hemsworth and Brian Tyree Henry) are menial labor robots on Cybertron who acquire the power to transform into vehicles just as they discover that their leader (voiced by Jon Hamm) is a fraud who’s actually working for their sworn enemies. Director Josh Cooley (Toy Story 4) makes sure that the thing doesn’t drag and the whole story bears an uncanny resemblance to Lucifer’s rebellion against God, but the thing just isn’t funny or distinctive enough to stick in the mind. Additional voices by Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key, James Remar, Jon Bailey, Steve Buscemi, and Laurence Fishburne.
Vettaiyan (NR) This Tamil-language action-thriller stars Rajinikanth as a Muslim cop. Also with Amitabh Bachchan, Fahadh Faasil, Rana Daggubati, Manju Warrier, Ritika Singh, Rao Ramesh, and Anirudh Ravichander.
Vicky Vidya Ka Woh Wala Video (NR) This Indian comedy set in 1997 is about a newlywed couple (Rajkummar Rao and Triptii Dimri) who try to recover the stolen sex video they made on their honeymoon night. Also with Vijay Raaz, Mallika Sherawat, Mast Ali, Archana Puran Singh, Shehnaaz Gill, Daler Mehndi, and Pawan Singh.
White Bird (PG-13) In this low-energy, Holocaust-themed spinoff of Wonder, the original film’s school bully (Bryce Gheisar) tries to hack it in a new school when his French Jewish grandmother (Helen Mirren) tells him the story of how her younger self (Ariella Glaser) was saved from the Nazis by a polio-crippled boy (Orlando Schwerdt) and his parents on a farm. Despite the talent on display here, the drama is about as washed-out as the movie’s color palette. The filmmakers’ mandate for making this story kid-friendly winds up defanging the genocide. This Holocaust drama doesn’t have the guts to offend, and so it’s indistinguishable from all the others. Also with Gillian Anderson, Olivia Ross, Ishai Golan, and Priya Ghotane.
The Wild Robot (PG) Not as good as the hype, but still good. Chris Sanders’ animated film is about a helper robot (voiced by Lupita Nyong’o) that activates on an island devoid of humans and learns to communicate with the animals. The film is adapted from Peter Brown’s illustrated novel, and the animators do well to translate Brown’s simple drawings into a world of riotous colors and a robot that can change shape depending on the situation. The plot here has the robot having to take care of a baby gosling (voiced by Kit Connor), and on a story level, it doesn’t compare with either WALL-E or Big Hero 6 as a movie about a robot becoming more human by interacting with our world. Additional voices by Pedro Pascal, Mark Hamill, Catherine O’Hara, Matt Berry, Ving Rhames, Stephanie Hsu, and Bill Nighy.
