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Daniel Radcliffe tries to buy off Sandra Bullock on their way to "The Lost City." Courtesy Paramount Pictures

OPENING

 

Asking for It (R) Kiersey Clemons stars in this thriller as a rape victim who discovers an all-female gang of vigilantes who hunt down sexual predators. Also with Vanessa Hudgens, Alexandra Shipp, Ezra Miller, Gabourey Sidibe, Radha Mitchell, Casey Cott, and Luke Hemsworth. (Opens Friday at América Cinemas Fort Worth)

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Belfast (PG-13) Kenneth Branagh mines his autobiography for this coming-of-age story, and it’s charming rather than overbearing. His fictional stand-in (Jude Hill) grows up in Northern Ireland in 1969, where sectarian religious violence is forcing his dad (Jamie Dornan) to consider moving the family somewhere out of harm’s way. The young Hill is the real deal whether he’s deconstructing his cousin’s theories about Catholics or staring in awestruck wonder at the movies he watches at the local theater. The cast is mostly from Norn Iron, and Ciarán Hinds is particularly good as an ethically shady but lovable old grandfather. If the climactic confrontation is over-the-top, the film is better when it shows its kids being kids even amid the street uprisings and the turmoil in their homes. This is an appropriate companion piece to Brooklyn. Also with Caitríona Balfe, Lewis McAskie, Josie Walker, Freya Yates, Michael Maloney, Colin Morgan, Mark Hadfield, John Sessions, and Judi Dench. (Re-opens Friday)

Infinite Storm (R) Based on the real-life experience of Pam Bales, this film stars Naomi Watts as a mountain climber who tries to rescue another climber (Billy Howle) on Mt. Washington during a blizzard. Also with Denis O’Hare, Parker Sawyers, Joshua Rollins, and Eliot Sumner. (Opens Friday)

King Richard (PG-13) Serena Williams may be the greatest tennis player who has ever lived, and yet somehow it’s her dad who they make the movie about. Will Smith plays the father who plans to raise his daughters Venus and Serena (Saniyya Sidney and Demi Singleton) to be tennis prodigies even before they’re born. The script labors mightily to distinguish Richard Williams from all the other crazy tennis parents screaming at their kids and turning them into burnout cases, yet the movie can’t stray far enough from the conventions of sports movies. For all the movie’s efforts to paint Richard with flaws and all, it still doesn’t know how to treat him except as a hero. No surprise given that the Williams sisters are producers on this film, but it makes for bad drama. Jon Bernthal pilfers some scenes as a tennis coach who’s also part snake-oil salesman. Also with Aunjanue Ellis, Tony Goldwyn, Kevin Dunn, Rich Sommer, Jimmy Walker Jr., and Dylan McDermott. (Re-opens Friday)

The Lost City (PG-13) The stars are upstaged by the supporting players in this comic adventure-romance that has too little comedy. Sandra Bullock plays a best-selling romance novelist who is kidnapped by a bratty British billionaire (Daniel Radcliffe) because he thinks she knows the location of a buried treasure on an island in the Atlantic that looks like a generic jungle set. The man who poses as a model on the cover of her books (Channing Tatum) pursues them in a mostly ineffectual attempt to rescue her. Radcliffe makes a funny, sputtering villain and Brad Pitt has a great time in a brief cameo as the ultra-manly operative who accompanies the cover model. A comedy about these two going up against each other would have been better than this one that spends too much time going into the characters’ backstories and has too few funny bits from the leads. The film runs out of power way before its ending. Also with Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Patti Harrison, Héctor Anibal, Thomas Forbes Johnson, Oscar Nuñez, Bowen Yang, and Stephen Lang. (Opens Friday)

Nightmare Alley (R) The original 1947 film is really good, and so is Guillermo del Toro’s remake, in a lusher and different vein. Adapted from William Lindsay Gresham’s novel, this stars Bradley Cooper as a con artist who joins a traveling carnival in 1939, learns the tricks of appearing to read minds, strikes out on his own as an entertainer, and becomes entangled with Buffalo’s power elite. This may look too good in the sequences set among the marginal types in the carnival, but Del Toro’s willingness to go in for gore saves his movie from being overly tasteful. The psychological depth here is impressive, with Cooper’s charisma in fearsome form as an abused kid who’s applying his skills at reading people. This tragedy about a man who doesn’t know when to stop builds to a ruthless conclusion that the old film-noir masters would have admired. Also with Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Toni Collette, Richard Jenkins, David Strathairn, Willem Dafoe, Ron Perlman, Mary Steenburgen, Mark Povinelli, Peter MacNeill, Holt McCallany, Jim Beaver, Clifton Collins Jr., and Tim Blake Nelson. (Re-opens Friday)

Parallel Mothers (R) Penélope Cruz gives one of her greatest performances, and once again, it’s for Pedro Almodóvar. She portrays a successful fashion photographer in Madrid who unexpectedly discovers she’s pregnant with her first child and strikes up a friendship in the maternity ward with a teen mother (Milena Smit), then later finds out that the baby girl she took home isn’t hers. This might be Almodóvar’s soapiest film yet, and he creates great tension by cross-cutting between the mothers going about their lives. Still, he leaves a number of extraneous plotlines hanging, with the teenager’s mother (Aitana Sánchez-Gijón) struggling with her acting career and our protagonist’s boyfriend (Israel Elejalde) leading an expedition to uncover Spain’s fascist past. It’s all worth it to see Cruz’ performance as her secrets eventually overtake her, to her shame and grief. Once more, the Spanish master gives us something worth watching. Also with Rossy de Palma, Daniela Santiago, Ainhoa Santamaría, Adelfa Calvo, and Julieta Serrano. (Re-opens Friday)

RRR (NR) Released in Hindi- and Telugu-language versions, this Indian historical thriller stars N.T. Rama Rao Jr. and Ram Charan as revolutionaries in 1920 fighting against the British Raj and Nizam of Hyderabad. Also with Ajay Devgn, Alia Bhatt, Samuthirakani, Shriya Saran, Olivia Morris, Ray Stevenson, and Alison Doody. (Opens Friday)

So Cold the River (R) Paul Shoulberg’s thriller stars Bethany Joy Lenz as a documentary filmmaker whose attempts to track down a local resort’s mysterious benefactor land her in danger. Also with Alysia Reiner, Deanna Dunagan, Andrew J. West, Katie Sarife, and Lucas Bentley. (Opens Friday in Dallas)

The Worst Person in the World (R) Norway’s Oscar contender is a funny study of the terror of being a 30-something woman and still lacking a purpose in life. Renate Reinsve plays the university student who can’t settle on a major or a boyfriend. Director/co-writer Joachim Trier has something of Richard Linklater’s ability to connect with his youthful subjects no matter how old he gets, and he breaks out his directorial tricks to comic effects when our heroine trips on magic mushrooms or a supporting character becomes obsessed with the environmental impact of everything. The quite tall lead actress has a smile to light up the coldest Norwegian winter and also conveys the bewilderment of a top student who’s flailing for direction. She’s matched by Anders Danielsen Lie as an older boyfriend who falls gravely ill, and the final scenes between them are deeply moving. Also with Herbert Nordrum, Maria Grazia Di Meo, Hans Olav Brenner, Vidar Sandem, and Marianne Krogh. (Re-opens Friday)

 

NOW PLAYING

 

Bachchan Pandey (NR) This remake of a 2006 Korean action-comedy stars Akshay Kumar, Kriti Sanon, Jacqueline Fernandez, Arshad Warsi, Pankaj Tripathi, Prateik Babbar, and Sanjay Mishra.

The Batman (PG-13) This reboot’s biggest achievement might just be forcing us to take the Riddler (Paul Dano) seriously as a villain. Robert Pattinson takes over the role of Bruce Wayne as he deals with a villain who murders Gotham’s fantastically corrupt city officials and leaves behind clues and severed body parts. Director/co-writer Matt Reeves does his finest work to date, especially with a great car chase when the Penguin (Colin Farrell, unrecognizable under a prosthetic fat suit) causes a chain-reaction pileup to deter the pursuing Batman. The film has terrific supporting turns from Farrell, John Turturro as an icy mob boss, and Zoë Kravitz as a slinky bisexual Catwoman pursuing a grudge. Still, it’s the Riddler who captures your attention as an incel torturer with a gruesome sense of humor who undermines faith in Gotham’s institutions that makes this a Batman movie for our time. Also with Jeffrey Wright, Andy Serkis, Jayme Lawson, Peter McDonald, Con O’Neill, Alex Ferns, Rupert Penry-Jones, Charlie Carver, Max Carver, Barry Keoghan, and Peter Sarsgaard.

CODA (PG-13) Aside from the casting, there’s nothing particularly ground-breaking about this Oscar-nominated drama, but it sure is charming. Emilia Jones stars as a teenage Child of Deaf Adults (Troy Kotsur and Marlee Matlin) whose talent as a singer gives her a chance to study at the Berklee College of Music. If the irony that our protagonist’s parents will never hear her sing is a bit too easy, writer-director Siân Heder goes easy on the soap, and there’s a great scene when her father places his hands on her neck to feel the vibrations while she sings. Kotsur deserves his Oscar nod as a peppery New England fisherman who swears a lot in sign language, and Jones (a British newcomer who is, in real life, the daughter of a recording star) makes a bright impression as the one hearing member of her family, and her singing voice is worth the hype. This is a remake of the French film La famille belier. Also with Eugenio Derbez, Daniel Durant, John Fiore, Lonnie Farmer, Kevin Chapman, Amy Forsyth, and Ferdia Walsh-Peelo. 

Cyrano (PG-13) This terribly misconceived musical adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac stars Peter Dinklage as the warrior-poet who secretly writes poems to his beloved Roxanne (Haley Bennett) because he thinks she could never love a dwarf. The film’s locations in Sicily look great, but director Joe Wright (Bennett’s husband) botches the musical numbers in every possible way, and he isn’t helped by a bad batch of songs. This is a shame, since Dinklage, Bennett, and Kelvin Harrison Jr. (as the soldier who takes credit for Cyrano’s poems and woos Roxanne in his place) all have pleasurable singing voices. The attempt at re-imagining the story for modern sensibilities fails miserably as well, and Wright’s insistence on pictorial beauty above all else winds up killing the drama. You’re better off watching Steve Martin in Roxanne. Also with Ben Mendelsohn, Monica Dolan, Bashir Salahuddin, Joshua James, Glen Hansard, Peter Wight, and Mark Benton. 

Death on the Nile (PG-13) Kenneth Branagh reprises his role as Hercule Poirot in this slower and somberer follow-up to Murder on the Orient Express. The great detective is on a Nile River cruise trying to solve the murder of a wealthy socialite (Gal Gadot) where the most obvious suspect has an ironclad alibi. The events play out differently than in the Agatha Christie novel, with both the detective and the killer making mistakes that cause more people to die. The director still has trouble accommodating his actors while capturing the story’s compressed time frame, though the deluxe cast still has a number of nice turns. The case winds up having personal stakes for Poirot, and while the conception of him as a traumatized war veteran on the autism spectrum isn’t what Christie wrote, it is undeniably interesting. Also with Armie Hammer, Emma Mackey, Tom Bateman, Sophie Okonedo, Letitia Wright, Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, Rose Leslie, Ali Fazal, Russell Brand, and Annette Bening.

Dog (PG-13) We should give Channing Tatum credit for trying to make a comedy that’s more than just him and a cute dog. At the same time, he’s taken on more than he can handle. The star makes his directing debut (with Reid Carolin as co-director), portraying a traumatized Army Ranger veteran who’s tasked with transporting an even more traumatized war dog from the Pacific Northwest to its handler’s funeral in Arizona. The film wants to be a serious look at PTSD amid its hijinks with the animal tearing up furniture and chasing people. The writers aren’t afraid to portray the soldiers as less than saintly, which leads to the funniest set piece when the main character pretends to be a blind veteran to score himself a nice hotel room. The film also has a fine performance by former pro wrestler Kevin Nash as a veteran who takes care of animals. The material presents tonal challenges that are too much for these filmmakers, but there’s something here. Also with Q’orianka Kilcher, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Nicole LaLiberté, Aqueela Zoll, Ronnie Gene Blevins, and Jane Adams. 

Drive My Car (R) The presumptive front-runner for the foreign film Oscar is this Japanese drama that’s a worthy entry in that country’s tradition of quiet, slow-moving character studies. Hidetoshi Nishijima portrays a theater director who recovers from the sudden death of his cheating wife (Reika Kirishima) by traveling to Hiroshima to direct a multi-lingual production of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya. Based on a story by Haruki Murakami, this epic by Ryusuke Hamaguchi finds much Chekhovian drama in the story of this man in mourning, confiding to his driver (Tōko Miura) on long car trips between the theater and his hotel while wrangling a young actor (Masaki Okada) who was his wife’s lover. Not a minute of this film’s three hours is wasted, as two devastated people find catharsis in great art and the need to make conversation while driving. Also with Jin Dae-yeon, Park Yu-rim, Sonia Yuan, Ahn Hwi-tae, Perry Dizon, Hiroko Matsuda, Satoko Abe, and Toshiaki Inomata. 

Dune (PG-13) This second attempt at adapting Frank Herbert’s mammoth science fiction epic offers a much smoother storytelling experience than David Lynch’s 1984 film. Timothée Chalamet stars as the young prince who’s forced to flee into the desert on an alien planet after his father (Oscar Isaac) is overthrown as the installed governor there. Director/co-writer Denis Villeneuve ends the story well short of the end of the book, which makes the film’s alien cultures and worlds feel more lived-in, but also keeps it from being a satisfying stand-alone film. Villeneuve gives you buckets full of spectacular vistas, and at its best, the film is sublime in the old sense of making you feel small. Too bad he overdoes it, feeling the need to underscore the epic quality of every scene. Whatever intimacy he doesn’t beat out of the story, Hans Zimmer’s music takes care of. Ultimately, this is like a beautifully presented and cleverly conceived restaurant meal that leaves you wanting to hit the nearest McDonald’s afterwards. Also with Rebecca Ferguson, Jason Momoa, Josh Brolin, Zendaya, Stellan Skarsgård, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Chang Chen, Dave Bautista, David Dastmalchian, Golda Rosheuvel, Roger Yuan, Charlotte Rampling, and Javier Bardem.

Gangubai Kathiawadi (NR) Alia Bhatt’s performance is the best thing about this Indian film about a woman who is sold into prostitution in Bombay by her new husband and makes a name for herself by protecting her fellow prostitutes against violent men and eventually winning political office as an advocate for sex workers’ rights. I don’t know about the main character’s stance that prostitution prevents adultery and rape, but this film takes on risky subject matter for Indian audiences, and veteran director Sanjay Leela Bhansali (Padmavaat) packages it smartly for both domestic and foreign crowds. A stately performance by Bhatt as someone who goes from sexual assault victim to community leader anchors this. She also says this to a crooked policeman: “Last time I checked, you were a cop. When did you become a delivery boy?” Also with Shantanu Maheshwari, Vijay Raaz, Jahangir Khan, Anmol Kajani, Indira Tiwari, Seema Pahwa, Huma Qureshi, and Ajay Devgn. 

Jackass Forever (R) These films are becoming more watchable. Is it because the guys are getting older, or because I am? Or maybe their stupid pranks are just what we need to break the ice after two years of pandemic hell? Johnny Knoxville and his crew find new ways to traumatize their brains and their testicles with high explosives, wild animals, mopeds, pig semen, electric stun devices, and basic physics. Some of their students are so disgusting that the cameraman vomits into his face mask. (At last, a solid argument for not masking up.) No meditation on men getting older is likely to be more fun than this. Also with Steve-O, Chris Pontius, Jeff Tremaine, Ehren McGhehey, Dave England, Preston Lacy, Zach Holmes, Rachel Wolfson, Jason “Wee Man” Acuña, Eric André, Francis Ngannou, Tyler the Creator, and Machine Gun Kelly. 

Jujutsu Kaisen 0: The Movie (PG-13) The “0” in the title indicates that this is a prequel to the story outlined in the manga series and its film adaptations. The film is about a boy (voiced by Megumi Ogata) who attends a special school for kids with superpowers, along with the spirit of a girl he loved (voiced by Kana Hanazawa), who haunts and protects him after being killed in a car accident. Some of the flashbacks are too sentimental for the movie’s good (a common failing in these Japanese anime films), but the film makes a good introduction to the environment and the characters that our hero works alongside. Additional voices by Koki Uchiyama, Tomokazu Seki, Yȗichi Nakamura, Marina Inoue, Shin’ichirô Miki, Aya Endô, Kotono Mitsuishi, Takahiro Sakurai, and Satoshi Hino.

The Kashmir Files (NR) A subject of controversy in India, this film based on interviews with survivors of the 1990s exodus of Kashmiri Hindus stars Darshan Kumar, Mithun Chakraborty, Pallavi Joshi, Chinmay Mandlekar, Atul Srivastra, and Anupam Kher. 

Marry Me (PG-13) The hell is this? Jennifer Lopez stars in this romantic comedy as a pop star who is publicly cheated on by her pop-star boyfriend (Maluma), so she gets back at him by marrying a random dude (Owen Wilson) whom she meets at one of her concerts. ‘Cause that happens all the time. The movie has no insight on managing a sham relationship in the glare of social media or how that impacts his life as a math teacher. The only truly surprising thing here is that the movie ends with her helping his students win a math contest. Kat Coiro directs this listlessly. If this is the movie that’s meant to save the romantic comedy, the genre can stay dead. Also with Sarah Silverman, Utkarsh Ambudkar, John Bradley, Chloe Coleman, and Michelle Buteau. 

Moonfall (PG-13) The Moon threatens to crash into the Earth in the latest disaster movie by Roland Emmerich (Independence Day), and the people behave so stupidly that you’re rooting for the Moon. The newly promoted NASA director (Halle Berry), a disgraced former astronaut (Patrick Wilson), and a crackpot science nerd who thinks the Moon is a hollow structure built by aliens (John Bradley) are the team that take it upon themselves to save the world. The only thing worse than the science is the complete lack of jokes that work. The filmmakers are afraid to guy the insane premise for humor, and the action is clotted up with bad dialogue about why the characters are doing everything they’re doing. If this had come out in the mid-1990s, maybe the audiences would have cottoned to it. Then again, maybe not. Also with Michael Peña, Charlie Plummer, Carolina Bartczak, Chris Sandiford, Jonathan Maxwell Silver, Eme Ikwuakor, Stephen Bogaert, and Donald Sutherland. 

The Outfit (R) A great solo showcase for Mark Rylance, this taut British thriller stars him as a Londoner who has his own tailor shop in Chicago in 1956 that also doubles as a drop location for the mob. One night, when the mob boss’ son (Dylan O’Brien) is brought in with a bullet in his side, our unnamed protagonist has to spend a frantic night trying to avoid being killed by the thugs doing business in his shop. But for the violence at the end, this could easily be a stage play, with everything taking place in that shop. The supporting cast is tremendous — even O’Brien is impressive as a dapper young mobster — but no one steals the spotlight from Rylance as a guy who maneuvers as delicately as he cuts his suits. The film cuts cannily against its lead actor’s image as a decent guy. This is the directing debut of screenwriter Graham Moore, who is perhaps too much in love with his plot twists but has some definite talent. Also with Zoey Deutch, Johnny Flynn, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Alan Mehdizadeh, and Simon McBurney.

Scream (R) One of the characters here says she prefers elevated horror movies like The Babadook to slasher flicks, and this first installment of the series without Wes Craven will make you share her preference. Melissa Barrera plays a reformed drug addict and daughter of one of the killers from the original film, who returns to Woodsboro after her sister (Jenna Ortega) is attacked by another Ghostface. She recruits the survivors from the series (Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, and David Arquette) to help her live through the experience. The filmmaking team calling themselves Radio Silence take over this, and they’re funnier when they’re doing their own material like they did in Ready or Not. The film is plagued by the same flaws of its predecessors: pseudo-cleverness, long-winded dialogue, and snark without wit. Also with Dylan Minnette, Jack Quaid, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mason Gooding, Mikey Madison, Sonia Ammar, Kyle Gallner, Marley Shelton, Heather Matarazzo, and Skeet Ulrich. 

Sing 2 (PG) An improvement on the original, in the sense that drilling a hole in a tooth is an improvement on a root canal. Buster Moon (voiced by Matthew McConaughey) takes the gang to the big-time, playing the biggest theater in the entertainment capital of this animal world that we’re in. Only problem is, he promises to coax a bitter, reclusive former music star (voiced by Bono) out of retirement for the show without knowing whether it’s possible. The characters from the original all have their own subplots, and the sequel introduces a thuggish entertainment mogul (voiced by Bobby Cannavale) and his spoiled daughter (voiced by Halsey) who horns her way into the show. These have potential, but they all play out in disappointing ways, and there aren’t any memorable musical performances like the first movie had. Additional voices by Scarlett Johansson, Reese Witherspoon, Taron Egerton, Tori Kelly, Nick Kroll, Garth Jennings, Jennifer Saunders, Chelsea Peretti, Nick Offerman, Eric André, Letitia Wright, Pharrell Williams, Edgar Wright, and Wes Anderson. 

Spider-Man: No Way Home (PG-13) Fanservice done more or less right, this movie has Peter Parker (Tom Holland) trying to reverse time and instead creating portals to parallel universes where villains from other Spider-Man movies (Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina, Thomas Haden Church, Rhys Ifans, and Jamie Foxx) line up to fight him before realizing that he’s not the same Spider-Man that they faced earlier. The real reason they’re all brought together is so that all these great actors can get in the same room and bitch at each other, which they do to great comic effect. Peter does indeed pay a heavy price for messing with the time-space continuum, and if the storytelling only occasionally reaches the heights of Into the Spider-Verse, it does retcon some fixes for the previous movies about the web-slinger. Not a bad trick to make its predecessors seem worthier in retrospect. Also with Marisa Tomei, Benedict Cumberbatch, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Jon Favreau, Tony Revolori, Hannibal Buress, J.B. Smoove, Martin Starr, Angourie Rice, Benedict Wong, Charlie Cox, J.K. Simmons, Andrew Garfield, Tobey Maguire, and an uncredited Tom Hardy.

Umma (PG-13) This horror film stars Sandra Oh as an American farmer who has supernatural encounters after her estranged mother’s remains are shipped to her from South Korea. Also with Odeya Rush, Fivel Stewart, Tom Yi, and Dermot Mulroney. 

Uncharted (PG-13) Tom Holland’s lightness is about the only thing that keeps this action-adventure film watchable. He portrays a bartender and amateur treasure hunter who is recruited by an older man (Mark Wahlberg) who believes he possesses the key to finding a lost Spanish treasure. Based on the video game series of the same name, the film feels like it was cobbled together from rejected bits of the National Treasure and Pirates of the Caribbean films. Director Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland) can at least cobble with some skill, but the whole affair feels half-assed. The only bit that brings a smile to your face is Holland showing off some flair tricks behind the bar. Also with Antonio Banderas, Sophia Ali, Tati Gabrielle, Steven Waddington, Tiernan Jones, Rudy Pankow, and Pilou Asbæk. 

West Side Story (PG-13) The 1961 film of the musical won the Best Picture Oscar, but Steven Spielberg’s version is better, not least because it makes plenty of changes. Screenwriter Tony Kushner considerably fleshes out the supporting characters, and the propulsive force of Leonard Bernstein’s music forces the director to keep things moving. The fatal rumble takes place in a warehouse amid giant piles of salt, and “Cool” is staged (by choreographer Justin Peck) as Tony (Ansel Elgort) trying to keep a gun away from the other Jets. Elgort’s dancing makes Tony seem like a special guy in this neighborhood, Rachel Zegler (as Maria) displays operatic range, Ariana DeBose (as Anita) almost steals the film away, and Mike Faist (as Riff) makes the character into something hard and unforgettable. This classic is made new for our sensibilities. Also with David Alvarez, Corey Stoll, Brian d’Arcy James, Iris Menas, Josh Andrés Rivera, Paloma Garcia-Lee, Mike Iveson, and Rita Moreno.

X (R) Ti West does some of his best work in this trashy horror film about a Houston strip club owner (Martin Henderson) who takes a crew of actors and filmmakers to rural south Texas in 1979 to make their own porn film. They rent a boarding house at a ranch without telling the elderly owners (Stephen Ure and Mia Goth, both under heavy old-age makeup) what they’re doing, which turns out to be a big mistake. West indulges in some horror-movie tropes so old that you think he’s trolling us, as well as some ostentatious displays of technique. Still, he delivers some great slow-burn thrills like one where one of the young actresses (Goth again) is stalked by an alligator while skinny dipping in a pond. Goth does tremendous work in her double role as well. See this film in some low-rent theater with sticky floors to fully appreciate its disreputable thrills. Also with Kid Cudi, Brittany Snow, Owen Campbell, James Gaylyn, Simon Prast, and Jenna Ortega.

 

DALLAS EXCLUSIVES

After Yang (PG) The YouTube vlogger known only as Kogonada directs his second film about a future family trying to cope with the sudden loss of their AI helper. Starring Colin Farrell, Jodie Turner-Smith, Malea Emma Tjandrawidjaja, Haley Lu Richardson, Ritchie Coster, Sarita Choudhury, and Clifton Collins Jr. 

Alice (R) Keke Palmer stars in this thriller as a slave who escapes from a Georgia plantation and discovers that the year is actually 1973. Also with Common, Jonny Lee Miller, Gaius Charles, Natasha Yvette Williams, Kenneth Farmer, and Alicia Witt.

Expired (R) This science-fiction film is about a hit man (Ryan Kwanten) whose body suddenly starts to deteriorate in a future Hong Kong. Also with Hugo Weaving, Jillian Nguyen, Lamar Brown, and Michael Chan.

The Hater (NR) This comedy stars Joey Ally as a liberal environmentalist who returns to her conservative Texas hometown to find that her school bully is running for the state legislature. Also with Michael Andrew Baker, Ali Larter, James L. Brewster, Amanda Crown, Susan-Kate Heaney, and Nora Dunn. 

Measure of Revenge (NR) Melissa Leo stars in this thriller as a theater actress who conducts her own investigation into her son’s death. Also with Bella Thorne, Jake Weary, Adrian Martinez, Benedict Samuel, and Roma Maffia. 

Panama (R) Cole Hauser stars in this thriller as a Marine-turned-private contractor who becomes caught up in America’s 1989 invasion of Panama. Also with Mel Gibson, Charlie Weber, Jackie Cruz, Victor Turpin, Simon Phillips, and Mauricio Hénao. 

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