OPENING
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. (Opens Friday)
Bad Genius (NR) This Canadian remake of a Thai comedy is about a group of high-school seniors who aim to expose unfairness in the college admissions system. Starring Benedict Wong, Taylor Hickson, Jabari Banks, Sarah-Jane Redmond, Samuel Braun, and Callina Liang. (Opens Friday in Dallas)
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. (Opens Friday at AMC Grapevine Mills)
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. (Opens Friday)
Holy Cash (NR) Paul Rodriguez writes, directs, and stars in this comedy as a con artist who creates a Christian TV show to cheat people out of their money. Also with Aries Spears, Emilio Rivera, Alicia Machado, Hope Diaz, and Sandra Santiago. (Opens Friday)
Janaka Aithe Ganaka (NR) This Telugu-language comedy stars Suhas as a young married man who tries to avoid fatherhood and its financial burdens at all costs. Also with Sangeerthana Vipin, Murali Sharma, Rajendra Prasad, and Vennela Kishore. (Opens Friday)
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. (Opens Friday)
Maa Nanna Superhero (NR) Sudheer Babu stars in this Indian drama as a man trying to reconcile his adopted father (Sayaji Shinde) with his biological father (Harshith Reddy). Also with Aamani, Raju Sundaram, and Shashank. (Opens Friday at AMC Grapevine Mills)
Mittran Da Challeya Truck Ni (NR) This Indian comedy about truck-driving brothers stars Amrinder Gill, Sunanda Sharma, Sayani Gupta, Hardip Gill, Sayaji Shinde, Jarnail Singh, Sukhwinder Chahal, and Vishwanath Chatterjee. (Opens Friday at AMC Grapevine Mills)
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. (Opens Friday)
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. (Opens Friday)
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. (Opens Friday)
Terrifier 3 (NR) Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton) returns for this slasher sequel as a killer who strikes during Christmas. Also with Jason Patric, Lauren LaVera, Antonella Rose, Samantha Scaffidi, Jon Abrahams, Daniel Roebuck, and Chris Jericho. (Opens Friday)
Twisted Hearts (NR) This comedy is about three couples trying to work through their issues at a retreat. Starring Cocoa Brown, Emelina Adams, Adrian Lockett, Leland B. Martin, Will Colburn, Mashayla Barnes, and Lauren Ashley White. (Opens Friday)
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. (Opens Friday)
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. (Opens Friday)
NOW PLAYING
Am I Racist? (PG-13) Matt Walsh stars in Justin Folk’s documentary about DEI practices.
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.
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.
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.
Megalopolis (R) Francis Ford Coppola’s film throws every idea he has at the wall after thinking too much about ancient Rome. Set in a modern city that’s like Rome and New York mashed together, the movie sort of revolves around a conflict between a greedy mayor (Giancarlo Esposito), a utopian architect (Adam Driver), and the former’s daughter (Nathalie Emmanuel) who goes to work for the latter. The film boasts some breathtakingly beautiful visuals like the muse sharing a kiss with the architect while they’re balanced on girders in the sky, but Coppola can’t make any coherent points about society today or even decide whether this film is supposed to be satire, fairy tale, parable, or action yarn. The Hunger Games movies made better use of its parallels with classical times than this does. Also with Aubrey Plaza, Laurence Fishburne, Talia Shire, Jason Schwartzman, Kathryn Hunter, Balthazar Getty, James Remar, Chloe Fineman, Grace VanderWaal, D.B. Sweeney, Jon Voight, Shia LaBeouf, and Dustin Hoffman.
Monster Summer (PG-13) Two kids swimming in the ocean see a female figure in black standing on the pier above them. Then they hear a splash and see her no longer on the pier, so they ask, “Where’d she go?” That’s about the intelligence level of this horror movie that can’t decide whether it’s for kids or adults. Mason Thames plays a boy who lives on Martha’s Vineyard in 1997, and when some of the other kids start turning up in an unresponsive state after undergoing traumatic events, he enlists the help of a grumpy retired cop (Mel Gibson) to investigate. Gibson gives the only coherent performance here as the film gets into witches and can’t figure out how seriously to treat them as a villain. This thoroughly weird entry’s inability to please any segment of the audience will leave you with the summertime blues. Also with Lorraine Bracco, Noah Cottrell, Julian Lerner, Gavin Bedell, Abby James Witherspoon, Nora Zehetner, Patrick Renna, Spencer Fitzgerald, and Kevin James.
My Old Ass (R) Despite its title, this comedy offers up a genuine cinematic experience. Maisy Stella portrays a Canadian teenager preparing to leave her small town for college in Toronto when a magic mushroom trip conjures up her 39-year-old self (Aubrey Plaza), who gives her advice on the way her life will turn out. Writer-director Megan Park (The Fallout) cuts humor into what could be a soppy story, and the humor largely works. Much of this is down to the performances by Plaza and Stella, who captures the character’s foul-mouthed, chaotic energy. What starts out as a high-concept comedy turns into a teen weeper that somehow works because of Park’s combination of youthful energy and mature wisdom. This is what these movies look like when they’re good. Also with Percy Hynes White, Kerrice Brooks, Maddie Ziegler, Seth Isaac Johnson, Carter Trozzolo, Al Goulem, and Maria Dizzia.
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.
The Outrun (R) Watching Saoirse Ronan battle alcoholism for two hours is a good use of time at this British drama. Based on Amy Liptrot’s memoir, the movie stars Ronan as a marine biology graduate student who exiles herself to a remote island in the Orkneys to observe the wildlife and dry out. Director/co-writer Nora Fingscheidt deliberately tells the story out of order to mimic the cyclical nature of addictions. For all the lyrical shots of the rocky, desolate seascapes of the Orkneys, the movie doesn’t quite reach the heights of the Edmund Burkean meditation on the sublime and beautiful that it aims to be. Still, it’s a pleasure listening to Ronan as she narrates with a scientist’s detachment or shares her story at various AA meetings, and seeing her move with the seascapes is a reminder of how great she is. Also with Paapa Essiedu, Saskia Reeves, Izuka Hoyle, Naomi Wirthner, Lauren Lyle, and Stephen Dillane.
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.
Sathyam Sundaram (NR) Aravind Swamy stars in this Indian drama as a man who returns to his village only to meet a mysterious man (Karthi) who showers him with gifts and affection. Also with Sri Divya, Devadarshini, Saran Shakhti, and Jayaprakash.
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.
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.
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.
DALLAS EXCLUSIVES
Bagman (PG-13) Sam Claflin stars in this horror film as a father who must protect his family from the child-snatching monster who pursued him as a boy. Also with Antonia Thomas, Caréll Rhoden, Steven Cree, Adelle Leonce, and William Hope.
Girls Will Be Girls (NR) This Indian drama stars Preeti Panigrahi as a 16-year-old girl coming of age sexually in a repressive family. Also with Kani Kusruti, Kesav Binoy Kiron, Kajol Chugh, Nandini Verma, Devika Shahani, Akash Pramanik, and Aman Desai.
The Lost Holliday (NR) The title is not a misprint. Jussie Smollett co-stars in and directs this comedy as a gay man who must deal with his late husband’s mother (Vivica A. Fox), who had no idea of her son’s homosexuality. Also with Jabari Redd, Marquise Vilson, Brittany S. Hall, Miriam A. Hyman, Leslie David Baker, and Gina Belafonte.
Notice to Quit (PG-13) This comedy stars Michael Zegen as a struggling New York actor who discovers the existence of a 10-year-old daughter (Kasey Bella Suarez) while dealing with a career change. Also with Nell Verlaque, Isabel Arraiza, Michael Angelo Covino, Leah Loftin, and Robert Klein.
