OPENING
Anaconda (PG-13) B- if you haven’t seen the original, B if you have. Paul Rudd portrays a struggling Hollywood actor who tells his friends back in Buffalo that he has bought the rights to the legendarily bad 1997 movie and arranges for all of them to travel to the Amazon to film a remake. Director/co-writer Tom Gormican (The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent) has some fun at the expense of the original, and Jack Black as the remake’s director makes this into a better and funnier comedy than either The Minecraft Movie or any of the Jumanji sequels. The star of the Oscar-winning I’m Still Here, Selton Mello plays a riverboat captain and proves to have a winning sense of humor in English. Also with Thandiwe Newton, Steve Zahn, Daniela Melchior, Ione Skye, John Billingsley, Ice Cube, and an uncredited Jennifer Lopez. (Opens Thursday)
Champion (NR) This sports movie is about an Indian soccer player (Roshann Meka) pursuing his dream of playing professionally in London before 1948. Also with Anaswara Rajan, Bhavani Neerati, Hyper Aadi, Santosh Prathap, and Edward Sonnenblick. (Opens Thursday)
Dhandoraa (NR) This Indian drama is about caste prejudice affecting a murder case in a remote village. Starring Mounika, Nandu Vijay Krishna, Rajasekhar Aningi, Navdeep, Sivaji, and Ravi Krishna. (Opens Thursday)
45 (NR) This Kannada-language action-comedy is about a man whose actions incur the vindictive wrath of a mysterious enemy. Starring Shivarajkumar, Upendra, Raj B. Shetty, Rangayana Raghu, and Jagapathi Babu. (Opens Thursday at AMC Grapevine Mills)
Gezhi Town (NR) This Chinese war film stars Xiao Zhan as a craftsman who takes up arms to defend his hometown from Japanese invaders during World War II. Also with Peng Yuchang, Zhou Yiran, Yang Xinming, Gan Yunchen, Yan Zhidu, Zhou Siyu, and Alan Aruna. (Opens Thursday)
Shambhala (NR) Not to be confused with the Nepalese film by the same title from last year, this Indian film stars Aadi Sai Kumar as a scientist who encounters supernatural events after a meteor strike in a remote village. Also with Swasika Vijay, Archana Iyer, Ravi Varma, Laxman Meesala, and Madhunandan. (Opens Thursday)
Song Sung Blue (PG-13) Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson portray Mike and Claire Sardina, the real-life married couple who endured personal tragedies to become a celebrated Neil Diamond tribute band in Milwaukee in the 1990s. Unfortunately, writer-director Craig Brewer reduces their story to inspirational pablum, though he does pick up what makes ordinary people take up careers as cover band musicians and celebrity impersonators. Jackman and Hudson perform Diamond’s songs to a listenable level but no more, and Jackman does well as a reformed alcoholic who’s reluctant to perform “Sweet Caroline” because the song is overexposed. Even if you are a Diamond fan, this thing never quite catches dramatic fire. Also with Ella Anderson, King Princess, Fisher Stevens, Mustafa Shakir, John Beckwith, Shyaporn Theerakulstit, Jim Belushi, and Michael Imperioli. (Opens Thursday)
Tu Meri Main Tera Main Tera Tu (NR) This Indian romantic comedy stars Kartik Aaryan and Ananya Panday as a couple who meet during a hectic summer in Croatia. Also with Neena Gupta, Arjan Panwar, Mohit Nehra, Karan Singh Lamba, Gaurav Pandey, and Jackie Shroff. (Opens Thursday)
NOW PLAYING
Avatar: Fire and Ash (PG-13) Actually more interesting than the first two films, though that doesn’t make this good. Human being Spider (Jack Champion) gains the ability to breathe Pandora’s air, which only creates more problems because it makes him more attractive to the humans as a test subject. The best thing the series could do is kill off both Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Col. Quaritch (Stephen Lang), who both were wearing out their welcome even before this movie. While this film is beset by many of the same issues as its predecessors, it at least introduces us to a new Na’vi clan who ally themselves with the humans to get their hands on Earth weapons. They make more interesting villains than any this franchise has had before, and their presence lets us know that the Na’vi are not just innocent victims. A better writer than James Cameron might make this world interesting yet. Also with Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, Oona Chaplin, Cliff Curtis, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Edie Falco, Brendan Cowell, Giovanni Ribisi, Jemaine Clement, David Thewlis, and Kate Winslet.
David (PG) Theoretically, this animated musical should appeal to Jews as well as Christians, but it’s too boilerplate to do that. The Biblical hero (voiced by Brandon Engman as a boy and Phil Wickham as a young man) starts out as a shepherd who’s anointed to be Israel’s next king, which earns him the enmity of King Saul (voiced by Adam Michael Gold). While Saul is depicted properly as a conflicted villain, the computer-generated animation is dull to look at, and the songs by Jonas Myrin are even less interesting to listen to. The movie makes David’s superhuman deeds seem all too ordinary, and the story ends before getting into the messy events of David’s adulthood. Additional voices by Mark Jacobson, Asim Chaudhry, Ashley Boettcher, Mark Whitten, Katie Bernstein, Mick Wingert, Brian Stivale, Lauren Daigle, and Kamran Nikhad.
Dhurandhar (NR) Ranveer Singh stars in this crime thriller as a secret agent who infiltrates India’s underworld. Also with Sanjay Dutt, Akshaye Khanna, R. Madhavan, Arjun Rampal, and Krystle D’Souza.
Ella McCay (PG-13) James L. Brooks’ comedies are so determined not to offend that they inevitably make me really, really angry. That’s what happens in this political comedy about a 34-year-old woman (Emma Mackey) who inherits the governorship of her state. The pacing is geriatric because every character here has one last thing to say, and the jokes aren’t funny. If Mackey has some special quality that inspires the character with a similar name, we don’t see it, and everybody else in this high-powered cast sinks into the muck with the exception of Jack Lowden as Ella’s pizzeria-owning husband who can’t stand his wife being more successful than him. This might have been the political comedy we needed if the filmmakers didn’t insist on Ella being so gosh-darned adorable. Also with Jamie Lee Curtis, Woody Harrelson, Kumail Nanjiani, Rebecca Hall, Spike Fearn, Ayo Edebiri, Julie Kavner, and Albert Brooks.
Eternity (PG-13) Diverting. An octogenarian couple (Barry Primus and Betty Buckley) pass on in the same week and are reincarnated as their younger selves (Miles Teller and Elizabeth Olsen) in the next world, only for her to discover that her first husband (Callum Turner) has spent the last 67 years waiting for her. Irish filmmaker David Freyne (The Cured) scores a bunch of good laughs depicting the afterlife as a mid-grade convention center and hotel where people have one week to decide where they want to spend the rest of eternity, and he almost pulls this off because Teller and especially Olsen play the reality of the conceit for all it’s worth. Unfortunately, the movie unravels in its last third when the wife has to make her choice. It’s clearly the work of a talented filmmaker who will go on to make something better. Also with Da’Vine Joy Randolph, John Early, Danny Mac, Christie Burke, and Olga Merediz.
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 (PG-13) Did they throw this together at the last minute? It sure feels that way, and not in a good way. The sequel to the 2023 horror hit has Abby (PIper Rubio) enabling the animatronic animals to leave Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza and wreak havoc on the surrounding town, partly because both her dad (Josh Hutcherson) and his girlfriend (Elizabeth Lail) are too damaged to divulge key pieces of information. At one point there are three sets of the animals wandering about, and still Emma Tammi can’t make any of them scary. The actors give slapdash performances, which is only one reason why the story clanks even louder than the robots do. Also with Mckenna Grace, Wayne Knight, Han Soto, Teo Briones, Freddy Carter, Skeet Ulrich, and Matthew Lillard.
Hamnet (R) Beautifully crafted, occasionally crushing, and based on Maggie O’Farrell’s work of speculative fiction, Chloé Zhao’s film is about William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) and his wife Agnes (Jessie Buckley) dealing with the death of their 11-year-old son Hamnet (Jacobi Jupe) from the bubonic plague. The film is quite different from O’Farrell’s novel; instead of adopting different characters’ viewpoints and jumping around in time, the movie proceeds in a linear fashion and sticks with Agnes as she raises the children in Stratford while Will goes off to London and catches on with a theater company. Much like Shakespeare in Love, this movie truly takes flight during a production of a Shakespeare play, when Agnes travels to London and sees her husband’s Hamlet as an expression of his grief over their lost son. Great performances by both leads bring this Hamlet to tragic life no matter how many Hamlets you’ve seen. Also with Joe Alwyn, Freya Hannan-Mills, David Wilmot, Bodhi Rae Breathnach, Olivia Lynes, Noah Jupe, and Emily Watson.
The Housemaid (R) Based on Freida McFadden’s best-selling novel, this thriller is a throwback to 1980s psychological thrillers like Fatal Attraction and Basic Instinct, but from a female point of view. Sydney Sweeney portrays an ex-convict who takes a job as a live-in maid in a Long Island mansion, only to find her employer (Amanda Seyfried) behaving like such a psycho that it puts her in greater danger than she was in prison. The film ups the book’s violence considerably, which would be great if the acting were better. As it is, Seyfried blows away her co-stars as a wealthy housewife who’s simmering with rage and whose erratic behavior is cagier than it appears. She and Paul Feig’s direction make this about as good an adaptation of the novel as we could have expected. Also with Brandon Sklenar, Michele Morrone, Indiana Elle, Alexandra Seal, and Elizabeth Perkins.
Jujutsu Kaisen: Execution (R) I’m getting weary of these anime adaptations that assume that everyone who walks in the door is intimately familiar with the bits of the saga that have gone before. This film recaps Season 2 of the TV series and then includes the first two episodes of Season 3, as Satoru Gojo (voiced by Yūichi Nakamura in the Japanese-language version and Kaiji Tang in the English dub) tries to save civilians from an evil veil that descends on the Shibuya district over Halloween. Don’t bother ponying up for tickets if you haven’t seen the first two seasons, or else all these striking images will just wash over you without leaving an impact. Additional voices by Asami Seto, Anne Yatco, Yuma Uchida, Robbie Daymond, Jun’ichi Suwabe, Jun’ya Enoki, Adam McArthur, Daisuke Namikawa, Ray Chase, Megumi Ogata, and Kayleigh McKee.
Now You See Me: Now You Don’t (PG-13) Entertaining if you don’t think about it too much. The magicians from the original (Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco, and Woody Harrelson) come out of retirement and reunite to mentor three younger illusionists (Ariana Greenblatt, Dominic Sessa, and Justice Smith) who are targeting a South African diamond mogul and money launderer (Rosamund Pike). The younger cast are personable enough to inject some new energy into the series, and director Ruben Fleischer keeps things moving so that you don’t notice the holes in the plot. If they want to hand off this series to the younger generation, that would be just fine. Also with Lizzy Caplan, Andrew Santino, Thabang Molaba, Morgan Freeman, and an uncredited Mark Ruffalo.
The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants (PG) The series has gone stagnant creatively. Our square yellow hero (voiced by Tom Kenny) journeys to the ocean’s depths to encounter the Flying Dutchman (voiced by Mark Hamill) and become a true swashbuckler, unaware that the pirate is using him for his own purposes. The charm and childlike joy of the TV series is nowhere in evidence in this big-screen adventure that takes little advantage of the larger canvas that its animators have to work with. After three SpongeBob movies, I finally feel safe in saying that SpongeBob should stick to TV. Additional voices by Bill Fagerbakke, Rodger Bumpass, Clancy Brown, Carolyn Lawrence, Arturo Castro, George Lopez, Sherry Cola, Ice Spice, and Regina Hall.
Wicked: For Good (PG) Not so good as a stand-alone movie, but aces as a conclusion to the two-part saga. Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) becomes a fugitive from Oz’ flying monkeys while Glinda (Ariana Grande) finds her popularity being used to prop up the corrupt regime. The whole movie is a case study in good intentions gone awry, as various characters’ attempts to prove themselves backfire disastrously. This back half spotlights Grande as much as the first half did for Erivo, and the pop singer comes through whether she’s betraying her best friend or wresting control of Oz from its rulers. All the show’s best songs were in the first film, and the ones newly written for this movie aren’t up to scratch, but the story of the popular girl learning how to be good is deeply moving. Musical fans now have their own multi-part fantasy series to cherish. Also with Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum, Jonathan Bailey, Marissa Bode, Ethan Slater, Bowen Yang, and Bronwyn James. Voices by Peter Dinklage and Colman Domingo.
Zootopia 2 (PG) Not as good as the first one, I’m afraid. Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde (voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin and Jason Bateman) have to deal with a new case involving the family of snakes who founded the city and were screwed out of their inheritance by the mammals. Some of the jokes do land like they should, but the metaphors are not as resonant, and the new supporting characters aren’t as well drawn as they were in the original. The fraying partnership between our two cops doesn’t throw up anything new, either. There is a funny subplot with a TV actor stallion (voiced by Patrick Warburton) becoming Zootopia’s new mayor, but it’s not enough to recommend the film. Additional voices by Ke Huy Quan, Fortune Feimster, Andy Samberg, David Strathairn, Quinta Brunson, Danny Trejo, Nate Torrence, Don Lake, Bonnie Hunt, CM Punk, Stephanie Beatriz, Alan Tudyk, Macaulay Culkin, Brenda Song, Tiny Lister Jr., John Leguizamo, Tommy Chong, Auli’i Cravalho, Tig Notaro, Ed Sheeran, Cecily Strong, June Squibb, Michael J. Fox, Josh Gad, Idris Elba, and Jenny Slate.
Dallas Exclusives
The Secret Agent (R) Kleber Mendonça Filho’s thriller stars Wagner Moura as a Brazilian research scientist in 1977 who’s hunted down by government agents for free speech. Also with Maria Fernanda Cândido, Robson Andrade, Rubens Santos, Marcelo Valle, Licínio Januário, Fabiana Pirro, Hermila Guedes, Buda Lira, Alice Carvalho, Luciano Chirolli, Thomás Aquino, Enzo Nunes, and the late Udo Kier.
Sirāt (NR) Sergi López stars in this drama as a Spanish man who travels to the Moroccan desert to search for his missing teenage daughter. Also with Bruno Núñez Arjona, Stefania Gadda, Joshua Liam Henderson, Richard “Bigui” Bellamy, and Jade Oukid.
