OPENING
Balan: The Boy (NR) This Malayalam-language film stars Chandu Salimkumar as a teenage boy who searches for his mother after she disappears. Also with Girish A.D., Farzana Palathingai, Ganapathi, Sandra Chandran, Dolly June, and Jean Paul Lal. (Opens Friday at AMC Grapevine Mills)
A Blind Bargain (NR) A remake of a lost 1922 silent film, this horror movie stars Jake Horowitz as a young man who sells his own mother (Amy Wright) to a mad scientist (Crispin Glover) who wants to use her as a lab subject. Also with Annalisa Cochrane, Lucy Loken, Jed Rowen, Rob Mayes, Stephen Marcus, and Sean Whalen. (Opens Friday in Dallas)
Cocktail 2 (NR) A sequel in name only to the 2012 film, this Indian romance stars Shahid Kapoor and Rashmika Mandanna as a couple whose longtime relationship is shaken up by their reunion with an old friend (Kriti Sanon). Also with Sanjay Dutt. (Opens Friday)
The Death of Robin Hood (R) The idea behind this gloomfest is sound, but the movie didn’t have to run 123 minutes to get its point across. Hugh Jackman portrays the aged Robin Hood in the 13th century as a psychopath who killed and robbed for fun and now craves death, but is doomed to slaughter the husbands, brothers, and sons of his numerous victims in an endless cycle. Jodie Comer walks away with the movie as a prioress who takes in the grievously wounded Robin and shows him a new way of life caring for orphaned children and lepers. Writer-director Michael Sarnoski (Pig) comes up with some good material and striking visuals, but he loses his sense of pace once Robin is taken to the priory and the plot stops dead. When it comes to deconstructing a hero’s myth, Logan did a much better job. Also with Bill Skarsgård, Noah Jupe, Faith Delaney, Murray Bartlett, Jade Croot, and Clive Russell. (Opens Friday)
Deewana (NR) Not a remake of the 1992 thriller, this Telugu-language romance stars Harshith Reddy as a young man trying to express his unrequited love for a woman (Smeha Manimegalai). Also with Noresh Vijay Krishna and Jhansi. (Opens Friday)
Girls Like Girls (R) Pop singer Hayley Kiyoko directs, co-writes, and writes the songs for this teen romance between two girls (Maya da Costa and Myra Molloy). Also with Levon Hawke, Hunter Dillon, Sierra Sidwell, Sophia Carriere, Alozie LaRose, Maya Ford, and Zach Braff. (Opens Friday)
Hell Trotter (NR) This supernatural drama takes place among the Khmer community in Vietnam. Starring Vo Tan Phat, Nhat Y, Thanh Thuy, Tran Ngoc Vang, and Oc Thanh Van. (Opens Friday)
Leviticus (R) This Australian horror film stars Joe Bird and Stacy Clausen as gay teens in conversion therapy who encounter a demon that can impersonate both of them. Also with Jeremy Blewitt, Ewen Leslie, Davida McKenzie, Nicholas Hope, Shannon Berry, and Mia Wasikowska. (Opens Friday)
Maa Inti Bangaram (NR) Also entitled Engal Thangam, this Tamil-language remake of the 1970 movie stars Samantha Ruth Prabhu as a woman trying to outrun her shameful past. Also with Gulshan Devaiah, Diganth Manchale, Gautami, Manjusha, Sreemukhi, and Srinivas Ganvireddy. (Opens Friday)
Unidentified (PG-13) This Saudi thriller stars Mila al-Zahrani as a bereaved mother who takes up the case of an unidentified teenage girl whose body turns up in the desert. Also with Abdullah al-Qahtani, Aziz Gharbawi, Othoub Sharar, and Shafi al-Harthi. (Opens Friday)
NOW PLAYING
Backrooms (R) Based on an online legend, this horror film is both effective and unlike anything the multiplexes have served up. Chiwetel Ejiofor portrays an angry, alcoholic, recently divorced furniture store owner who discovers a passageway in his store leading to an infinite labyrinth of yellow-walled and -carpeted rooms with something murderous roaming the halls. 21-year-old director Kane Parsons made a series of short films about the online myth for YouTube, and in his first theatrical feature, he shows some serious talent for creepy atmosphere. He’s helped by stellar work by production designer Danny Vermette, who gives us furniture sinking into the floor or being absorbed into the walls. Cheers to the filmmakers for having more than just a clever gimmick, as the rooms reflect the main character’s warped psyche and the madness within. It’s one thing to make a good horror flick, and another to make a new kind of horror. Also with Renate Reinsve, Finn Bennett, Lukita Maxwell, Avan Jogia, and Mark Duplass.
The Breadwinner (PG) Nate Bargatze’s skill as a stand-up comic is little in evidence in this unbearable and loud comedy about a Nashville car salesman who takes time off his job to raise his three daughters (Stella Grace Fitzgerald, Charlotte Ann Tucker, and Birdie Borria) after his wife (Mandy Moore) travels abroad to fund her startup company. The hijinks wouldn’t have passed muster in the 1980s when Hollywood first started making comedies like these, and the stacked cast fails to contribute anything of note. Also with Kumail Nanjiani, Zach Cherry, Martin Herlihy, Will Forte, Brett Cullen, Kate Berlant, and Colin Jost.
The Devil Wears Prada 2 (PG-13) This sequel is quite enjoyable in the same way as the original, but it has one big irritating issue. Anne Hathaway reprises her role as Andy, a newly unemployed journalist who takes a job at Runway, which is now embroiled in a PR crisis. The sequel registers how fashion media has changed in the last 20 years, but gets distracted by a succession battle after the fashion magazine’s owner (Tibor Feldman) suddenly dies. It would have been better devoting more time to Andy trying to detoxify Runway’s workplace culture and bring Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) into line. The characters have been away long enough for us to be happy to see them, and the script is smart enough that you won’t hate yourself for reveling in its posh setting. Shame that it goes too easy on its characters. Also with Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci, Justin Theroux, Tracie Thoms, Patrick Brammall, Caleb Hearon, Simone Ashley, Helen J. Shen, Rachel Bloom, B.J. Novak, Lucy Liu, Kenneth Branagh, and Lady Gaga.
Disclosure Day (PG-13) This distinctly minor entry into Steven Spielberg’s canon finds the director in the mode of mystic crystal revelations. This thriller is about a cybersecurity expert (Josh O’Connor) and a TV weather forecaster (Emily Blunt) who have never met before but must team up to go public with video proof of extraterrestrial life on Earth. I can’t help thinking this would have been better if it had been made in the 1990s with Agent Mulder and Agent Scully. The lore about little green men is overly familiar, and the movie is better when the filmmakers remember that it’s about our heroes being chased by an NGO. Still, every time Spielberg tries to get into our feelings, he steps into the muck. Project Hail Mary did everything this movie does without so much strain. Also with Colman Domingo, Eve Hewson, Wyatt Russell, Elizabeth Marvel, Henry Lloyd-Hughes, Tommy Martinez, Hettienne Park, Jeremy Shamos, and Colin Firth.
The Furious (R) The next great martial-arts flick is this pan-Asian movie filmed in Thailand. An Indonesian journalist (Joe Taslim) and a mute Chinese laborer (Xie Miao) team up to take down a child sex trafficking ring that’s backed by corrupt cops. Director Kenji Tanigaki and fight choreographer Kensuke Sonomura spoil us for choice with the martial-arts sequences here, with the laborer using a hammer to fend off a bunch of MMA fighters and security guards in an octagon, while our two heroes have their hands full facing a security guard (Brian Le) with a sledgehammer. Either of those would be a highlight of another movie, but they’re just a warm-up for the five-way climactic fight against the traffickers’ main guys. If you want something that moves at breakneck speed while breaking a lot of necks, here’s where to go. Also with Joey Iwanaga, Yang Enyou, Jija Yanin, Sahajak Boonthanakit, Manatsanun Phanierdwongsakul, Guo Junqing, Sahatchai Chumrum, and Yayan Ruhian.
Masters of the Universe (PG-13) Deeply confused and not good. In this live-action adaptation of the 1980s TV cartoon series, Nicholas Galitzine plays He-Man, the warrior guardian of an alien civilization who has been stuck in Oklahoma City for the last 20 years. The lead actor has a keen grasp on the ridiculous aspects of the character, but the same can’t be said for director Travis Knight, who seems unsure when to play the material straight and when to play it for camp humor. He also fails to conjure a single memorable visual from a fantasy world where futuristic vehicles and weapons exist alongside sorcerers and fantastical creatures. A high-level cast is left high and dry by this material. Also with Idris Elba, Jared Leto, Camila Mendes, Morena Baccarin, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson, Jon Xue Zhang, Sam C. Wilson, Charlotte Riley, James Purefoy, James Wilkinson, Kojo Attah, Alison Brie, and an uncredited Dolph Lundgren. Voices by Christopher Ragland, Tom Wilton, Gary Martin, and Kristen Wiig.
Michael (PG-13) There is no movie here. In a bid to appease the Jackson family and their lawyers, director Antoine Fuqua and screenwriter John Logan have thrown out every bit of plot, character development, and atmosphere that would make this Michael Jackson biopic into a semblance of a story. The film takes place in 1966-88, with Juliano Valdi playing little Michael and Jaafar Jackson as the adult. Everything from Janet Jackson to the pedophilia allegations is studiously ignored, and we don’t even get any insight into Michael Jackson’s creative process or psychology to compensate for it. Both Valdi and Jaafar Jackson imitate Michael’s fluid dance moves, which is no mean feat, but the man himself comes off as a cipher, so what hope do the supporting characters have? This is a good deal less than a nostalgia act, and Fuqua and Logan have nothing to do except play the hits. Also with Colman Domingo, Miles Teller, Nia Long, Larenz Tate, Kendrick Sampson, Laura Harrier, KeiLyn Durrel Jones, Jessica Sula, Deon Cole, and Mike Myers.
Obsession (R) A scary new entry in the long tradition of stories about the dangers of gaining your heart’s desire. Michael Johnston stars in this horror film as a weak man who can’t tell his crush (Inde Navarrette) that he’s in love with her, so he finds a novelty toy that grants people’s desires and wishes for her love. Navarrette is only 5’0” and manages to be utterly terrifying as a level-headed woman who suddenly morphs into an ultra-clingy demon who’s willing to murder anyone who gets between her and her man. Writer-director Curry Barker comes from a comedy background conjures a number of memorable visuals here, and if the momentum flags somewhat in the film’s second half, he still comes up with a fiendish climax that sends you out of the theater with an indelible chill. Also with Cooper Tomlinson, Megan Lawless, Justice, Anthony Casablanca, and Andy Richter.
Pressure (PG-13) Too late for Memorial Day comes this not terribly exciting British film about the D-Day invasion seen through the eyes of a Scottish meteorologist (Andrew Scott) who’s brought in to provide a weather forecast for the planned day of the operation only to announce that the conditions will be terrible and that the whole thing will be postponed. Based on David Haig’s stage play, this film squeezes very little juice out of the weatherman sticking to his forecast despite heavy pressure from Gen. Dwight Eisenhower (Brendan Fraser) and other top brass in the American and British militaries. Despite the top-level talent in the cast, this exercise comes off as more dutiful than anything else. Also with Kerry Condon, Chris Messina, Tamsin Topolski, Jojo Macari, Con O’Neill, and Damian Lewis.
Project Hail Mary (PG-13) Based on Andy Weir’s novel, this science-fiction movie is entertaining enough for the price of admission and maybe even an upcharge to a premium format. Ryan Gosling portrays an astronaut who travels to a star light-years away to find a solution to why our sun is dying. He meets an alien being whose world is facing the same problem with its sun. Gosling spends a great deal of time talking to himself, partly because his character is trying to keep from going insane from the solitude and partly because he has trouble communicating with the alien, but if any actor can make this assignment look easy, it’s Gosling. The filmmaking team of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (The Lego Movie) drills down into the trial-and-error that goes into the characters’ scientific work and manages to find both humor and beauty in the vastness of space. The movie earns its uplift because of the way the two life forms are willing to collaborate to save their civilizations. Also with Sandra Hüller, Ken Leung, Milana Vayntrub, Priya Kansara, Orion Lee, and Lionel Boyce. Voices by James Ortiz and an uncredited Meryl Streep.
Scary Movie (R) It’s been 13 years since the last film in this spoof series, and this installment cycles so quickly through parodies of Get Out, The Substance, and M3GAN that it doesn’t have time to adopt a point of view on them or crack funny jokes about them. Then again, how does that make it different from the other Scary Movies? Anna Faris, Regina Hall, Marlon Wayans, and Shawn Wayans all reprise their roles as they’re stalked by a new Ghostface who’s the same as the old Ghostface (Dave Sheridan). One of the film’s few good gags is that the original killer received a presidential pardon for his murders because he was a January 6 rioter. If the Wayans family let go of some creative control here, this series might breathe again. Also with Olivia Rose Keegan, Cameron Scott Roberts, Savannah Lee Nassif, Damon Wayans Jr., Kim Wayans, Jon Abrahams, Sydney Park, Deon Cole, Cheri Oteri, Lochlyn Munro, Heidi Gardner, Chris Elliott, Anthony Anderson, Carmen Electra, Kenan Thompson, Shaquille O’Neal, and Teyana Taylor.
Stop! That! Train! (R) Better than the Scary Movie reboot. This parody of 1970s disaster movies that plays like a much gayer version of Airplane! stars RuPaul’s Drag Race performers Ginger Minj and Jujubee as stewardesses on a luxury passenger train that travels into a terrible storm. The film has a higher ratio of jokes that hit to jokes that bomb, and the musical numbers feature some great dancing as well as giving us a break from the frenetic pace of the comedy. The film features many other performers from the TV show, as well as RuPaul as the president of the United States, and they work better than the numerous celebrity cameos here. Also with Rachel Bloom, Brock Hayhoe, Symone, Marty Lauter, Brian Jordan Alvarez, Matt Rogers, Chris Parnell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Nicole Richie, Missi Pyle, Lisa Rinna, Daniel Franzese, Jerry O’Connell, Nicole Sullivan, Natasha Leggero, Riki Lindhome, Raven-Symoné, Charo, and Sarah Michelle Gellar.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (PG) The Mario brothers (voiced by Chris Pratt and Charlie Day) rescue Yoshi (voiced by Donald Glover) while Bowser Jr. (voiced by Benny Safdie) kidnaps Princess Rosalina (voiced by Brie Larson) in this sequel. While there’s entirely too much going on, this is still better than the first movie. The new voice talent gives the thing some new energy and the filmmakers inject some visual wit that wasn’t there in the original, such as interludes made to look like sock puppet theater and Japanese anime, as well as a casino whose gaming floor extends to the walls and ceiling. Some Mario-fied Minions make an appearance as well. There’s certainly worse stuff made for the little ones out there. Additional voices by Jack Black, Anya Taylor-Joy, Keegan-Michael Key, Issa Rae, Luis Guzmán, and Glen Powell.
Dallas Exclusives
Kraken (NR) This Norwegian thriller stars Sara Khorami as a marine biologist investigating mysterious human deaths on her fish farm. Also with Mikkel Bratt Silset, Ingvild Holthe Bygdnes, Øyvind Brandtzæg, Jenny Evensen, and Einar Haraldsson.
