OPENING
American Doctor (NR) Poh Si Teng’s documentary follows Palestinian, Israeli, and American doctors who travel to Gaza to treat wounded people. (Opens Friday in Dallas)
American Summer (PG) This family film is about a Little League baseball player (Logan Gray) who meets the girl of his dreams (Mia Talerico) one summer in the 1970s. Also with Dan Lauria, Cullen Moss, Kobu Frumer, Erinn Ruth, Maximus Virgili, Max Malas, Steve Guttenberg, and Christie Brinkley. (Opens Friday at AMC Grapevine Mills)
By Any Means (R) Elegance Bratton’s historical thriller stars Yahya Abdul-Mateen as an FBI agent who teams up with a former mob hitman (Mark Wahlberg) to solve racial murders in Mississippi. Also with Nicole Beharie, Josh Lucas, Giancarlo Esposito, LisaGay Hamilton, Ethan Embry, LaChanze, and David Strathairn. (Opens Friday)
cocoon — One Summer of Girlhood (NR) Originally made for TV, this Japanese anime film is about two girls during World War II who are pressed into service as nurses at a secret military hospital. Voices by Hikari Matsushima, Anjali Kunapaneni, Rena Motomura, Triya Leong, Chinatsu Akasaki, Alyssa Poon, Yume Miyamoto, Maya Aoki Tuttle, Yoko Hikasa, and Anna Yatco. (Opens Friday)
Dear You (NR) This Teochew-language drama stars Zheng Runqi as a young Chinese man who travels to Thailand in search of a long-lost relative. Also with Li Sitong, Wang Yantong, Wu Shaoqing, Wang Xiaohui, Fang Peisong, and Usha Seamkhum. (Opens Friday at AMC Grapevine Mills)
Dreams in Nightmares (NR) Shatara Michelle Ford’s film is about a group of LGBT Black women taking a road trip across the Midwest to locate a friend who has disappeared. Starring Denée Benton, Mars Storm Rucker, Dezi Bing, Sasha Compère, Molly Bernard, Charlie Barnett, Robert Wisdom, Regina Taylor, and Jasmin Savoy Brown. (Opens Friday in Dallas)
Ever After (NR) This Canadian horror film is about a group of women at a cabin in the woods who are hunted by a group of criminals dressed in Halloween masks. Starring Lydia Pearl Pentz, Meg Vermette, Lara Sas, Jasmine Summer, Mark Sheppard, Michael Berryman, Bonnie Aarons, and Malcolm McDowell. (Opens Friday at AMC Grapevine Mills)
Fall 2: Deadpoint (PG-13) The sequel to the 2022 mountain-climbing thriller stars Harriet Slater and Arsema Thomas as friends of the dead climber who scale a treacherous peak in Thailand. Also with Tom Brittney, Grace Caroline Curry, and Einar Haraldsson. (Opens Wednesday)
The Girl in the River (NR) This crime thriller stars Maggie Grace and Tiffany Haddish as investigators in a small town looking into the death of one woman and the disappearance of her twin sister. Also with Devon Sawa, Andrew Stevens, Sarah Murphree, Angelena Swords, Sam Brooks, and Ralph Macchio. (Opens Friday in Dallas)
I Voted (NR) Tyler Mann’s found-footage drama takes place at a polling location that goes under lockdown when election violence happens elsewhere. Starring Federica Rangel, Jessica Irvine Drake, Nathan Harlan, Camille Giuffre, Rachel DeRouen, and Eric Roberts. (Opens Friday at AMC Grapevine Mills)
I’m Game (NR) This Malayalam-language comedy stars Dulquer Salmaan as a gambler who is caught up in a series of criminal hijinks. Also with Mammootty, Antony Varghese, Mysskin, Kayadu Lohar, Kathir, Vinay Fortt, and Zahrah S. Khan. (Opens Friday)
Lau Chú Hoà: The Deadliest Mansion (NR) This Vietnamese found-footage horror film is about a group of ghost hunters who livestream their journey into a haunted mansion. Starring Nguyen Minh Thoi, Ngoc Chi Bao, Tran Ky Anh, Dung Ha, Nguyen Cong Nuong, and Phung Hoang. (Opens Friday)
Mirzapur (NR) A spinoff of the popular TV series, this Hindi film is about various criminals vying for control of the criminal underworld. Starring Pankaj Tripathi, Ali Fazal, Divyenndu, Jitendra Kumar, Abhishek Banerjee, Rasika Dugal, and Sushant Singh. (Opens Friday)
Onslaught (R) Disappointingly ordinary. Adria Arjona stars in this thriller as a trailer park manager and Iraq veteran combat sniper who has to protect her daughter (Blake Kennedy) when three supersoldiers break free of their testing lab and start killing everyone in their path. Director Adam Wingard has made good movies in this vein before (You’re Next, The Guest), but this one has anemic characterization and a weak backstory, and the director’s visual flourishes don’t make any sense. All this would matter less if the action sequences were at least memorable, but the movie falls short in this department as well. For a movie with this title, it’s awfully easy to shrug off. Also with Dan Stevens, Alex Pereira, Eric Wareheim, Reginald VelJohnson, Drew Starkey, Maurice Greene, Jacob Scipio, Michael Biehn, and Rebecca Hall. (Opens Friday)
Romanchakam (NR) Sumanth Prabhas stars in this Telugu-language romance as the inventor of a popular dating app who falls in love himself. Also with Ananthika Sunilkumar, Upendra Limaye, Narendra Ravi, Venkatesh Kakumanu, and Sai Sohan. (Opens Friday)
Sahaa (NR) This Telugu-language romance stars Kumar Kasaram as a man who has a life-changing encounter with a woman (Lakshman Swetha). Also with Vrajana Pandya. (Opens Friday at AMC Grapevine Mills)
The Salt Path (NR) Adapted from Raynor Winn’s memoir, this British drama stars Jason Isaacs and Gillian Anderson as a newly homeless couple who hike a 1000-kilometer path around the southern coast of England. Also with James Lance and Hermione Norris. (Opens Friday at AMC Grapevine Mills)
The Sun Never Sets (R) Joe Swanberg co-stars in his own romantic drama about a woman (Dakota Fanning) who’s torn between her older boyfriend (Jake Johnson) and an ex (Cory Michael Smith). Also with Debby Ryan, Anna Konkle, Karley Sciortino, and Lamorne Morris. (Opens Friday)
Tom and Jerry: Forbidden Compass (PG) This animated film has the cat and mouse transported back in time to feudal China by a magical object. Voices by Eric Bauza, Benjamin Diskin, Janice Kawaye, Travis Willingham, Roger Craig Smith, Matthew Yang King, Robin Atkin Downes, Vincent Tong, and Maria Bamford. (Opens Friday)
La última oportunidad (NR) Oscar Becerra’s drama is about a family pulling together in the midst of hardship. Starring Jimmy Dux, Roberto Escobar, and Anais Salazar. (Opens Friday in Dallas)
Virginia Woolf’s Night and Day (NR) Based on Woolf’s novel, this drama stars Haley Bennett as a woman pursuing an astronomy career in 1910. Also with Lily Allen, Jack Whitehall, Jennifer Saunders, Elyas M’Barek, Frances Barber, and Timothy Spall. (Opens Friday at AMC Grapevine Mills)
NOW PLAYING
Bethlehem Kudumba Unit (NR) This Malayalam-language romantic comedy stars Nivin Pauly and Mamitha Baiju as a couple with a significant age difference. Also with Sangeeth Prathap, Dhyan Sreenivasan, Roshan Shanavas, Vinay Forrt, and Suresh Krishna.
Buddy (R) For everyone who ever hated Barney the purple dinosaur. Cristin Milioti stars in this horror movie as a mother who becomes convinced that she has a missing child who’s trapped in a 1990s kids’ TV show hosted by a murderous orange unicorn (voiced by Keegan-Michael Key). The creator of TV’s Too Many Cooks, Casper Kelly makes an impressive debut as a film director, shooting much of this like a bygone TV show, and he’s given great help by his songwriters and the performances of Milioti and Delaney Quinn as one of the kids on the show who realizes that something is very wrong. The joke in the overall conception never quite comes together, but this extremely strange film is destined for cult status, and well deserves it. Also with Topher Grace, Tristan Broders, Madison Skyy Polan, Caleb Williams, Brooke Bloom, Phuong Kubacki, Bennie Taylor, and Clint Howard. Additional voices by Patton Oswalt, Eric Bauza, Jimmica Collins, and Michael Shannon.
Colony (NR) Yeon Sang-ho (Train to Busan) aims to cement his status as the Korean George A. Romero with this zombie movie, which is even set at a shopping mall like Dawn of the Dead. Gianna Jun stars as a biotech professor who is caught up when a scientist with a grudge (Koo Kyo-hwan) unleashes a zombie pandemic inside a convention and mall. Yeon introduces a new wrinkle in that the villain is controlling the zombies with his mind and the undead learn quickly through chemical communication. The thing moves along reasonably well until the climax, which is too drawn out. He’s still as good as any Western filmmaker when it comes to zombies. Also with Ji Chang-wook, Kim Shin-rok, Shin Hyun-been, Kim Hyung-mook, and Go Soo.
The Dog Stars (R) Ridley Scott’s postapocalyptic Western starts off well before losing its way. Based on Peter Heller’s novel, the film is set in the year 2035, some time after a global pandemic decimates the world’s population. Jacob Elordi plays a surviving airplane pilot who leaves the safety of his Colorado compound to investigate a faint radio signal coming from possible survivors in Grand Junction. The film survives for a while on the performances of the principal cast and the vistas of Denver being overgrown. However, Scott can’t strike the right balance between the action set pieces and the character bits, and the scene when our hero discovers the true nature of the people living in Grand Junction isn’t nearly as horrifying as it should be. Despite a stacked cast, the overall impact is mid. Also with Margaret Qualley, Josh Brolin, Guy Pearce, Benedict Wong, Ewen Bremner, James Craze, Sam Spruell, Sai Bennett, and Allison Janney.
The End of Oak Street (PG-13) A better dinosaur movie than any of the Jurassic World films, though it could have been better still. Ewan McGregor and Anne Hathaway star as Detroit parents in 1982 whose suburb is mysteriously zapped back in time 200 million years, forcing them to barricade themselves inside their house to avoid being eaten. Writer-director David Robert Mitchell (It Follows) contributes more than a few pleasing formal elements, from the slow reveal of the neighborhood’s fate to a one-take shot of the parents running crossways to get an allosaurus away from their kids. It’s a shame that Mitchell consistently cheaps out when it comes to the family issues here. In making too many compromises for the popcorn crowd, he makes this like one of Steven Spielberg or J.J. Abrams’ lesser efforts. Also with Maisy Stella, Christian Convery, Jordan Alexa Davis, Emily Kuroda, Anne Gee Byrd, and P.J. Byrne.
Finding Emily (PG-13) Annoyingly generic British romantic comedy stars Spike Fearn as a worker at a university in Manchester who meets a student named Emily at a party and can’t find her again, so he emails every student named Emily asking if she’s the one. Angourie Rice plays an American psych student and one of the Emilys who helps him, neglecting to tell him that she’s using him as a case study for her graduate thesis. Despite the potential for havoc that the setup promises (especially when the Emilys get together, each with their own take on the situation), nothing here is terribly surprising or funny. The movie emerges with less personality than any of the Emilys in its midst. Also with Sadie Soverall, Amber Grappy, Cora Kirk, Yali Topol Margalith, Kat Ronney, Isabella Laughland, Jack Riddiford, Prasanna Puwanarajah, and Minnie Driver.
Hi! (NR) Kavin Raj stars in this Tamil-language romance as a successful professional looking for love with a woman who meets his specific criteria. Also with Nayanthara, Radhika Sarathkumar, K Bhagyaraj, Prabhu, and VTV Ganesh.
Idiots (R) The original title of this caper film was Shitheads. It’s an apt descriptor for almost every character here, including the two protagonists (Dave Franco and O’Shea Jackson Jr.), who take a job with a car service that drives rich kids to drug rehab. Their first passenger is a billionaire’s son (Mason Thames) and social-media influencer who’s willing to get them killed to avoid the clinic. Jackson makes a favorable impression as a devout Christian who’s trying to be professional, and Nicholas Braun is funny as a bad rap-metal musician who thinks he’s a werewolf. However, writer-director Macon Blair (who also shows up as one of our protagonists’ drug dealers) only achieves the comedic madness he’s aiming for once, in a set piece at a motel involving spiked sodas, a vaguely European stripper (Kiernan Shipka), and a bunch of coked-up grocery store managers who want to kill someone. Elsewhere, the hijinks aren’t crazy enough. Also with Killer Mike, Grace Junot, Lee Eddy, Lynn Wanlass, Melanie Loren, Najah Bradley, and Peter Dinklage.
Insidious: Out of the Further (PG-13) Somebody pull the plug on this franchise. This installment of the series stars Amelia Eve as a dental hygienist and single mother whose visions indicate an ability to bring objects and even entire demons back from the next world. It takes more than an hour for anything to actually happen in this movie, as new director Jacob Chase cycles through one tedious jump scare after another. If you are afraid of being in a dentist’s chair, this movie might possibly have some real scares in store for you. Then again, maybe not. The glut of innovative original horror movies we’ve seen this summer only make this look hopelessly passé. Also with Lin Shaye, Sam Spruell, Brandon Perea, Maisie Richardson-Sellers, Island Austin, and Joseph Lopez.
Irumudi (NR) This Telugu-language action-thriller stars Ravi Teja as a recovering alcoholic who takes a spiritual journey to atone for his misdeeds. Also with Priya Bhavani Shankar, Baby Nakshatra, Swasika Vijay, Sai Kumar, and Ajay Ghosh.
It Ends (R) Adulthood becomes the worst case of road fatigue ever in Alexander Ullom’s existential horror film. Phineas Yoon, Akira Jackson, and Noah Toth portray three recent college graduates who are being driven back home by their Army buddy from high school (Mitchell Cole). They find themselves on a road that goes straight on forever with no exits and no signs of civilization, and whenever their car stops, an angry mob of people runs out of the surrounding forest and attacks them. Good thing their car never runs out of gas. Ullom is good with the atmosphere of this endless road trip and the claustrophobia that sets in among our characters, but the writer-director (who also shows up as a guy who gets picked up at the very end) can never bring this to a sharp dramatic point. I’d expect something more from this than the old chestnut that life is a journey.
The Magic Faraway Tree (PG) Based on Enid Blyton’s novel, this fantasy film stars Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy as parents whose children discover a magical land after they move to the countryside. Also with Nicola Coughlan, Nonso Anozie, Phoenix Laroche, Billie Gadsdon, Delilah Bennett-Cardy, Simon Farnaby, Claire Keelan, Jessica Gunning, Pippa Bennett-Warner, Lenny Henry, Simon Russell Beale, Michael Palin, Jennifer Saunders, and Rebecca Ferguson. Voice by Judi Dench.
Mutiny (R) Pretty bad. The latest Jason Statham thriller has him as a corporate security guy in Thailand who’s framed for his boss’ murder and stows away on a cargo ship that turns out to be smuggling human beings. The pacing is slack, the plot is full of holes, and Statham himself looks disengaged from what’s happening. This is director Jean-François Richet’s follow-up to Plane, and it doesn’t have anything like that movie’s energy or attention to character. The only thing distinguishing this from all the other movies where Statham shoots a bunch of people is that this is worse. Also with Annabelle Wallis, Roland Møller, Ramon Tikaram, Chaneil Kular, Arnas Fedaravičius, Lee Charles, Simon Kluth, Jason Wong, and Adrian Lester.
Never Stop Chasing (NR) Ken Cole’s documentary follows storm chaser Reed Timmer as he tracks America’s most powerful tornadoes.
The Odyssey (R) Not free of flaws, but a cogent modern interpretation of Homer’s epic poem. As you might guess, this epic needs the biggest screen you can find so that you can properly appreciate its natural vistas and visual set pieces like the boat steering between Scylla and Charybdis. Writer-director Christopher Nolan is too scrupulous when it comes to the violence in the epic poem; more blood would have brought home the movie’s point that Odysseus (Matt Damon) won the Trojan War by violating sacred values and is trying to restore them. Some of the actors in this cast laden with A-list stars do get lost, but Anne Hathaway finds the rage beneath Penelope’s regal exterior and Lupita Nyong’o pulls off an impressive double role as Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra. Instead of a turgid homework assignment, this earns its epic status thanks to Nolan’s contemporary angle on the story. Also with Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron, Zendaya, Jon Bernthal, John Leguizamo, Himesh Patel, Elliot Page, Samantha Morton, James Remar, Mia Goth, Corey Hawkins, Bill Irwin, Benny Safdie, Jovan Adepo, Logan Marshall-Green, Will Yun Lee, Ryan Hurst, Shiloh Fernandez, Rafi Gavron, and Travis Scott.
Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie (PG) Our adorable pups carry out more rescue missions while the mayor (voiced by Ron Pardo) gets out of prison and hatches more evil schemes with his cat minions. Lather, rinse, repeat. The new installment does take place on an undiscovered island populated by dinosaurs and one dog (voiced by Hayden Chamberlain) who has learned to tame the big reptiles. It isn’t enough to engage newcomers to the series or viewers over the age of 8. Anyone older than that will probably be happier with The End of Oak Street for their dinosaur fix. Additional voices by Carter Young, Rain Janjua, Mckenna Grace, Fortune Feimster, Jameela Jamil, Terry Crews, Bill Nye, Meredith MacNeill, Paris Hilton, Snoop Dogg, and Jennifer Hudson.
Spa Weekend (R) The cinematic equivalent of a champagne mimosa left out in the sun for four hours. Michelle Buteau, Anna Faris, and Leslie Mann play overworked and overstressed mothers and childhood best friends who book a weekend getaway at a beach resort, only for their chaotic long-lost Australian friend (Isla Fisher, particularly charmless) to crash the proceedings. Writer-directors Jon Lucas and Scott Moore come from the Bad Moms movies, but here their comic hijinks are simply loud, annoying, and unfunny. It’s as if the filmmakers assembled these four actresses who have all been better elsewhere and expected something hilarious to happen. It didn’t. Also with Tim Ross, Robert Coleby, Felix Williamson, Dominic Ona-Ariki, Diana Glenn, Ali Basoka, and Erika Heynatz.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day (PG-13) Peter Parker (Tom Holland) endures some growing pains in this flawed movie that nevertheless will cure your Marvel fatigue. In a new reality where everyone has forgotten his identity, Peter has to deal with the fritzing of his superpowers, a new villain who can take control of people’s minds, and trying to re-connect with his former friends MJ and Ned (Zendaya and Jacob Batalon). Peter’s team-up with the Punisher (Jon Bernthal) is a terrific one, as Peter finds himself trying not to become Frank Castle while turning Jean Grey (Sadie Sink) away from the dark side. The shape of the movie defeats director Destin Daniel Cretton, but the story elements get Peter out of a holding pattern and set up the future Avengers movie quite nicely, as Peter realizes that continuing his crime-fighting by himself will lead to him becoming angry and lonely. Also with Mark Ruffalo, Florence Pugh, Liza Colón-Zayas, Tramell Tillman, Michael Mando, Olivia Booth-Ford, Marvin Jones III, Billy Clements, and Marisa Tomei. Voices by Keith David and Naomi Watts.
Tony (R) There are better movies about a smart young man who needs to learn how not to be a bastard, but this one is engaging enough. Dominic Sessa portrays 19-year-old Anthony Bourdain in the summer of 1975 whose dreams of becoming a great novelist are thwarted and instead takes a job washing dishes at a seafood restaurant in Provincetown, Mass. Sessa’s sharp features and piercing gaze make him suited for this role whether he’s observing the workings of the kitchen or being angry at the world for failing to recognize his genius. Tony’s redemption comes a bit too easily, but director/co-writer Matt Johnson (BlackBerry) is a dead solid writer, and his depiction of a clambake on the beach that Tony organizes is a nice note to end things. Also with Emilia Jones, Leo Woodall, Stavros Halkias, Michael Jibrin, Monica Raymund, Dagmara Dominczyk, Rich Sommer, and Antonio Banderas.
Toy Story 5 (PG) The latest installment in the series is all about Jessie the Cowgirl (voiced by Joan Cusack), which helps make it one of the best. With Bonnie (voiced by Scarlett Spears) getting a new tablet (voiced by Greta Lee) as a gift, the toys see a future of neglect, and their attempts to get rid of it end up calling Woody (voiced by Tom Hanks) out of retirement and transporting both Jessie and Bullseye back to her old home, now occupied by a new girl and another set of toys. Conan O’Brien injects a ton of energy and poop jokes as an outdated device designed to potty-train toddlers, but the movie’s success hangs on Jessie discovering the impact she made on her previous owner and coming to terms with the fact that kids will always outgrow their toys. Additional voices by Tim Allen, Bonnie Hunt, Annie Potts, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Ernie Hudson, Matty Matheson, Mykal-Michelle Harris, Kristen Schaal, Tony Hale, Melissa Villaseñor, Alan Cumming, Keanu Reeves, and Bad Bunny.
Dallas Exclusives
Just Play Dead (R) This thriller stars Samuel L. Jackson as a criminal who plans to fake his own death and frame his cheating wife (Eva Green) for the murder. Also with Eoin Macken, María Pedraza, Jason Fernández, Nicole Ansari-Cox, and Jordi Borràs.
The King of Cannabis (NR) Sixx King’s drama stars Luis Guzmán as a marijuana trafficker who initiates a push to legalize the drug. Also with Alimi Ballard, Charles Malik Whitfield, Ptosha Storey, and John Fogarty.
