OPENING
Aa Bata Aama 2 (NR) The sequel to the Nepali film from this past January, this film continues the story of the family that leaves Nepal for a better future. Starring Bipana Thapa, Paul Shah, Pradeep Rawat, and Simran Pant. (Opens Friday)
California Schemin’ (R) James McAvoy co-stars in his own directorial debut depicting the musical career of Silibil N’ Brains (Samuel Bottomley and Séamus McLean Ross), the Scottish rappers who pretended to be Americans to launch their careers. Also with Lucy Halliday, James Harkness, Elijah Cook, Amber Anderson, Rebekah Murrell, Jennifer Winn, and James Corden. (Opens Friday)
Cha Maya Chhapakkai 2 (NR) The sequel to the 2019 Nepalese comedy stars Keki Adhakari, Rama Thapaliya, Deepak Raj Giri, Prakash Ghimire, and Deepa Shree Niraula. (Opens Friday at Cinemark North East Mall)
Crawlers (R) This horror film is about a group of tenants fighting an invasion of killer spiders in their apartment building. Starring Matilda Lutz, Gregg Sulkin, Melina Matthews, Isabella Egizi, Chris Rogers, and Elena Sanz. (Opens Friday)
The Devils (NC-17) This remastered release of Ken Russell’s 1971 film stars Vanessa Redgrave as a 17th-century French nun whose accusation of witchcraft roils a city that’s under siege. Also with Oliver Reed, Dudley Sutton, Gemma Jones, Max Adrian, Murray Melvin, Georgina Hale, Christopher Logue, John Woodvine, Kenneth Colley, and an uncredited Twiggy. (Opens Friday)
Jailer 2 (NR) Rajinikanth stars in this Tamil-language action-comedy about a retired prison guard trying to protect his family from criminals. Also with S.J. Suryah, Mithun Chakraborty, Suraj Venjaramoodu, Ramya Krishnan, Vidya Balan, Yogi Babu, Shiva Rajkumar, Mohanlal, Nora Fatehi, Vijay Sethupathi, Hrithik Roshan, and Jackie Shroff. (Opens Friday)
Mr. & Mrs. Pardon (NR) This Chinese comedy stars Bing Jia and Xiang Wei as a married couple spending the mandatory 30-day cooling-off period apart before finalizing their divorce. Also with Ai Liya, Hu Ming, Jiang Shimeng, Ju Hao, Ke Da, Liang Long, Liu Liu, and Shen Chunyang. (Opens Friday at AMC Grapevine Mills)
Musk (R) The latest documentary by Alex Gibney is a 4-hour portrait of Elon Musk. Also with Samantha Power, Kara Swisher, and Geoffrey Hinton. (Opens Friday)
Nayi Naveli (NR) This Hindi-language comedy stars Yami Gautam as a bride who is so perfect that her in-laws become suspicious of her. Also with Sunita Rajwar, Aaditya Kulshreshth, Addinath M. Kotare, Mita Vashisht, Sushmita Mukherjee, and Sonal Jha. (Opens Friday at Cinemark North East Mall)
The North (PG-13) Bart Schrijver’s film is about two friends (Olly Bassi and Bart Harder) who try to reconnect during a long hike through the Scottish highlands. Also with Carles Pulido, Jacob Smyth, Steve Walker, Gráinne Blumenthal, and Matthijs van de Sande Bakhuyzen. (Opens Friday at AMC Grapevine Mills)
One Eye Open (NR) Michael D. Coffey’s horror film is about a group of thieves haunted by evil forces while trying to rob an elderly man (Guy Messenger). Also with Kushi Beauchamp, Chris Bylsma, Maximiliano Hernández, Addison Landes, Jamie Addison, Kevin Willmott, Laura Kirk, and the late RJ Mitte. (Opens Friday at AMC Grapevine Mills)
Perla (NR) This Spanish-language drama stars Carlos Ponce as an aging Puerto Rican folk musician who encounters a rising reggaeton star (Zuleyka Rivera Mendoza). Also with Yamil Urena, Mia Blakeman, Hermes Croatto, Laura Carmine, and Paz Vega. (Opens Friday at América Cinemas Fort Worth)
Prahaar: The Untold Story of Ujjwal NIkam (NR) Rajkummar Rao stars in this Indian legal thriller as the man prosecuting criminals connected with the 2008 Mumbai bombings. Also with Lalit Prabhakar, Jaideep Ahlawat, Wamiqa Gabbi, Ahish Vidyarthi, and Sikandar Kher. (Opens Friday)
Ranabaali (NR) This Telugu-language historical drama stars Vijay Deverakonda as a 19th-century man protesting famine conditions in southern India. Also with Rashmika Mandanna, Luke McGibney, Geoffrey Giuliano, Vladimir Angelove, and Arnold Vosloo. (Opens Friday)
Sense and Sensibility (PG) This new adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel stars Daisy Edgar-Jones and Esmé Creed-Miles as sisters with different attitudes towards romance. Also with Caitríona Balfe, Bodhi Rae Breathnach, Stacy Martin, Tom Brooke, Turlough Convery, Herbert Nordrum, Frank Dillane, Eliot Sumner, Fiona Shaw, and George MacKay. (Opens Friday)
Street Fighter (PG-13) This is the second attempt at adapting the popular 1990s video game. Starring Noah Centineo, Andrew Koji, Jason Momoa, Callina Liang, Cody Rhodes, Olivier Richters, Vidyut Jammwal, Hirooki Goto, Mel Jarnson, Orville Peck, Kyle Mooney, David Dastmalchian, Roman Reigns, and 50 Cent. (Opens Friday)
Tazza: The Song of Beelzebub (NR) The fourth film in this Korean series of gambling thrillers stars Byun Yo-han as an online casino operator who seeks revenge after losing his business to an unscrupulous competitor (Roh Jae-won). Also with Miyoshi Ayaka, Yoon Kyung-ho, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Jo Woo-jin, and Stephanie Lee. (Opens Friday at AMC Grapevine Mills)
Trust Me, I’m a Doctor (R) Kal Penn stars in this biographical drama as Sandeep Kapoor, the doctor implicated in the death of his patient, Anna Nicole Smith (Abbie Cornish). Also with Al Sapienza, Elon Gold, Charlotte Ubben, Virginia Cowan, and Linda Hamilton. (Opens Friday)
Whalefall (PG-13) The special effects people here deserve Oscar consideration. Based on Daniel Kraus’ novel, the film stars Austin Abrams as a man who searches for the remains of his abusive father (Josh Brolin) who committed suicide in Monastery Bay off central California. While scuba diving, the young man gets swallowed by a sperm whale along with a seriously pissed-off giant squid and has about an hour’s worth of air to work his way out. The re-creation of the inside of the whale is good enough to send claustrophobes running for the hills, and Abrams emerges with much credit in a role that no actor could adequately prepare for. The father-son stuff, however, gets heavy enough to derail the last third of the movie. The film’s achievement is more technical than anything else. Also with John Ortiz, Jane Levy, Emily Rudd, and Elisabeth Shue. (Opens Friday)
You Can See Everything (R) Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim collaborate on this documentary that follows Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes before she’s sent to prison. (Opens Friday)
You Can’t Leave (R) Scott Windhauser’s horror film is about a group of people searching for a missing friend deep in the forest. Starring Spencer Boldman, Paola Andino, Cameron Inman, Thomas Bauer, Taylor Murphy, and Kristos Andrews. (Opens Friday)
Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother (R) Mahershala Ali stars in this thriller as a Muslim contract killer in Houston trying to protect his children after his wife’s death. Also with John Cho, Tramell Tillman, Abubakr Ali, Laith Nakli, Adia, Jahleel Kamara, Tiffany Boone, and Giancarlo Esposito. (Opens Friday)
NOW PLAYING
Angel and the Badman (PG-13) This remake of the 1947 Western stars Zachary Levi as a wounded outlaw who takes shelter with a good Samaritan (Meg Fraser). Also with Neal McDonough, Jean Louisa Kelly, Barrett Ellis Luca, Maurice Greene, Melissa Chambers, Sean Bridgers, and Tommy Lee Jones.
Appofeniacs (R) This science-fiction film stars Aaron Holliday as a hacker who sets off a chain of violence by releasing his deepfake videos into the world. Also with Sean Gunn, Jermaine Fowler, Paige Searcy, Michael Abbott Jr., Simran Jehani, Scarlett DeMeo, and Will Brandt.
Avengers: Endgame (PG-13) Pays off in spades. Following the events of Avengers: Infinity War, our heroes travel through time to try to avert the mass death that occurred when Thanos (Josh Brolin) snapped his fingers. The time-travel gambit is cleverly done, filling in backstory and making some of Marvel’s less essential previous films more important in retrospect. The film hits home emotionally, too, when you least expect it, as Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and Nebula (Karen Gillan) carry more emotional weight here than in other installments. Even if the massive climactic battle sequence is calculated to make you cheer when various superheroes enter the fray, it also brings an uncommon unity to the 21 movies that preceded it. Given what a heavy task the movie had to accomplish, it succeeds better than it had any right to. Also with Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Brie Larson, Tessa Thompson, Danai Gurira, Chadwick Boseman, Tom Holland, Chris Pratt, Benedict Cumberbatch, Evangeline Lilly, Gwyneth Paltrow, Zoe Saldaña, Elizabeth Olsen, Anthony Mackie, Rene Russo, Sebastian Stan, Tom Hiddleston, Benedict Wong, Dave Bautista, Pom Klementieff, Winston Duke, Letitia Wright, Cobie Smulders, Linda Cardellini, Ty Simpkins, Ken Jeong, Frank Grillo, Maximiliano Hernández, Jon Favreau, Hayley Atwell, John Slattery, Tilda Swinton, Marisa Tomei, Angela Bassett, Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer, William Hurt, Natalie Portman, Robert Redford, and Samuel L. Jackson. Voices by Kerry Condon, Taika Waititi, Vin Diesel, and Bradley Cooper.
Baththa (NR) This Tamil-language comedy stars Vijay Sethupathi as a feared gangster who gets locked in a school bathroom for a week. Also with Sai Prithviraj, Lijomol Jose, Sahasra Shree, Santhy Balachandran, Hari Krishnan, Vishnu Govindan, Ajay Ghosh, and Ramya Pandian.
Comrade Kalyan (NR) This Indian film stars Sree Vishnu as a movie theater owner in a remote village who struggles to keep his business alive. Also with Radhika Sarathkumar, Mahima Nambiar, Upendra Limaye, Shine Tom Chacko, Brahmaji, and Vennela Kishore.
Coyote vs. Acme (PG) The best use of the Looney Tunes characters since Who Framed Roger Rabbit? This partially animated film has Wile E. Coyote filing a massive lawsuit against the Acme Corporation for manufacturing defective products. It’s an inspired idea to pair him up with a burned-out lawyer (Will Forte) who has given up on his job and makes a living filing nuisance suits that Acme is happy to settle. The movie plays all the legal stuff surprisingly straight, with Bugs Bunny (voiced by Eric Bauza) calling the lawyer with anonymous tips and Tweety Bird (also voiced by Bauza) throwing a bomb through the law office’s window. The movie somehow captures the tiresome nature of fighting against massive corporations with greater resources while firing enough gags to keep you and the kids laughing. Additional voices by Candi Milo and Jim Cummings. Also with Lana Condor, John Cena, P.J. Byrne, Tone Bell, Martha Kelly, Kenneth Choi, and Luis Guzmán.
Daniel and the Fiery Furnace (PG-13) This Biblical drama stars Mena Massoud as the prophet trying to stay alive under the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar (Elijah Alexander). Also with Zaki Ali, Sophie DeCaro, Jazz Lintott, Roberto Zenca, Mahir Pandhi, and Zachary Coffin.
Digger (R) I always hate myself while watching Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s movies, and you may hate yourself too if you watch this gruesome environmental satire. Tom Cruise portrays an elderly Texas oilman whose drilling in Greenland creates an environmental disaster that’s set to kill millions in Northern Europe. The opening half-hour plays like the Coen brothers at their cartoonish worst before the movie introduces a framing device that adds on a layer of metafiction. This actually works better than the main story, because it addresses the continued usefulness of making art when the world is literally falling apart. The sad part is, you have to sit through so much cack-handed buffoonery to get to it. The role chimes with Cruise’s gonzo side, but he can’t make this movie into the statement about American hubris that Iñárritu means it to be. Also with John Goodman, Sandra Hüller, Riz Ahmed, Jesse Plemons, Emma D’Arcy, Sophie Wilde, Burn Gorman, Robert John Burke, Pip Torrens, Stephen Wight, and Michael Stuhlbarg.
Drishyam: The Conclusion (NR) Not a remake of the Malayalam-language thriller, this Hindi-language film and final installment in a trilogy stars Ajay Devgn as Vijay Salgaonkar, the patriarch of a family trying to hide their past. You’d think he wouldn’t be so keen to turn his life story (crime and all) into a movie script, but whatever. Picking up six months after the end of the second film’s events, this film has a cold-case specialist (Jaideep Ahlawat) taking up the case and harassing Vijay’s family, despite Vijay having apparently converted to Christianity and going to church every Sunday. There’s a nicely queasy scene when the cop barges in on a meeting to arrange the engagement of Vijay’s daughter (Ishita Dutta) and ruins her prospects, but the procedural aspects of the criminal trial don’t build to a conclusion quickly or cleverly enough. Also with Shriya Saran, Tabu, Rajat Kapoor, Saurabh Shukla, Mrunal Jadhav, Kamlesh Sawant, Neha Joshi, Ajeet Singh, Ramchandra Singh, Nishant Singh, and Prakash Raj.
Forgotten Island (PG) The mere fact that this animated film warrants comparison with KPop Demon Hunters should tell you everything. On the eve of their separation for college, two teenage Filipino best friends (voiced by H.E.R. and Liza Soberano) are transported to an enchanted island filled with magical creatures from Filipino folklore. The creatures are a big reason why the movie works so well, as they are unfamiliar to Western audiences and the animators clearly have a grand time depicting their wonderful and terrifying aspects. On top of that, the animation style shifts between 3D and the hand-drawn look of 1990s Japanese anime, and the background of the picture is full of references to the highly distinctive culture of the Asian islands with Spanish and American influences. It’s enough to make you want to hit the nearest Jollibee. Additional voices by Dave Franco, Jenny Slate, Dolly de Leon, Manny Jacinto, Jo Koy, Ronny Chieng, Kevin McCann, Eric Bauza, Harvey Guillém, Wagner Moura, and Lea Salonga.
Heart of the Beast (R) Watchable, though no more than that. Brad Pitt stars in this survival drama as a Special Forces veteran and bush pilot who suffers a heart attack in mid-flight and crashes his plane in the Alaskan wilderness. With the help of his dog (like him, a PTSD-suffering veteran of the Iraq war), he has to make his way to civilization. The simple story and lack of dialogue helps protect writer-director David Ayer (Suicide Squad) from the worst of his melodramatic excesses. The new Shaun the Sheep movie is better at depicting our bonds with dogs, but the wild backdrop is imposing on the big screen, and the way the soldier passes on his combat-trained dog to a new owner is moving in the end. Also with Anna Lambe and J.K. Simmons.
Luck for Sale (NR) This Vietnamese comedy is about a young man in poor health who performs a religious ritual to change his luck. Starring Hong Dao, Hong Van, Thu Tuyet, and Vo Tan Phat.
Matloob Aelian (NR) This Arabic-language comedy stars Karim Abdelaziz as a supermarket manager who’s dragged into an international spy plot. Also with Mostafa Ghareeb and Yasmin Sabri.
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.
Other Mommy (R) This horror film is about a little girl (Arabella Olivia Clark) who is stalked by an evil entity that looks like her mother (Jessica Chastain). Also with Jay Duplass, Dichen Lachman, Travis Nelson, and Karen Allen.
Pan’s Labyrinth (R) Guillermo del Toro’s crusher of a masterpiece gets re-released 20 years later, and its luminous beauty and terror still come through. Ivana Baquero plays an 11-year-old girl in Franco’s Spain whose evil stepfather (Sergi López) has been posted to the countryside to exterminate the last pro-democracy rebels. One of the film’s achievements is that the stepfather’s mission feels so much of a piece with the heroine’s quest to complete three tasks and become the queen of the fairies. Del Toro doesn’t strike a single false note in bringing these halves of the story together, as our heroine’s imaginings grow wilder as her reality grows bleaker. The film is deeply sad and magnificent. Also with Doug Jones, Ariadna Gil, Maribel Verdú, Álex Angulo, Manolo Soto, César Vera, Roger Casamajor, and Federico Luppi.
Practical Magic 2 (PG-13) A tired nostalgia act. Everything that was charming about the 1998 original film is gone from this sequel, in which the Owens sisters (Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman) travel to London to prevent Sally’s youngest daughter (Joey King) from being entrapped as she tries to end the family’s love curse, The change of scenery doesn’t help, and despite the energy brought by both the leads and the younger generation of Owens witches, the film remains curiously inert as everybody works through their issues. Director Susanne Bier was an Oscar-winning director back in Denmark, and her qualities are very little in evidence. The talent showed up for this follow-up, but the material didn’t. Also with Maisie Williams, Lee Pace, Xolo Maridueña, Solly McLeod, Katy Wix, Stockard Channing, and Dianne Wiest.
Primetime (R) Robert Pattinson portrays NBC journalist Chris Hansen as a preening, stuck-up actor whose every gesture and line reading is overrehearsed and overdone. As a result, he has never been better. The film follows the To Catch a Predator host in the fall of 2006, who works with an aspiring Hollywood actor (Skyler Gisondo) who’s on the show to impersonate 13-year-old boys and lure pedophiles into various trap houses before Chris swoops in. The movie looks like crap because it’s shot on cameras available in the mid-2000s, a deliberate choice by director Lance Oppenheim, who emphasizes the artificial nature of the Dateline NBC segment at every turn. Playing a ten-cent narcissist who preys on even smaller men for ratings numbers, Pattinson manages to be even creepier than the pedophiles. Also with Merritt Wever, Matthew Maher, Phoebe Bridgers, Bokeem Woodbine, Tony Revolori, Bob Ari, Jonathan Lipnicki, Sean Bridgers, Jessica Hecht, Bill Heck, Creed Bratton, Alex Winter, and Anna Faris.
Resident Evil (R) The eighth movie in the series is the one that the video games deserved the whole time. Austin Abrams portrays an organ courier making a delivery to the hospital in Raccoon City on the day that the zombie pandemic breaks out. Director/co-writer Zach Cregger (Weapons) replicates the feel of the games in all the right ways, structuring scenes as puzzles that the main character has to solve and realizing every setting as thoroughly as if it were designed for a game. This may be a paycheck job for him, but he doesn’t treat it like one. Instead, he brings much of his skill to bear so that you don’t feel cheapened for enjoying the zombie shenanigans, and Abrams is a capable lead playing a man who’s not trained for his situation. Also with Paul Walter Hauser, Kali Reis, Will Merrick, Griffin Newman, Johnno Wilson, and Zach Cherry. Voice by Sara Paxton.
The Social Reckoning (R) Aaron Sorkin drops yet another metric ton of verbiage on our heads in this intelligent but wearisome follow-up to The Social Network. The film takes place in the years 2019-21 as Wall Street Journal reporter Jeff Horwitz (Jeremy Allen White) secretly meets with Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen (Mikey Madison) over the latter’s information that the social media platform is rigging the algorithm to promote hate speech and other ragebait. The script makes some useful points about how our networks manipulate us, but it all gets drowned in writer-director Sorkin’s sameness of tone, and his writing isn’t as sharp as it used to be. The climax set during the Jan. 6 riots feels too cheap by half, and so does the Mary Tyler Moore-style ending. As Mark Zuckerberg, Jeremy Strong takes over the role from Jesse Eisenberg and plays the Facebook CEO like he’s Dracula. Also with Wunmi Mosaku, Billy Magnussen, Betty Gilpin, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Anna Lambe, Aidan Laprete, Kelley Pereira, Nelson Franklin, Patrick Fischler, Portia Doubleday, and Bill Burr.
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.
Verity (R) The best-ever movie adaptation of a Colleen Hoover novel, for what that’s worth. Dakota Johnson plays an unsuccessful novelist who’s hired to complete a series of popular crime novels by a best-selling author (Anne Hathaway) who’s now paralyzed and catatonic because of a car accident. Our heroine comes across a draft of the author’s memoir where she appears to confess to murdering her child, or does she? Hathaway gets to play a mother wrestling with her impulses to do the unspeakable, and the movie does best with its Gothic-horror touches as our heroine sees the patient walking around the palatial house in rural Vermont. Yet there are too many holes in the plot, and director Michael Showalter is a comedy filmmaker who doesn’t have the instincts to give this movie the zip of a good thriller. Hoover’s readers deserve better craftsmanship than this. Also with Josh Hartnett, Brady Wagner, Irina Dvorovenko, K.K. Moggie, and Ismael Cruz Córdova.
Dallas Exclusives
Animals (R) Ben Affleck directs and stars in this thriller as a politician whose son is kidnapped while he is running for mayor of Los Angeles. Also with Kerry Washington, Steven Yeun, Ray Fisher, Luis Gerardo Méndez, Adriana Paz, and Gillian Anderson.
Concessions (NR) Mas Bouzidi’s drama takes place on the last day of business for a Texas movie theater. Starring Steven Ogg, Josh Hamilton, Samuel Dunning, Greg Roman, Lily Autumn Page, Ritishsa Chakraborty, and the late Michael Madsen.
The Scout (NR) Paula González-Nasser’s drama stars Mimi Davila as a New York City location scout trying to find locations for the shooting of a film project. Also with Rutanya Alda, Matt Barats, Jackson Devereux, Lisa Haas, Sarah Herman, Otmara Marrero, and Ikechukwu Ufomadu.
Unzipped (R) The historical re-release of Douglas Keeve’s 1995 documentary follows fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi as he prepares to unveil his 1994 fall collection.
