OPENING
Agadha (NR) This Telugu-language horror film stars Kamakshi Bhaskarla as a young woman seeking answers after a series of mysterious deaths strikes her family. Also with Shravan Reddy, Uika Gupta, Jovika Vijayakumar, Roshan Basheer, Keshav Deepak, and Bhanu Chander. (Opens Friday at AMC Grapevine Mills)
Awarapan 2 (NR) Emraan Hashmi reprises his role from the original 2007 film as a former gangster who devotes himself to fighting sex trafficking. Also with Shabana Azmi, Disha Patani, Suvinder Vicky, Vijayant Kohli, and Atul Kumar. (Opens Friday at AMC Grapevine Mills)
Batwara 1947 (NR) Sunny Deol stars in this historical drama as a Muslim man emigrating with his family from Lahore to West Punjab during the partition of India. Also with Preity Zinta, Shabana Azmi, Karan Deol, Ali Fazal, Abhimanyu Singh, Khushi Hajare, Kanikka Kapur, and Khalid Siddiqui. (Opens Friday)
The Brink of War (PG) This historical thriller is about a 1988 nuclear disarmament summit between Ronald Reagan (Jeff Daniels) and Mikhail Gorbachev (Jared Harris). Also with J.K. Simmons, Aya Cash, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson, Vladimir Kulich, Branka Katic, Tim Dutton, and Hope Davis. (Opens Friday)
Elijah Peel (PG-13) This Christian film stars Robert Malcolm Cumming as a rock star who finds Jesus after a drug-induced heart attack. Also with Evelyn Grace Kite, April Billingsley, Princess Elmore, Jason Louder, Mark McClain Wilson, and Kevin Sorbo. (Opens Friday)
Namaslay (NR) This horror parody is about a group of Indian-Americans who discover a sinister conspiracy behind a yoga studio run by white people. Starring Kiru Srikanth, Angela Sant’Albano, Alicia Mitchell-Mangual, Lauren Blumenfeld, John Gomez, Tara Joshi, and Christina Moore. (Opens Friday at AMC Grapevine Mills)
Nimrods (R) This comedy stars Mason Thames, Kylr Coffman, and Ryan Faust as a rock band who drive from Kansas City to L.A. in 1994 in the belief that they’re opening for Green Day. Also with Mckenna Grace, Jenna Fischer, Angela Kinsey, Keen Ruffalo, Bobby Lee, Sean Gunn, Jolene Blalock, and Fred Armisen. (Opens Friday)
Panchali Pancha Bhartruka (NR) This Indian comedy is about a group of friends caught up in a crime plot when a mob boss’ girlfriend dies near them. Starring Sareeh Far, Rajendra Prasad, Roll Rida, Gemini Suresh, Venkat Duggireddy, and Raj Pavan. (Opens Friday at AMC Grapevine Mills)
Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie (PG) The second theatrical film in the animated series has our lovable heroes encountering a mysterious island filled with dinosaurs. Voices by Mckenna Grace, Fortune Feimster, Jameela Jamil, Terry Crews, Bill Nye, Paris Hilton, Snoop Dogg, and Jennifer Hudson. (Opens Friday)
The Rivals of Amziah King (R) Matthew McConaughey stars in this Western as a beekeeper who teaches his foster daughter (Angelina LookingGlass) the ways of his trade. Also with Cole Sprouse, Owen Teague, Rob Morgan, Tony Revolori, Scott Shepherd, and Kurt Russell. (Opens Friday)
Six: The Musical Live! (PG-13) Liz Clare’s concert film captures a performance of the West End musical imagining Henry VIII’s wives as pop music stars. Starring Aimie Atkinson, Alexia McIntosh, Millie O’Connell, Natalie Paris, Maiya Quansah-Breed, and Jarneia Richard-Noel. (Opens Friday)
Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (R) The latest film by Jane Schoenbrun (I Saw the TV Glow) stars Hannah Einbinder as a movie director aiming to film the latest installment of a slasher franchise at a remote camp. Also with Gillian Anderson, Jack Haven, Patrick Fischler, Eva Victor, Arthur Conti, Zach Cherry, Sarah Sherman, Jess McLeod, Quintessa Swindell, and Jasmin Savoy Brown. (Opens Friday in Dallas)
Vishwanath and Sons (NR) This Tamil-language drama stars Suriya as a competitive target shooter who’s called on to take over the family business in India. Also with Mamitha Baiju, Radhika Sarathkumar, Bhavani Sre, and Hitesh Gwalani. (Opens Friday at AMC Grapevine Mills)
The Wrong Girls (R) Kristen Stewart and Alia Shawkat star in this comedy as gay potheads who are caught up in a mystery plot. Also with LaKeith Stanield, Zack Fox, Tony Hale, Kumail Nanjiani, Kate McKinnon, Sugar Lyn Beard, Geena Davis, Seth Rogen, and Cate Blanchett. (Opens Friday)
Your Name (PG) Released in both English-subtitled and -dubbed versions, this teen flick is about a 15-year-old Tokyo boy (voiced by Ryȗnosuke Kamiki and Michael Sinterniklaas) and a 15-year-old country girl (voiced by Mone Kamishiraishi and Stephanie Sheh) who switch bodies every few days while they sleep. This is not a Western-style examination of gender fluidity but rather a fable driven by a mystical confluence of events involving a comet passing overhead and the Shinto shrine that the girl’s family takes care of. The thriller-like conclusion feels pulled from an entirely different film, but there’s no doubting writer-director Makoto Shinkai’s talent and eye for beauty. This 10th-anniversary re-release deserves a look, and not just from the anime fans. Additional voices by Masami Nagasawa, Laura Post, Ryô Narita, Kyle Hebert, Aoi Yuki, Cassandra Morris, Nobunaga Shimazaki, Ben Pronsky, Kanon Tani, Catie Harvey, Etsuko Ichihara, and Glynis Ellis. (Re-opens Friday)
NOW PLAYING
DC (NR) This Tamil-language gangster film stars Lokesh Kanagaraj, Wamiqa Gabbi, Sanjana, Avinash Raghudevan, Kasthuri Raja, and Arun Matheswaran.
Gauthali (NR) This Nepalese drama is about a young woman (Simran Khadka) searching for freedom after being forced into marriage as a child. Also with Arun Chhetri, Madan Krishna Shrestha, Rabindra Jha, Sita Devi Timilsina, and Rajendra Nepali.
I Want Your Sex (R) Gregg Araki’s latest film is this comedy about a young intern (Cooper Hoffman) who enters into a BDSM relationship with the artist (Olivia Wilde) who employs him. Also with Mason Gooding, Chase Sui Wonders, Daveed Diggs, Roxane Mesquida, James Duval, Margaret Cho, Johnny Knoxville, and Charli xcx.
Ice Cream Man (R) Better than the Scary Movie reboot, not nearly as good as Weapons. Eli Roth’s new horror film stars Ari Millen as a mute ice cream truck driver who hands out frozen treats to kids in a New England town that turns them into zombie-like killers who murder all the grown-ups. Charlie Zeltzer provides some good moments as a lactose-intolerant boy who witnesses the madness descending on his town, but Roth himself (who portrays a parent here and stages his own decapitation) has done better injecting twisted humor into his horror films. The movie reveals a germ of an interesting idea late in its going, but it doesn’t spend enough time building up to that revelation, so this flick melts in the summer sun. Also with Kiori Mirza Waldman, Shiloh O’Reilly, Sarah Abbott, Dylan Hawco, Luke Dietz, Charlie Storey, Darrin Baker, Lorenzo Antonucci, Benjamin Byron Davis, and Karen Cliche.
The Invite (R) In the same league as Woody Allen’s best stuff. Olivia Wilde directs and co-stars in this comedy as a housewife whose marriage to a music teacher (Seth Rogen) is on the rocks when she invites their upstairs neighbors (Edward Norton and Penélope Cruz) to a dinner party, only to find out that the neighbors are swingers who want to invite them for group sex. The director delivers a virtuoso visual performance, moving her camera around the single setting crisply and efficiently, and she casts herself cannily as someone who’s desperate to please. Rogen might just be even better as a former musician who has checked out of his job as a music teacher, and screenwriters Rashida Jones and Will McCormack (who adapt this from a Spanish stage play) serve it all up with dialogue that’s good enough to eat. The whole thing is tense and funny and insightful about marriage like nothing else at the multiplex.
Korean Kanakaraju (NR) This Indian horror-comedy stars Varun Tej as a man haunted by an evil spirit transported in a vessel imported from Korea. Also with VTV Ganesh, Daksha Nagarkar, Satya, Ritika Nayak, and Bulliraju.
Lalibazar (NR) This Nepalese drama stars Swastima Khadka as a woman preparing to offer her child as a sacrifice to a god. Also with Bishal Devkota, Rabindra Singh Baniya, Samaira Thapa, Prashamsa Subedi, Mukund Shrestha, Abaya Baral, and Aasha Poudel.
Minions & Monsters (PG) The series goes all cinephile, which turns out to be a pretty good thing. The Minions (voiced by Pierre Coffin) wash up in Hollywood in the 1920s and become silent-film stars before the advent of sound film ruins their careers as actors. The setup allows the filmmakers to engage in all manner of references to movies from that time period, as well as acknowledge that the Minions owe much of their comedy to the stylings of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Harold Lloyd. Next to those, the halves of the plot involving most of the Minions looking for another supervillain and a small group of them trying to make their own movie are both rather pallid. It’s still cleverer than the Scary Movie reboot, and a perfect introduction to silent movies for your kid. Additional voices by Christoph Waltz, Allison Janney, Jesse Eisenberg, Trey Parker, Zoey Deutch, Phil LaMarr, Bobby Moynihan, Jeff Bridges, and George Lucas.
Moana (PG) As with too many other live-action Disney remakes, the studio rushed in with this without pondering why they were doing it. Catherine Laga’aia takes over the role of the Polynesian princess, and she has a fine voice. Even that, though, doesn’t register as an improvement on the animated 2016 original, which is too fresh in our minds to need a remake. If Disney can’t be bothered with rethinking its remakes, why should you bother paying for a ticket, and why should I bother writing it up? Also with Dwayne Johnson, John Tui, Frankie Adams, Eric Scanlan, and Rena Owen. Voice by Jemaine Clement.
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.
One Night Only (R) Monica Barbaro deserves better than this bizarre high-concept romantic comedy. Set in a future America where premarital sex is illegal except for one night per year, the story ignores the political aspects of its story in favor of a musician (Barbaro) having a platonic romance with a pizzeria manager (Callum Turner) on the aforementioned night. The plot convenience isn’t really that convenient, raising more questions than the movie cares to answer. The movie’s worth is in the performance of its leading lady, who sings, dances, plays piano, and spends much of the film in a high-hemmed skirt that makes her legs look a thousand miles long. She’s also quite funny as a lovelorn single, and receives enough support from the other cast members to keep this from being a one-woman show, but she can’t overcome the unthoughtful weirdness of the conceit. Also with Maya Hawke, King Princess, Charlie Gillespie, Ben Marshall, Jay Ellis, Quintessa Swindell, Okieriete Onaodowan, Mike Birbiglia, Ziwe, LeVar Burton, Molly Ringwald, and uncredited cameos by Nicholas Braun, Bobby Cannavale, and Pete Davidson.
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.
Super Troopers 3 (R) Broken Lizard’s comedy remains a taste that I have yet to acquire. The Vermont state troopers here try to adapt to new technology while Thorny (Jay Chandrasekhar) tries to prevent the wedding between his sister (Hannah Simone) and his fellow officer (Kevin Heffernan). There is a funny slapstick bit when the prospective groom eats a lobster despite a lethal shellfish allergy and forces everybody to stick him with an EpiPen. The movie at least recognizes that the guys have gotten older, but fails to do anything funny with that. Also with Steve Lemme, Erik Stolhanske, Paul Soter, Andrew Dismukes, Nat Faxon, Sakina Jaffrey, Iqbal Theba, Marisa Coughlan, Jon Rudnitsky, Chace Crawford, Lynda Carter, and Brian Cox.
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.
Young Washington (PG-13) As wooden as George Washington’s teeth. William Franklyn-Miller portrays the future president of the USA as an ambitious young military officer whose desire to prove himself to his British commanders leads him to some humiliating defeats in the French and Indian War. It’s an interesting choice for the movie to focus on the setbacks that ultimately led to his fame, and some of the battle sequences are done with a modicum of skill by director on Erwin. Yet the drama between those sequences is leaden, and Franklyn-Miller brings little zest to the lead role. This doesn’t give much more entertainment value than a history textbook. Also with Andy Serkis, Mary-Louise Parker, Mia Rodgers, John Foss, Michael Benz, Jonno Davies, Joel David Smallbone, Montana Cypress, Kelsey Grammer, and Ben Kingsley.
Dallas Exclusives
Alterity (NR) Johnny Remo’s horror film is about a group of ghost hunters who discover a government secret in an abandoned shopping mall. Starring Emi Curia, Bryan Eubank, Kelvin Hodge, Lucas Hart, Brittney Rae, and Jeremy Sumpter.
The Run (NR) This postapocalyptic thriller stars Callan Mulvey as a smuggler trying to protect a runaway teen (Charlotte Maggi). Also with Felix Cameron, Taylor Wiese, Tim Phillipps, Joe Romeo, and Nicholas Hope.
