OPENING
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. (Re-opens Friday)
Charlie Harper (R) Nick Robinson and Emilia Jones star in this romance as a young couple navigating the challenges of adulthood together. Also with Jessica Blackmore, Virginia Tucker, Ja’Quan Monroe-Henderson, Gralen Bryant Banks, and Jonathan Gregg. (Opens Friday)
Deep in the Heart 2: Texas Rivers (G) Ben Masters’ wildlife documentary examines the flora and fauna of our state’s rivers. Narrated by Ethan Hawke. (Opens Friday)
The Deputy (R) This Western stars Duke Nicholson as a young sheriff’s deputy who has a dead body vanish from a crime scene that he’s watching. Also with William H. Macy, Stephen Dorff, Billie Lourd, Colleen Camp, and Tiffany Haddish. (Opens Friday in Dallas)
Dorothy (NR) Keerthy Suresh stars in this Indian drama as a woman who mysteriously appears in a village riven by caste violence in the 1990s. Also with Sananth, Rishikanth, and Muthkumar. (Opens Friday)
Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty! (R) This dance film stars Rinko Kikuchi as a Japanese ballroom dancer who falls in love with her new Mexican tango instructor (Alberto Guerra). Also with Alejandro Edda, You, Yoh Yoshida, Keren Louis, Charley Flyte, and Damián Alcázar. (Opens Friday)
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. (Opens Friday)
Hello Beautiful (NR) Tricia Helfer stars in this drama as a fashion model who’s diagnosed with breast cancer. Also with Tarek Bishara, Sara Boustany, Liam Anderson, Susan Shalhoub Larkin, and Lisa Marcos. (Opens Friday)
Last Train to Fortune (PG-13) This Western stars Malcolm McDowell as a schoolteacher who strikes up an unlikely friendship with a criminal (James Paxton) during a long trip. Also with Mary Steenburgen, Laura Marano, Marshall Bell, M.C. Gainey, and Bernadette Peters. (Opens Friday in Dallas)
No Limbs, No LImits: The NickV Story (NR) Matthew Thayer’s documentary follows Australian motivational speaker Nick Vujicic, who was born without arms or legs. (Opens Friday)
The Paradise (NR) This Indian action-thriller stars Nani as a man leading his small tribe in its fight for civil rights. Also with Raghav Juyal, Kayadu Lohar, Sonali Kulkarni, Mohan Babu, and Tanikella Bharani. (Opens Friday)
The Stunt Driver (R) Jay Baruchel stars in this biography of 1970s Canadian stunt driver Ken Carter. Also with Ed Helms, Ben Foster, Laurence Lebeouf, Joe Cobden, and Marc Beaupré. (Opens Friday)
The Vvaan: Force of the Forrest (NR) Sidharth Malhotra stars in this Indian fantasy film as a city dweller who goes back to his ancestral village and encounters mystical spirits. Also with Tamannaah Bhatia, Anup Soni, Shweta Tiwari, Sunil Grover, and Maniesh Paul. (Opens Friday)
You Had to Be There: How the Toronto Godspell Ignited the Comedy Revolution, Spread Love & Overalls, and Created a Community That Changed the World (in a Canadian Kind of Way) (NR) Nick Davis’ documentary is about a 1972 musical theater production that spawned numerous show business careers. Starring Eugene Levy, Martin Short, Dan Aykroyd, Mike Myers, Victor Garber, Janeane Garofalo, Andrea Martin, Dave Thomas, Heidi Gardner, Paul Shaffer, Stephen Schwartz, James Austin Johnson, and Lin-Manuel Miranda. (Opens Friday in Dallas)
NOW PLAYING
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.
By Any Means (R) A prosthetics-wearing Mark Wahlberg can’t inject any life into this turgid historical drama. He plays a New York mob hitman who teams up with an FBI agent (Yahya Abdul Mateen II) to take down the Ku Klux Klansmen who are murdering Black voters in Mississippi in the 1960s. Director Elegance Bratton showed some talent in his autobiographical debut feature The Inspection, but none of it is in evidence as this film follows our two protagonists while they crack white racists’ heads and murder local cops in the name of justice. If you’re going to advocate vigilantism, you could at least do it with some energy or creativity or anything else that would make it watchable. Also with Nicole Beharie, Josh Lucas, Giancarlo Esposito, LisaGay Hamilton, Ethan Embry, LaChanze, Will Brittain, and David Strathairn.
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.
Hope (R) This Korean alien invasion movie is somehow even crazier than it appears. Hwang Jung-min stars as the police chief of a quiet coastal town who one day discovers a 10-foot-tall alien tearing apart buildings, people, and bears in his village. The alien is kept offscreen for as long as possible, allowing writer-director Na Hong-jin to show off his Spielberg-like talent for suspense and building up tension. The creatures look fantastic when they’re standing still in close-up, less so when they’re in long shot and running after our heroes. This movie begs for comparison to Bong Joon-ho’s The Host, and if the script doesn’t have that kind of depth, it does match the earlier film for dark humor. Na’s flair for action puts this across. Well-known Hollywood actors portray the aliens, and they’re honestly overqualified for what they’re given to do. Also with Zo In-sung, Hoyeon, Eum Moon-suk, Im Hyun-sik, Lee Sang-hee, Cameron Britton, Taylor Russell, Michael Fassbender, and Alicia Vikander.
If I Go Will They Miss Me (NR) This low-budget Black domestic drama is a jewel waiting to be unearthed. Bodhi Dell portrays a 12-year-old boy growing up in the Watts neighborhood of L.A. and trying to re-connect with his father (J. Alphonse Nicholson) after the latter has just been released from a 10-year prison term. Writer-director Walter Thompson-Hernández generates some strikingly beautiful visuals with children’s drawings coming to life and flashbacks depicting the past, while Danielle Brooks gives a terrific performance as the mother who raises the children while the husband is on the inside. This film deserves more hype than many of the Hollywood movies that it’s currently competing with. Also with Zaria Kelley, Mark Lane III, Myles Bullock, and Bre-Z.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Runner (PG-13) If you can ignore the cheap melodrama and plot contrivances, this isn’t too bad. Alan Ritchson portrays a recovering alcoholic ex-Navy SEAL in Brisbane who’s tasked with driving an organ courier (Owen Wilson) to a hospital when they’re jacked by a Colombian drug cartel that wants the organ because it belongs to an extremely rare blood type. Director Scott Waugh (Act of Valor, Expend4bles) keeps things moving at a reasonable clip, but he can’t do much about the baldly unbelievable developments that keep the plot in motion. Wilson’s nonstop banter definitively crosses over from “funny” to “annoying” here, and placing him alongside a taciturn ex-soldier accomplishes little. Also with Rodrigo Santoro, Leila George, Sullivan Stapleton, Peta Sergeant, Goran D. Kleut, Geraldine Hakewill, and Adriana Barraza.
Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom (PG) The lovable sheep’s third film is a Halloween adventure that’s perfect for the kids who aren’t ready for Resident Evil. Shaun’s attempt to supercharge the growth of his pumpkin patch for Halloween becomes entangled with the balding farmer’s attempt to re-grow his hair, resulting in the farmer being mistaken for a hairy monster when he runs into town. The middle section of the film is the best, as his appearance leads to some exquisitely orchestrated chaos. The farce turns more labored in the final third, but this movie is a nice pairing with last spring’s The Sheep Detectives and a good way to prime your kids for trick-or-treating season.
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.
Tiny Fugitives (R) Michael Lewen’s comedy is about a group of 12-year-olds coping with a deranged counselor (Johnny Knoxville) at summer camp. Also with Benjamin Pajak, Aaron Harris, Isa Bernal Steiner, Jai Soundar, Arrian Kenneth Wu, Alyssa Gervasi, Rob Yang, and Jay Baruchel.
The Uprising (R) The Robin Hood story gets tacked on to this watchable movie about Wat Tyler’s rebellion, perhaps because the filmmakers know that a movie about Tyler alone will be too hard a sell. Andrew Garfield portrays a nameless 14th-century British farmer who follows Tyler (Cosmo Jarvis) in protesting the crown’s overly high taxes. Your tolerance for writer-director Paul Greengrass’ shakycam will probably vary, but he does manage to distill a potentially thorny episode of history into an easily digestible tale about the complications of working people rising up against the overprivileged. Also with Thomasin McKenzie, Jamie Bell, Stephen Dillane, Tom Hollander, Katherine Waterston, Sky Yang, Jonny Lee Miller, and Woody Norman.
The Weight (R) Ethan Hawke stars in this modestly pleasing Western as a Depression-era convict who cuts a deal with the prison warden (Russell Crowe) to transport $100,000 worth of gold ingots through the Oregon wilderness with a group of fellow inmates escorted by two guards. The plot takes too long to get going, but the dense forest makes for a nice backdrop (the film was actually shot in Germany). If the betrayals along the way are more or less predictable, the way the survivors squeeze out of it with the help of a Native runaway (Julia Jones) who joins the crew is fairly satisfying. If the film requires some patience, it does pay off. Also with Austin Amelio, Avi Nash, Lucas Lynggaad Tønnesen, George Burgess, Cameron Brady, Avy Berry, Alec Newman, and Sam Hazeldine.
Dallas Exclusives
The Last Critic (NR) Matty Wishnow’s documentary profiles rock critic Robert Christgau. Also with Greil Marcus, Colson Whitehead, Boots Riley, and Randy Newman.
