Rich in charisma (and body count).
‘The Accountant 2’
Ben Affleck returns as an awkward accountant who seeks bloody revenge alongside his brother (Jon Bernthal) in this sequel directed by Gavin O’Connor.
From our review:
All that counts in “The Accountant 2” is that it’s adroitly paced, unburdened by narrative logic (there are almost as many coincidences as corpses) and buoyed by its well-synced, charismatic leads. Affleck and Bernthal’s chemistry is palpable, and it’s enjoyable watching how comfortably they fit together.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Critic’s Pick
Immigrants find an unexpected home.
‘Blue Sun Palace’
In an unassuming massage parlor in Flushing, Queens, Chinese immigrants bond after an act of violence in this intimate drama directed by Constance Tsang.
From our review:
Tsang brings a perceptive subtlety to the story, creating a whole world inside the parlor and its inhabitants, while letting us discover along with them what lies beyond. Instead of leaning into trauma or misery, the filmmaker gives us complex characters who nonetheless speak very little — everything happens in their expressions, the quick flash of a twitch across a cheek when the other isn’t looking.
In theaters. Read the full review.
A lonely doctor, a heavy movie.
‘April’
Nina, a lonely obstetrician who performs home abortions in the country of Georgia, is the subject of a hospital investigation in this drama directed by Dea Kulumbegashvili.
From our review:
“April” is easy to admire, but Kulumbegashvili’s use of art-film conventions can be wearyingly familiar, especially when the leisurely pace turns to a crawl. By turns, she pushes and pulls at you, toggling between abstraction and obviousness as she fills the screen with bodies.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Midcentury melancholy, beautifully conveyed.
‘On Swift Horses’
This drama directed by Daniel Minahan stars Will Poulter, Daisy Edgar-Jones and Jacob Elordi in a tale of literal and metaphorical gambling.
From our review:
Based on Shannon Pufahl’s 2019 novel, the story is set in the 1950s, in a world in which characters might act on desire but do not really speak of it directly. The air around them is thus charged with something that crackles and explodes, and the movie, when it works, is electric. It doesn’t always work, but you won’t mind that much, because it’s so beautiful to look at.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Stock characters with lots of ammo.
‘Havoc’
Tom Hardy stars as a typical grizzled hero on one last job in this action flick directed by Gareth Evans.
From our review:
What “Havoc” lacks in characters and story, it delivers in two audacious waves of indiscriminate killing that are so bruising and relentless they make the “John Wick” movies look like “Sesame Street.”
Watch on Netflix. Read the full review.
A video game adaptation that doesn’t play well.
‘Until Dawn’
Teens encounter trouble in the woods when they go looking for a missing friend.
From our review:
The director, David F. Sandberg (“Annabelle: Creation”), does an exhausting job moving along a script, written by Gary Dauberman and Blair Butler, that’s made slack by mediocre monsters, muddled time loop stuff and underdeveloped characters who seem straight out of a lesser “Goosebumps” episode.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Part pop treat, part indie trifle.
‘Magic Farm’
This indie comedy directed by Amalia Ulman follows an American documentary crew that mistakenly ends up in rural Argentina.
From our review:
At points, “Magic Farm” idles so heavily that one wonders whether Ulman suffered her own preproduction blunder, stranding her cast and crew in South America without the material to back up her vision. But by pairing the loose subject matter with a curlicued visual style — at one point, she straps the camera to a dog’s head — Ulman suggests that she knows what she’s doing.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Guess who’s dying at dinner.
‘The Trouble With Jessica’
Jessica throws her friend group into chaos when she kills herself at a snobbish dinner party in this British black comedy directed by Matt Winn.
From our review:
The problem is that Jessica’s death only serves as a mirror through which the four central characters come to terms with their own flaws, which aren’t all that interesting or revelatory. A critique about the hypocrisies of the righteous upper middle class unfolds halfheartedly, leaving us with performances that might’ve worked better in a sketch comedy scene.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Compiled by Kellina Moore.
