Goes bananas on the gore.
‘The Monkey’
After a cursed toy monkey from his childhood reappears, a man (Theo James) tries to stop it in this horror comedy directed by Osgood Perkins.
From our review:
The movie’s presumption is that the more inventive the means of death — and the more quickly those means are visited upon the victim — the more they’ll provoke shocked laughter from the audience. At least in my screening, that was true. The giddily ludicrous demises, doled out at random, are meant to balance out the darker themes in the film.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Critic’s Pick
A romance from earlier times sees light in the present.
‘Compensation’
This romantic drama from 1999, which is receiving its first theatrical release, tells parallel stories of the lives and relationships of two deaf Black women, one set in 1910 and the other in the 1990s.
From our review:
As a word, “Compensation” evokes labor. In the director Zeinabu irene Davis’s beautifully woven drama of the same name, work does get its close-ups. But it is the loves, labors and vulnerabilities two couples in two different eras experience that make this black-and-white film from 1999 such an elegant and presciently inventive work.
In theaters. Read the full review.
A surprisingly tender bachelor party movie.
‘Ex-Husbands’
At his bachelor party in Mexico, Nick (James Norton) tries to hide that his fiancée has cold feet, while his father, Peter (James Norton), arrives in the midst of a divorce in this dramedy from Noah Pritzker.
From our review:
Pritzker directs genuine performances and has an ear for conversations with the ring of everyday emotion, like when Peter advises Nick’s friends (“You guys”) to enjoy each other’s company while they can. A death in the family leads to another round of male bonding and reconciliation to life’s disappointments. Even if the film’s wisdom is not earth-shattering, it radiates a kind of paternal salve that lives up to Peter’s best intentions.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Midlife crises never looked so breezy.
‘Millers in Marriage’
This relationship drama written and directed by Edward Burns follows three siblings as they face midlife woes and ensuing changes to their relationships.
From our review:
“Millers in Marriage” is a sincere, sometimes trite attempt to address midlife drift and late-marriage frustrations, its empty nests gaping beneath gleaming countertops and gauzy photography. Its characters may be stressed out, but its rhythms are leisurely, the skill of the actors mostly countering the weaknesses in the script.
In theaters. Read the full review.
These aging hit man movies are getting old.
‘Old Guy’
Christoph Waltz stars as an older hit man who begrudgingly trains his Gen-Z replacement in this tired action comedy directed by Simon West.
From our review:
Beyond the stale plot and groaners that make up the dialogue, “Old Guy” suffers from haphazard pacing, as if every third scene was cut out in postproduction. Watching, one wonders who this movie is for — even within the target demographic stated in the title.
In theaters. Read the full review.
A big heist, a bigger disappointment.
‘The Quiet Ones’
In this crime thriller directed by Frederik Louis Hviid, three men attempt to rob a cash-handling firm by blocking off major roads with garbage trucks.
From our review:
The heist takes up more than 20 minutes of screen time, but Hviid — who has to juggle the robbers at the firm, the garbage truck drivers, the police and a security guard (Amanda Collin) — makes a hash of the competing perspectives. The road-blocking gambit is barely shown, and Collin’s character, fleshed out specifically for this moment, is forgotten for much of the sequence. The theft that inspired the movie has been called one of the biggest in Denmark’s history. It deserved a sleeker film.
In theaters. Read the full review.
An inspirational film that doesn’t live up to its inspiration.
‘The Unbreakable Boy’
This family drama centers on a young boy who has autism and a brittle bone condition.
From our review:
Jon Gunn, the writer-director and a practiced hand in the inspirational genre (“Ordinary Angels”), adapted the memoir by Scott LeRette, Austin’s father, but flipped the perspective to the boy’s. There are well-deployed bursts of kid’s-eye-view animation and humorous asides, but mainly the story, set in Oklahoma, dispenses its lessons in gratitude, self-forgiveness and sobriety with straightforward sincerity. Sometimes that works, and sometimes it lands with a thud.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Compiled by Kellina Moore.
