So dumb it’s sorta fun.
‘A Minecraft Movie’
Jack Black and Jason Momoa star as gamers who find a portal into a virtual world made of blocks in this wacky video-game adaptation directed by Jared Hess.
From our review:
This retro sensibility might, on paper, make for an out-of-touch comedy, but there’s something almost refreshingly bold in the full-tilt inanity here — in taking a blockbuster budget and embracing idiocy, as if to knowingly say, “I mean, it’s a Minecraft movie.” That charitable read is most immediately guided by Black, whose comedic persona of earnest goofiness has survived our age of irony.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Shades of Schrader, Nolan and Cronenberg.
‘Gazer’
Frankie (Ariella Mastroianni), a mother suffering from a condition that affects her perception of time, takes a dangerous job from a mysterious stranger in this twisty thriller directed by Ryan J. Sloan.
From our review:
Although indebted to its influences to the point of self-sabotage, the movie manages to surmount enough of its flaws — including some shaky acting and distracting awkwardness — to hold your own gaze, more or less. Like Frankie, who watches others with visceral intensity, you keep looking as you wait on events, wonder and wait some more.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Talking through the unspeakable.
‘Eric LaRue’
Directed by Michael Shannon, this searing drama centers on Janice (Judy Greer), who struggles to cope after her son commits a school shooting.
From our review:
Eventually I settled into the film’s rhythms, once I realized it was based on a play, and it started to make sense. There’s a seemingly deliberate theatricality to it, and that feeling of characters repeating lines they’ve been told to say — I think it’s purposeful. In the wake of the unspeakable, we speak things we’ve heard people say before: that this is God’s plan, that there’s a reason for everything, that nobody is at fault, that someone is to blame.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Over the river but not through the woods yet.
‘When Fall Is Coming’
Michelle (Hélène Vincent) receives a visit from her daughter and grandson, and an encounter with poisonous mushrooms stirs up family tensions and secrets.
From our review:
For “When Fall Is Coming,” the French filmmaker François Ozon has cooked up a little mystery and an enigmatic heroine. A sleek, modestly scaled entertainment about families, secrets and obligations, it features fine performances and some picture-postcard Burgundian locations.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Critic’s Pick
A fairy-tale romance with cultural nuance.
‘A Nice Indian Boy’
This rom-com follows Naveen (Karan Soni), who fears his family’s disapproval when he falls for Jay (Jonathan Groff) in a meet-cute at his temple.
From our review:
Throughout the movie, the director Roshan Sethi’s sly and thoughtful touches respect conventions — the ultimate fairy-tale ending, for instance — while deepening the story with cultural nuances, like how Naveen’s same-sex relationship affects his sister, Arundhathi (Sunita Mani), who is in an arranged marriage.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Critic’s Pick
Erotica amid the macabre.
‘Love Hotel’
Two people who had a traumatic encounter meet again years later in vastly different circumstances in Shinji Somai’s 1985 erotic thriller now getting an American release.
From our review:
“Love Hotel” is one of the best-known entries in the roman porno subgenre, a kind of elevated skinflick developed by financially strained film studios in Japan in the 1970s meant to entice audiences looking for quality and coitus. It’s also something of an outlier in Somai’s filmography … Yet his exquisite visual compositions (of lonely bedrooms, concrete piers, and nocturnal courtyards) infuse even the film’s racy images with a somber sense of longing and introspection, finding beauty and humanity in the midst of the macabre.
In theaters. Read the full review.
An endless (boring) summer.
‘Hell of a Summer’
Finn Wolfhard and Billy Bryk wrote, directed and star in this throwback slasher picture that takes place at a summer camp.
From our review:
Wolfhard and Bryk don’t relish violence or gore: “Hell of a Summer” is surprisingly tame, with most of its kills kept tastefully offscreen. In the second act, an annoying teen with a peanut allergy comes face to face with the killer, who brandishes a jar of peanut butter menacingly — a perfect opportunity for a bit of gnarly comeuppance, except that the filmmakers cut away. It shows a fatal lack of conviction at a moment that requires slasher-loving brass. Where’s the fun in that?
In theaters. Read the full review.
Frisky but frantic.
‘Freaky Tales’
Set in 1980s Oakland, this genre jumble directed by Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden consists of four loosely connected stories involving cops, punks and neo-Nazis.
From our review:
High on revolutionary spirit, “Freaky Tales” is a frisky, frantic pastiche that doesn’t always make sense. … Yet the visuals are meaty, and the filmmakers (whose last feature collaboration was on “Captain Marvel” in 2019) show considerable affection for their movie’s setting. I wish, though, they had focused less on the era’s greatest hits and more on the details of their script.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Gaming the game show.
‘The Luckiest Man in America’
Based on a true story, this drama directed by Samir Oliveros centers on Michael (Paul Walter Hauser), a game-show contestant who draws network suspicion as he racks up increasingly improbable wins.
From our review:
The events, and the mind games, appear to have been goosed for dramatic interest. (One preposterous, surely invented interlude finds Michael wandering onto a talk show set and baring his soul to the host, played by Johnny Knoxville.) But it is still fun to watch Michael and CBS compete for the upper hand.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Lacks a good punch.
‘The Martial Artist’
This sports drama directed by Shaz Khan follows Ibby (Khan), a mixed martial artist whose career is derailed when his brother is killed.
From our review:
Khan’s lack of screen presence, toothless mixed martial arts sequences and unintelligible editing further knock the film down. By the end, when Ibby faces the undefeated Decan Johnson (Philippe Prosper) at the foot of some Mayan pyramids in Belize, we’re unsure what or who he is fighting for, or why we should care.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Compiled by Kellina Moore.
