‘Pearl’ (Feb. 15)
The second, and finest, of the three collaborations between the writer-director Ti West and the actress Mia Goth (preceded by “X” and followed by “Maxxxine”) is this 2022 period thriller, telling the origin story of the psychotic old woman played by Goth in “X.” We meet the title character in 1918, isolating on her family’s Texas farm during the Spanish flu pandemic, awaiting the return of her husband from World War I. But Pearl needs attention and affirmation, and she decides she wants to be a movie star — no matter what it takes. West’s supersaturated photography and classical style recall the Golden Age of Hollywood melodrama, while his sly script both deploys and subverts the conventions of contemporary horror.
‘Southpaw’ (Feb. 20)
Jake Gyllenhaal is startlingly convincing as a professional boxer whose life and career are turned upside-down in this sports drama from the director Antoine Fuqua (“Training Day”). Gyllenhaal, whose months of transformative training for the role pay off big onscreen, plays the character’s cockiness and fall from grace with equal authenticity, while Rachel McAdams makes the most of her few scenes, and Forest Whitaker transcends the clichés of the crusty, seen-it-all corner man. Most of the narrative will be plenty familiar to sports film fans, but Gyllenhaal’s towering performance and Fuqua’s attentiveness to detail keep “Southpaw” from feeling too shopworn.
‘All Good Things’ (Feb. 21)
If you enjoyed the director Andrew Jarecki’s documentary series “The Jinx,” this fictionalized version of the Robert Durst story is well worth your time; Jaerecki released it in 2010, without the cooperation of Durst (the names are changed), but Durst was so taken with the film that he agreed to sit with the filmmaker for the hours of interviews that became “The Jinx” (and became his undoing). Ryan Gosling stars as the Durst stand-in, the scion of a New York real estate mogul who attempts to eschew the family business for a simpler life with his free-spirited wife (Kirsten Dunst). But when their relationship falls apart, her mysterious disappearance raises the first of several disturbing questions about her husband. This is one of Gosling’s most underrated performances, working a tentative balance between calm and rage, and Dunst gives real dimension to what could have been a one-dimensional victim role.
‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’: Seasons 1-2 (Feb. 25)
This uproarious cop comedy is something like a cross between its creators’ previous collaboration, “Parks and Recreation,” and the squad-room classic “Barney Miller.” Andy Samberg is the ostensible lead, a skilled and cocky but emotionally immature police detective. But (as with “Parks”) the show is more a showcase for its fantastic ensemble, which includes Melissa Fumero as a Type-A people pleaser, Stephanie Beatriz as a tough-as-nails hard case, Terry Crews as a likable family man and Andre Braugher as the enigmatic, dryly funny captain.
‘21 Bridges’ (Feb. 28)
When Chadwick Boseman passed at the young age of 43, fans mourned the careers he could have continued — as a star of blockbusters (like “Black Panther”) or perhaps as an Oscar-worthy dramatic actor (as in “42” or “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”). This 2019 vehicle offers up another tantalizing possibility: that Boseman could have gone the Denzel Washington route, fronting adult-oriented action thrillers. He certainly makes the case in this tense tale of an New York detective who leads the manhunt for two suspects in a cop killing. The director Brian Kirk orchestrates the action with Sidney Lumet-style brisk intelligence, and Boseman is terrific as a cop who quickly realizes he’s in way over his head.
