Critic’s Pick
Deftly handled difficult subjects.
‘A Real Pain’
This dramedy follows cousins David (Jesse Eisenberg, who also directed) and Benji (Kieran Culkin) as they travel across Poland to honor their late grandmother, a Holocaust survivor.
From our review:
“A Real Pain” is a fluidly blended amalgam of pleasing, approachable subgenres, including an odd-couple buddy flick, a consciousness-raising road movie and a charged family melodrama. These story forms add to the overall sense of familiarity as does the focus on David and Benji, who emerge more through the complexities of their relationship than through individual quirks of personality. We are who we are, Eisenberg says, because of the people in our lives, a truism that becomes more stark and affecting as his characters travel through a country haunted by Jewish ghosts.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Critic’s Pick
More than your typical war movie.
‘Blitz’
During World War II, a single mother (Saoirse Ronan) in London sends her son, George (Elliott Heffernan), away to protect him from the bombings, but he soon jumps off the train determined to return in this drama written and directed by Steve McQueen.
From our review:
McQueen makes a point of integrating into the film what is rarely seen in movies of this sort: a sharp depiction of racism among Londoners, the enraging sort that has so calcified it still surfaces when people are just trying to survive. George is the target of relentless insults from other children, shopkeepers and random people on the street. … That the ugliness of prejudice and xenophobia appears even among those who proudly consider themselves opponents of Hitler’s murderous policies flags a deep contradiction and capacity for self-deception in the human heart.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Getting the big picture (and not much else).
‘Here’
An unmoving frame depicts eons of history, focusing on a family led by Richard and Margaret (Tom Hanks and Robin Wright) in this experimental drama directed by Robert Zemeckis.
From our review:
We must remind ourselves that Richard and Margaret represent patterns, not personalities, releasing them from the pressure to shoulder a narrative. Don’t force a plot to emerge. Better to experience “Here” like open-eyed meditation, nodding at connections and ideas so fragile they’d disintegrate if said aloud. The roof leaks, Margaret’s water breaks. A man dies in the influenza epidemic, a woman dies from Covid.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Critic’s Pick
It pleases the court.
‘Juror No. 2’
When Justin (Nicholas Hoult) reports for jury duty, he realizes he may have a personal connection to the crime.
From our review:
Clint Eastwood has been such a familiar force in American cinema for so long that it’s easy to think you’ve got him figured out. Yet here he is again, at 94, with a low-key, genuine shocker, “Juror #2,” the 42nd movie that he’s directed and a lean-to-the-bone, tough-minded ethical showdown that says something about the law, personal morality, the state of the country and, I’m guessing, how he feels about the whole shebang.
In theaters. Read the full review.
A gangster (and a genre) on the decline.
‘Absolution’
After being told he has a condition that causes memory lapses, an aging mobster (Liam Neeson) rushes to reconcile with his estranged daughter in this crime drama directed by Hans Petter Moland.
From our review:
“Absolution,” [is] a dreary gangster tale as depressing as Neeson’s repeat portrayals of aging tough guys-turned-reluctant avengers. … I was reminded that Neeson is now 72 and his possible weariness with this kind of role might be lending credence to his character’s frailties. The problem with movies about declining antiheroes is that their arcs can only bend in one direction.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Peaks and valleys.
‘Lost on a Mountain in Maine’
Based on a memoir, this adventure film follows a young boy (Luke David Blumm) who gets separated from his family on a hiking trip and survives nine days in the wilderness.
From our review:
An opening intertitle declares, if a tad defensively, “This Is a True Story.” Sure, the movie is inspired by actual events, but the truth the film yearns for is to be a story unencumbered by the insights or demands of our current moment. Even the film’s director, Andrew Boodhoo Kightlinger, characterizes it lovingly as a “throwback.” … Lost on a Mountain” never fully achieves its complicated halcyon aims.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Absurdity to spare.
‘The Gutter’
Directed by the standup comedian Yassir Lester and his brother Isaiah, this bawdy bowling comedy follows Walt (Shameik Moore), who hones his alley prowess to save the local lanes.
From our review:
In addition to ridiculous — think the Wayans brothers’ parody pictures, or “Napoleon Dynamite” (that movie’s director, Jared Hess, is an executive producer here) — the humor is almost uniformly broad. The organization sponsoring the contests here is the “Super League of Bowling,” known as SLOB.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Subtle but sentimental.
‘The Graduates’
In the aftermath of a school shooting, friends and family of a victim grieve and search for ways to heal in this restrained drama written and directed by Hannah Peterson.
From our review:
We never see the violence. Instead, Peterson’s camera lingers on locker-lined hallways and newly installed metal detectors, places and objects that bear traces of a tragic past. … Peterson’s script is frustratingly single-note and occasionally bends toward unearned sentimentality. Still, “The Graduates” feels true to its milieu; its emotional clarity impressive given the loaded subject matter and the film’s subdued style.
In theaters. Read the full review.
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