A standout star brings the soul.
‘Emilia Pérez’
Karla Sofía Gascón stars as a crime boss who enlists her lawyer (Zoe Saldaña) to help facilitate gender-affirming surgery in this musical thriller directed by Jacques Audiard.
From our review:
This shift between inner and outer realities, between the ostensibly material world of contemporary Mexico and the metaphysical world of the characters, is jarring and amusing. From the start, the movie hooks you because of its abrupt turns, how it veers into places that, tonally, narratively and emotionally, you don’t expect. Yet while Audiard has productively combined classic genres and present-day sensibilities before, even the more personal, confessional numbers here add little more than novelty.
Watch on Netflix. Read the full review.
Critic’s Pick
A once-in-a-lifetime tale about the everyday.
‘All We Imagine as Light’
This tender drama written and directed by Payal Kapadia follows three women in contemporary Mumbai as they grow closer and contend with quotidian difficulties.
From our review:
“All We Imagine as Light” is a drama about life’s fragility, but it’s also about nurturance. That may sound as precious as a homily straight out of Sundance, but it’s just the reverse. Kapadia’s three women have troubles, but she isn’t asking for your pity, and she doesn’t sweeten their difficulties to make them more palatable for your sensitivities. Instead, she is offering you the gift of three lives that may seem altogether different from your own but are also and, finally, transcendently familiar.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Remembering the naughty ’90s.
‘Dream Team’
Directed by Lev Kalman and Whitney Horn, this homage to erotic TV thrillers of the 1990s tracks two Interpol agents named No St. Aubergine and Chase National as they investigate a conspiracy.
From our review:
It’s pretty silly, but that’s clearly a feature, not a bug. “Dream Team” is broken into episodes with titles like “Coral Me Bad” and “Fax on the Beach” (there is, in fact, a fax machine on the beach) and some naughtier wordplay. The movie was shot on 16-millimeter film, the grainy, smudgy look of which may make you feel like you’ve either dozed off or ingested hallucinogens.
In theaters. Read the full review.
What if the Santa Claus story was a Marvel movie?
‘Red One’
When Santa is kidnapped just before Christmas, his head bodyguard (Dwayne Johnson) must team up with a grouchy tracker (Chris Evans) in this Christmas caper directed by Jake Kasdan.
From our review:
What you see is what you get — blandly polished inanity without any clever sense of irony or properly wacky sensibility that would make something this dumb actually float. Most of the supposed fun here hinges on a repetitive, dad-joke-like equation: puns on Christmas tropes that Johnson treats with his trademark no-nonsense stoicism, followed by Evans’s quip and an incredulous shake of the head.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Trying to be different, just like everyone else.
‘Hippo’
Two opposite stepsiblings — Hippo (Kimball Farley), a chaotic teen with a penchant for violence, and his reserved stepsister, Buttercup (Lilla Kizlinger) — experience dual sexual awakenings.
From our review:
Like a stubborn toddler zipping his mouth shut while stomping his feet, “Hippo” manages to be noisily aggravating while saying nothing at all. Directed by Mark H. Rapaport in his feature debut, the indie film traffics in cynicism and irreverence while lacking in the quality it seems to want most: individuality.
In theaters. Read the full review.
He’s a sexy snowman. Take it or leave it.
‘Hot Frosty’
Kathy (Lacey Chabert) brings a muscular snowman named Jack (Dustin Milligan) to life with a magic scarf in this ridiculous rom-com directed by Jerry Ciccoritti.
From our review:
The script shamelessly re-gifts scenes from “Pretty Woman” and “It’s a Wonderful Life,” along with “Edward Scissorhands,” like when Kathy’s martini-chugging pals swoon that a man this perfect has to be magic. But shameless is the goal. Everyone involved knows exactly what movie they’re making — especially Craig Robinson as the hilarious town sheriff, a killjoy determined to arrest Jack for streaking.
Watch on Netflix. Read the full review.
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