Defying gravity, with a bit of in-flight turbulence.
‘Wicked’
At a magical university, two witches — Glinda and Elphaba — meet and become unlikely friends in this musical directed by Jon M. Chu, the first installment in a two-part adaptation of the Broadway show.
From our review:
Chu gives “Wicked” an accelerated pace, amping it with restless, swooping camerawork and overloading it with a surfeit of everything, with ceaselessly moving bodies and eye-popping props. There’s much to ooh and ahh over, be it Elphaba’s eyeglasses with their seashell spiral or her beautiful Issey Miyake-style pleats, but Chu’s revved-up maximalism doesn’t leave much room to savor it. … Despite its bumps, the movie is consistently amusing simply because it is “The Wizard of Oz” and it’s fun watching colorful, off-kilter characters singing, dancing and sometimes flying through the air.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Critic’s Pick
This sequel was not built in a day.
‘Gladiator II’
Directed by Ridley Scott, this film features performances from Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington and Pedro Pascal as men at war, and sometimes in love, in Ancient Rome.
From our review:
Very few directors working today can put across a movie like “Gladiator II” as convincingly, which perhaps explains why the sequel — for all its barbaric violence and the plaintive, at times stirring, discussions about justice and democracy — doesn’t have the mournful quality that the first film did. Scott clearly had a blast making this movie and so did Washington, and they’re inviting you to have one, too, which proves easy.
In theaters. Read the full review.
A spirited adaptation about ghosts literal and metaphorical.
‘The Piano Lesson’
This is the latest iteration of Denzel Washington’s pledge to produce film adaptations of all ten plays in August Wilson’s Pittsburgh Cycle. Directed by Denzel’s son Malcolm and starring his son John David (alongside Danielle Deadwyler), the film follows a family grappling with the legacy, trauma and literal ghosts that haunt their heirloom piano.
From our review:
“The Piano Lesson” is the weakest of the Denzel Washington-produced Pittsburgh Cycle. But when you’re working with Wilson’s material, there’s an inherent richness, and the questions this film raises have never been more potent. What do we do with our past? What does it mean to face the future? And when every ordinary day in a nation is littered with reminders of a history that’s never been resolved, how do we live?
Watch on Netflix. Read the full review.
Tale as old (and tired) as time.
‘Spellbound’
After her parents are turned into giant beasts, Princess Ellian (voiced by Rachel Zegler) must attend to her royal duties while trying to rescue the King and Queen.
From our review:
It isn’t fair to say that “Spellbound” lacks musical or visual invention. Zegler can belt out a song, and the evil storm that transmogrified the royals is pleasingly lo-fi. (It looks like a scribble-scrabble twister.) But the magic feels distinctly, almost insultingly poached.
Watch on Netflix. Read the full review.
Finding community from Brooklyn to Bulgaria.
‘The Black Sea’
This indie drama directed by Crystal Moselle and Derrick B. Harden centers on Khalid (Harden), who develops a connection with Ina (Irmena Chichikova) when he travels from Brooklyn to Bulgaria and discovers the woman he planned to meet there has died.
From our review:
Moselle and Harden work with a subtle naturalistic touch that makes for a quietly sweet movie about unlikely redemption. This is mostly rooted in the partnership between Khalid and Ina, a relationship that, in its avoidance of overt romantics, blossoms and finds meaning in the gentle progression of their closeness.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Critic’s Pick
A purr-fect picture.
‘Flow’
A plucky street cat embarks on a treacherous journey after its home is devastated by a flood in this animated adventure directed by Gints Zilbalodis.
From our review:
It sounds saccharine, but Zilbalodis largely avoids the sort of whimsy and sentimentality that might plague, say, a Disney movie with the same premise. The animals act like real animals, not like cartoons or humans, and that restraint gives their adventure an authenticity that, in moments of both delight and peril, makes the emotion that much more powerful. With the caveat that I’m a cat lover, I was deeply moved.
In theaters. Read the full review.
A fertile retelling of the creation of I.V.F.
‘Joy’
This biopic tells the story of Jean Purdy (Thomasin McKenzie), an unsung hero behind the creation of I.V.F. who teams up with Dr. Patrick Steptoe (Bill Nighy).
From our review:
The director, Ben Taylor, keeps the momentum up despite his weakness for marking the passage of time with eyebrow-raising needle drops. The movie is most effective in creating a rooting interest for Purdy’s character, while the maestro Nighy gets a nice juicy monologue at the end that he of course makes a meal of.
Watch on Netflix. Read the full review.
A nonverbal girl whose personality speaks volumes.
‘Out of My Mind’
Melody (Phoebe-Rae Taylor), a sixth grade girl with cerebral palsy who is unable to speak, finds new ways to communicate and connect with her peers.
From our review:
[Melody’s] story, set in the early aughts and based on a novel by Sharon M. Draper, arrives onscreen with a family-friendly brightness, buoyed by upbeat montages. The director, Amber Sealey, and the strong cast keep things grounded, though, honoring the serious undercurrents while having some fun.
Watch on Disney+. Read the full review.
Enigmatic characters from an enigmatic director.
‘A Traveler’s Need’
Isabelle Huppert stars as Iris, an eccentric woman who teaches French in Seoul using unorthodox methods.
From our review:
Is Iris for real? That question hangs over “A Traveler’s Needs,” just as it does over the career of the director Hong Sang-soo. Hong routinely turns out two features per year with methods nearly as baffling as Iris’s: His devotees see infinite subtlety in his use of theme and variation, while the skeptical can’t help but wonder if his movies have become increasingly repetitive and slapdash.
In theaters. Read the full review.
The post 9 New Movies Our Critics Are Talking About This Week appeared first on New York Times.
