Chess With an Extra Dash of Excitement: A Female Star’s Story
Movies, February 6
Framed as a sports tale, “Queen of Chess,” directed by Rory Kennedy, recounts the life of Judit Polgar, who battled sexism as much as rival players.
‘The Strangers: Chapter 3’ Review: Devils in Disguise
Movies, February 5
The final installment in the trilogy reboot of “The Strangers,” a genuinely terrifying 2008 home invasion film, brings the masked nonsense to a close.
‘Sirat’ Review: A Shocker in the Desert
Movies, February 5
The Galician director Oliver Laxe delivers a mesmerizing thriller about a man’s search for his lost daughter, set amid raves in the punishing Sahara.
‘The President’s Cake’ Review: Party Politics
Movies, February 5
Shot in Iraq, this period piece depicts a young girl’s efforts to prepare for a celebration of Saddam Hussein’s birthday.
‘Pillion’ Review: An Opposites-Attract ‘Dom-Com’
Movies, February 5
A shy young man is captivated by a hunky biker in this bold, funny and achingly tenderhearted B.D.S.M. romance.
‘Kokuho’ Review: Over Decades, an Artist’s Life
Movies, February 5
This nearly three hour historical drama became Japan’s highest grossing live action film of all time, and for mostly good reason.
‘Dracula’ Review: Fangs and a Lot of Fragrance
Movies, February 5
Luc Besson’s extravagantly silly twist on the timeless monster, played by Caleb Landry Jones, is deliciously operatic but ultimately a letdown.
‘Jimpa’ Review: In Search of a Queer Education
Movies, February 5
A nonbinary teenager pays a visit to their grandfather, a gay professor, in this intergenerational story that slips from sweet into cloying.
‘Calle Málaga’ Review: Living an Even Better Life
Movies, February 5
The Spanish actor Carmen Maura shines as a widow forced to sell her childhood home in Morocco in this film by Maryam Touzani.
In ‘Nadja,’ Dracula’s Daughter Goes Downtown
Movies, February 4
This triumph of low-budget filmmaking will shimmer for a week at Brooklyn Academy of Music.
‘Starman’ Review: What’s Really Out There?
Movies, February 4
The theories laid out by the aerospace engineer Gentry Lee in this new documentary may blow your mind.
‘Solo Mio’ Review: Wishful Thinking in Italy
Movies, February 2
After being left at the altar, Matt (Kevin James) finds himself alone in Rome. But don’t worry, he’ll quickly find an Italian woman to fall for him.
‘Melania’ Review: 20 Stage-Managed Days in the Life of the First Lady
Movies, January 31
Directed by Brett Ratner, the documentary shows a woman deeply concerned with her appearance who rarely lets us behind her facade.
‘Natchez’: Histories Clash in a Complex Look at the City
Movies, January 30
Suzannah Herbert’s film centers on antebellum mansions and the narratives the owners want to tell about the South.
‘Shelter’ Review: Jason Statham Dispatches Enemies From a Lighthouse
Movies, January 29
A teenage girl gets stuck on an island with a rogue MI5 agent. Then, international assassins come after them.
‘Worldbreaker’ Review: Smashed to Bits
Movies, January 29
This postapocalyptic father-daughter story shamelessly recombines overused ideas.
‘Send Help’ Review: Beach Wear (and Tear)
Movies, January 29
A mousy employee and her odious boss battle for dominance in this jubilantly wicked thriller.
‘A Poet’ Review: The Romance of Misery
Movies, January 29
A once-promising writer learns some painful lessons in a tragicomic Colombian tale.
‘Paying for It’ Review: Opening Up the Relationship
Movies, January 29
Sonny starts bringing in new lovers, so Chester finds a solution: He starts hiring prostitutes.
‘Moses the Black’ Review: An Overcooked Crucible
Movies, January 29
Omar Epps struggles to grant this gangland Chicago religious drama divine quality.
‘The Moment’ Review: Charli XCX Laughs Last
Movies, January 29
The movie glances at artistic concerns like autonomy and authenticity while gleefully testing the divide between a public and a private self.
‘The Love That Remains’ Review: Time Goes On
Movies, January 29
A family navigates the year after parents separate in this funny, surrealist Icelandic drama.
‘Islands’ Review: A Thriller Fit for a Volcanic Island
Movies, January 29
This slow-burn tale of a tennis pro and a couple gets the low-grade melancholy of a resort town right.
‘The Wrecking Crew’ Review: Super Smash Brothers
Movies, January 28
Jason Momoa and Dave Bautista play half brothers on a quest for justice in this lean, mean buddy action flick.
‘Clika’ Review: Dreaming of the Stage
Movies, January 22
This film about a fieldworker trying to make it in music offers a Mexican American spin on underdog dreamer movies like “8 Mile.”
‘Mercy’ Review: Watching the Detective Watching
Movies, January 22
Chris Pratt plays a man accused of killing his wife in this witless action-thriller where harsh justice is dispensed by artificial intelligence.
‘Return to Silent Hill’ Review: A Macabre Spectacle
Movies, January 22
This latest installment in the video game movie franchise looks like it’s meant to be played.
‘In Cold Light’ Review: On Parole and on the Run
Movies, January 22
In this dreary thriller, an ex-con faces escalating dangers and familial strife when she attempts to regain control of her drug operation.
‘A New Love in Tokyo’ Review: Sex in the Air
Movies, January 22
The erotic film, first shown in 1994, finds room for sweetness with its kink.
‘H Is for Hawk’ Review: All Shall Be Well
Movies, January 22
Claire Foy stars along with a goshawk in an adaptation of Helen MacDonald’s award-winning memoir.
‘Disneyland Handcrafted’ Review: Making the Happiest Place on Earth
Movies, January 22
Leslie Iwerks’s documentary is a captivating look at the creative and logistical challenges of building a beloved theme park on California farmland.
‘Mr. Nobody Against Putin’ Review: Indoctrination in the Classroom
Movies, January 22
A primary schoolteacher in Russia documents the government’s efforts to teach students pro-war messages.
‘Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart’ Review: A Survivor Speaks Out
Movies, January 21
In this documentary, Smart tells the frightening narrative of her 2002 kidnapping at age 14, in Utah.
In ‘Seeds,’ Farms and a Way of Life Hang in the Balance
Movies, January 16
The director Brittany Shyne’s film is slow-moving and lyrical in its focus on the seasonal rhythms of the work, even as it shifts to policy concerns.
‘The Rip’ Review: Clean Cop, Dirty Cop
Movies, January 16
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck play grizzled cops looking at each other sideways in this Netflix crime thriller that has all the concepts but not much else.
‘Queen Kelly’ Review: His Majesty, Von Stroheim
Movies, January 15
The 1929 silent film returns in a shimmering, sensitively scored restoration that brings out the lurid and the romantic in Erich von Stroheim’s story of orphan-meets-prince.
‘A Useful Ghost’ Review: Machine Yearning
Movies, January 15
A grieving widower finds his problems are just beginning when his wife returns in the form of a household appliance in this gloriously funny, shape-shifting debut feature.
‘Sound of Falling’ Review: A Fortress of Feminine Mysteries
Movies, January 15
This detour-heavy film moves across time periods to follow girlhood mischief, desire and abuse on a German farm.
‘Shuffle’ Review: The Real Price of Rehab
Movies, January 15
Benjamin Flaherty discovered some disturbing tendencies in the addiction recovery industry. His documentary is upsetting and revelatory.
‘A Private Life’ Review: Jodie Foster Uncovers a Twisty Plot in Paris
Movies, January 15
Speaking in French (but cursing in English), the actress plays an American psychiatrist abroad who stumbles into unexpected intrigue.
‘Night Patrol’ Review: Things That Go Bump in the Night
Movies, January 15
Rival gangs in Los Angeles join forces when a bloodsucking unit of the police department invades their community.
‘Deepfaking Sam Altman’ Review: Altmanesque
Movies, January 15
A filmmaker who can’t secure an interview with the A.I. executive turns to technology for a solution.
‘All You Need Is Kill’ Review: It Doesn’t Bear Repeating
Movies, January 15
By condensing the logic of the action, this anime adaptation of Hiroshi Sakurazaka’s light novel undermines the story’s excitement.
‘28 Years Later: The Bone Temple’ Review: Sympathy for the Devil
Movies, January 15
The latest installment in the zombie saga is all about evil and good, and whether any of it exists.
‘Cirque du Soleil: Without a Net’ Review: How the Magic Happens
Weekend, July 25
This documentary chronicles the reboot and reopening in Las Vegas of the acrobatic show “O,” which shutdown during the pandemic.
‘Fire Through Dry Grass’ Review: Unsafe Space
Weekend, September 28
This enlightening, troubling documentary chronicles life (and death) among residents in a long-term care facility during the heights of the pandemic.
‘Broadway Rising’ Review: Surviving the Pandemic
Weekend, December 27
Stakeholders including Patti LuPone and Lynn Nottage share their real-time reactions to New York theater’s shutdown and reopening in Amy Rice’s documentary.
‘Bad Axe’ Review: A Pandemic Family Portrait
Weekend, November 17
The filmmaker David Siev chronicles his family’s struggle to keep their Michigan restaurant afloat through the pandemic in this hermetic documentary.