T/movie-reviews

‘Ozzy: No Escape From Now’ Review: A Metal Legend’s Last Stand
Movies, Today

It’s painful to watch Ozzy Osbourne struggle in this documentary, but his efforts to make one final onstage appearance are awe-inspiring.

In ‘The Alabama Solution,’ Amateur Footage Helps Expose Prison Abuses
Movies, October 3

Though Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman are the directors, inmates with smuggled phones are important collaborators.

‘Anemone’ Review: Daniel Day-Lewis Is Too Big for Some Movies
Movies, October 2

After announcing his retirement from acting eight years ago, the performer returns in a drama directed by his son Ronan Day-Lewis.

‘The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue’ Review: War as a Thriller
Movies, October 2

Barry Avrich’s documentary revisits the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel from the perspective of one Israeli family.

‘Steve’ Review: Aced the Acting, Failed the Melodrama
Movies, October 2

Cillian Murphy plays a beleaguered teacher at an all-boys reform school in this exhausting movie on Netflix.

‘The Smashing Machine’ Review: Licking Wounds, In and Out of the Ring
Movies, October 2

Dwayne Johnson shines, but the movie around him tells the wrong story.

‘Orwell: 2+2=5’ Review: How George Came to See the World as Orwellian
Movies, October 2

His novel “1984” captured the tactics of totalitarianism back in 1949. A startling new documentary from Raoul Peck looks at Orwell’s life.

‘The Librarians’ Review: What Should Children Read?
Movies, October 2

Nine librarians are profiled in Kim A. Snyder’s gripping documentary about censorship in public schools.

‘The Ice Tower’ Review: Royal Crush
Movies, October 2

A young orphan becomes mesmerized by a volatile actress in this dark fairy tale.

‘Fairyland’ Review: Out in San Francisco
Movies, October 2

Based on a memoir by Alysia Abbott, the movie chronicles gay liberation and the AIDS crisis from the perspective of a gay man’s daughter.

‘Good Boy’ Review: Sit. Stay. Scream.
Movies, October 2

This assured horror movie is anchored by a star-making turn from a gorgeous retriever named Indy.

‘Bone Lake’ Review: Swinging Into Action
Movies, October 2

Jealousy reaches a violent fever pitch in a funny and sexy erotic thriller by Mercedes Bryce Morgan.

‘Are We Good?’ Review: Marc Maron in a Vulnerable Moment
Movies, October 2

In this documentary, Maron is shown working through his feelings of grief onstage and off after the death of his partner.

‘Play Dirty’ Review: A Halfhearted Heist Movie
Movies, October 1

Mark Wahlberg plays Parker, a taciturn thief who teams up with Zen (Rosa Salazar) for a big New York City heist.

‘The Strangers: Chapter 2’ Review: Keep on Running
Movies, September 30

This second installment in Renny Harlin’s slasher trilogy is hackneyed and silly.

‘Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery’ Takes a Nostalgic Look at a ’90s Phenomenon
Movies, September 26

The tour started by Sarah McLachlan is the subject of the film, which includes a who’s who of women making music in that era.

‘Ruth & Boaz’ Review: A Modern Twist on a Biblical Romance
Movies, September 26

The latest drama from Tyler Perry Studios sets the Book of Ruth at a vineyard in Tennessee.

‘One Battle After Another’ Review: Paul Thomas Anderson’s Rallying Cry
Movies, September 25

The director, at the height of his powers, delivers a startling, present-day American epic, with Leonardo DiCaprio as a washed-up radical and doting dad.

‘French Lover’ Review: An Affair Not to Remember
Movies, September 25

A movie star and a waitress meet cute in a Netflix “Notting Hill” knockoff starring Omar Sy.

‘Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie’ Review: Less Than Pawesome
Movies, September 25

This movie based on an interactive children’s Netflix series is not suitable for anyone over reading age.

‘Dead of Winter’ Review: Emma Thompson as Victim and Savior
Movies, September 25

This stone-cold wilderness thriller pits a woman on a mission against a merciless couple who are keeping a secret in their basement.

‘Eleanor the Great’ Review: Weaving a Tangled Web
Movies, September 25

June Squibb stars in Scarlett Johansson’s sometimes moving but often uneven directorial debut.

‘All of You’ Review: Finding Your Perfect Match
Movies, September 25

This weepy romance succeeds through the undeniable chemistry between Brett Goldstein and Imogen Poots.

‘The Lowdown,’ Plus 7 Things to Watch on TV this Week
Movies, September 22

Ethan Hawke stars in a new FX show and “The Golden Bachelor” comes back for another season.

‘Megadoc’ Review: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at a Pricey Passion Project
Movies, September 18

This documentary by Mike Figgis about Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis” is at once expansive and intimate, and sometimes very revealing.

‘The Lost Bus’ Review: Matthew McConaughey Rides Out Disaster
Movies, September 18

The actor stars alongside America Ferrera in a high-tension drama from the director Paul Greengrass that revisits the deadly 2018 Camp Fire.

‘Demon Slayer’ Review: Arresting Visuals on a Familiar Battleground
Movies, September 18

The anime movie, subtitled “Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle,” contains layers of lore and impressionistic backdrops.

‘Swiped’ Review: A Woman in a Man’s World
Movies, September 18

A drama about the rise and fall and rise again of a founder of Tinder and Bumble suffers from some flimsiness.

‘The Summer Book’ Review: Glenn Close’s Autumnal Notes
Movies, September 18

Set in Finland, this film explores a season of grief and growth for a girl, her father and her grandmother.

‘Speak.’ Review: How to Debate Like a Pro
Movies, September 18

The art of persuasion — and the painstaking preparation for a national competition — is the focus of this moving documentary about high-school students.

‘The Senior’ Review: Just Like Old Times
Movies, September 18

Based on a true story, this blandly inspirational tale follows a 59-year old man from Texas who rejoins his college football squad.

‘Plainclothes’ Review: The Trap of Desire
Movies, September 18

Lucas (Tom Blyth) has just had sex with Andrew (Russell Tovey), the man he was supposed to arrest in a sting operation.

‘Predators’ Review: Busted for Social Good (and Maybe Ratings)
Movies, September 18

This probing, troubling documentary looks at the sociological implications of the series “To Catch a Predator.”

‘Peacock’ Review: Design Your Life
Movies, September 18

The dark comedy follows a man who suffers an identity crisis after his work at a companion-for-hire agency extinguishes his own personality.

‘In Whose Name?’ Review: The Ye Chronicles
Movies, September 18

Six years in the making, this new documentary traces Ye’s life of fame and fall from grace.

‘HIM’ Review: Dying to Go Pro
Movies, September 18

In this thriller, a young quarterback is invited to train with a veteran player (Marlon Wayans) in his Texas compound. What could go wrong?

‘A Big Bold Beautiful Journey’ Review: A Multidimensional Meet Cute
Movies, September 18

This fantastical odyssey, starring Colin Farrell and Margot Robbie, relies on the tart charm of Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

‘Lost in the Jungle’: A Real-Life Thriller in Documentary Form
Movies, September 12

The movie peels back the layers of a headline story to find a complex tale, centuries in the making.

‘The Wrong Paris’ Review: Texas Wants a Word
Movies, September 12

Paris, Texas, may not be the preferred locale for the art student Miranda Cosgrove, but she finds that it might bring her the right man.

‘Spinal Tap II: The End Continues’ Review: They Can’t Leave This Behind
Movies, September 11

Four decades after their big-screen hit, the rock legends David, Derek and Nigel have reunited for one final (really, truly) concert.

‘Rabbit Trap’ Review: Into the Woods, Listening Carefully
Movies, September 11

This horror feature envelops us with its technical atmospherics, but don’t dig too far beneath that surface.

‘The Man in My Basement’ Review: A Prison of His Own Making
Movies, September 11

Corey Hawkins and Willem Dafoe star in an overstuffed drama about a man haunted by the weight of history.

‘The Long Walk’ Review: Their Feet Are Killing Them
Movies, September 11

For a movie about motion, this Stephen King adaptation feels oddly static.

‘The History of Sound’ Review: Bohemian Tragedy
Movies, September 11

Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor play lovers who embark on a folk song-recording mission in this demure New England drama.

‘Happyend’ Review: Adolescent Tremors
Movies, September 11

Friends in high school navigate senior year in a futuristic Japan where a cataclysmic earthquake looms.

‘Dreams’ Review: Fact or Autofiction?
Movies, September 11

The film is the final installment in Dag Johan Haugerud’s trilogy about the sexual and romantic mores of Oslo’s inhabitants.

‘Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale’ Review: One Last Hurrah
Movies, September 11

There’s truth in advertising as this well-loved saga of British entitlement rolls to a stop, on time and on point.

‘Men of War’ Review: Soldier of Misfortune
Movies, September 11

The documentary recounts a slapdash attempt in 2020 to overthrow the president of Venezuela, led by a former Green Beret.

‘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.