‘The Wandering Earth’ Review: Planetary Disaster Goes Global
Movies, February 17
“The Wandering Earth” proves that China can make a sci-fi blockbuster as awash in murky computer imagery and stupefying exposition as any in Hollywood.
‘The Breaker Upperers’ Review: Calling It Off, With an Assist
Movies, February 15
This New Zealand comedy by Jackie van Beek and Madeleine Sami adds some welcome irreverence to the homogenized mix of Netflix comedies.
‘Hotel by the River’ Review: A Poet Makes Amends, Fumblingly
Movies, February 14
The film is one of Hong Sang-soo’s most visually arresting movies, even if it doesn’t quite overcome the slightness that characterizes the director’s work.
‘Parkland: Inside Building 12’ Review: Recounting the Attack in Painful Detail
Movies, February 14
This documentary on the Florida school shooting makes the massacre immediate in a way that sometimes gets lost in news coverage or political debates.
‘Happy Death Day 2U’ Review: Living Is Easy. Dying Again and Again Is Hard.
Movies, February 14
In this sequel to the 2017 slasher film, a college student tries to understand why she keeps reliving her murder by undertaking a grand self-help course.
‘The Unicorn’ Review: A Gay Country Singer’s Grim and Lonely World
Movies, February 14
This documentary about the singer-songwriter Peter Grudzien is a haunting portrait of what it means to burn bright, then die alone.
‘A Tuba to Cuba’ Review: A New Orleans Jazz Band Makes a Caribbean Connection
Movies, February 14
This joyous documentary follows the Preservation Hall Jazz Band to Cuba for a celebration of musical history and common bonds.
‘Donnybrook’ Review: Fighting for Survival in the Heartland
Movies, February 14
Jamie Bell’s solid performance does little to improve this violent, one-dimensional wallow in Midwestern miserabilism.
‘Clara’s Ghost’ Review: A Family of Performers, a Night of Hysteria
Movies, February 13
This unhinged comedy shines a spotlight on a family’s maladjusted dynamics.
‘Ruben Brandt, Collector’ Review: Stealing Inspiration From Great Art
Movies, February 13
A stylish animated film about a psychiatrist and a gang of art thieves.
‘Alita: Battle Angel’ Review: Do Female Cyborgs Dream of Breasts?
Movies, February 12
James Cameron teams up with Robert Rodriguez for this big-screen adaptation of a Japanese manga. Cue the fighting, bad dialogue and more fighting.
‘Sorry Angel’ Review: A Love Affair Two Men Start, Knowing the End
Movies, February 12
Set in early 1990s Paris, Christophe Honoré’s new film presents us with a middle-aged, AIDS-stricken writer falling, wearily, for a bookish 20-something.
‘Birds of Passage’ Review: An Epic Narco Tale That Will Open Your Eyes
Movies, February 12
Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra follow their Oscar-nominated “Embrace of the Serpent” with a saga of the drug trade set amid the Wayuu of northern Colombia.
‘Isn’t It Romantic’ Review: Rebel Wilson Mocks, and Obeys, Rom-Com Rules
Movies, February 12
She meet-cutes with a Hemsworth in this film that relies on conventions even as it snickers at them.
‘What Men Want’ Review: A Mind-Reading Woman Flips the Script, Sort of
Movies, February 7
This comedy flips the script on the 2000 film “What Women Want,” and this time, the mind reader is a female sports agent mired in workplace sexism.
‘To Dust’ Review: Death, Decay and Grief Wrapped in a Buddy Movie
Movies, February 7
Geza Rohrig and Matthew Broderick play an odd couple in search of scientific answers. They find much more than that.
‘High Flying Bird’ Review: A Thrilling Dunk on Capitalism
Movies, February 7
The director Steven Soderbergh teams up with Tarell Alvin McCraney and André Holland to take on the contradictions of modern sports culture.
‘The Prodigy’ Review: Evil Genius, Average Horror
Movies, February 7
Taylor Schilling is perfect as the distraught mother of a disturbed boy in this thinly plotted horror movie.
‘Under the Eiffel Tower’ Review: In Whine, Truth
Movies, February 7
Full of midlife-crisis clichés, the film is yet another ode to the restorative magic of wine country sunshine.
‘One Million American Dreams’ Review: Stories From New York’s Potter’s Field
Movies, February 7
This haunting documentary guides viewers through heartbreaking tales of the lost souls buried on Hart Island.
‘The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot’ Review: Nuff Said
Movies, February 7
The movie’s plot is as absurdly sensational as its title: The government taps Sam Elliott, an aging Nazi hunter, to kill a yeti.
‘The Gospel of Eureka’ Review: Christianity and Queerness Intersect in a Small Town
Movies, February 7
This cheerful documentary from Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher refuses to grapple with its glaring contradictions.
‘Berlin, I Love You’ Review: Many Stories, Not Much Feeling
Movies, February 7
The once-divided nature of Berlin isn’t given much consideration in this film, part of the Cities of Love series.
‘Untogether’ Review: Adrift in Los Angeles, Looking for Love
Movies, February 7
Jemima Kirke and Lola Kirke play damaged siblings in this exasperatingly affected romantic drama from Emma Forrest.
‘The 2019 Oscar Nominated Short Films’ Review: Heartbreak, Abbreviated
Movies, February 6
This year’s Oscar-nominated shorts will make you cry, laugh, cry, think, cry, wonder, and cry some more. Have we mentioned they might also make you cry?
‘The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part’ Review: Everything Is Not Awesome. Everything Is an Ad.
Movies, February 6
This franchise’s latest is a busy, noisy clutter of action sequences, pop-cultural allusions, life lessons and cute critters.
‘Lords of Chaos’ Review: Where Anomie and Speed Metal Meet Doom
Movies, February 6
Inspired by a sordid, true story, this English-language movie tracks a group of Norwegian death-metal musicians whose lives go murderously wrong.
‘Everybody Knows’ Review: Penélope Cruz’s Homecoming Turns Frantic
Movies, February 6
The intricate plot, about a wedding upended by a kidnapping, revolves around the destructive power of unspoken grudges and half-buried memories.
‘Dear Ex’ Review: Heartbreaking and Heartwarming Family Dysfunction
Movies, February 6
A boy is caught between his mother and the man for whom his father left his family in this nuanced portrait of enduring love.
‘Angela’s Diaries’ Review: A Tender Journey Through Memory
Movies, February 6
Yervant Gianikian assembled this film about Angela Ricci Lucchi, his partner in life and art, using diary shots and contemporary home video.
‘Cold Pursuit’ Review: Liam Neeson Is a Killer Snowplow Driver
Movies, February 5
Neeson’s latest sad-dad winter action thriller feels familiar and also different.
A Lesbian Romantic Comedy, Sort of, by Way of Bollywood
Movies, February 1
The romance is pushed to the edges of “Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga” so lessons of tolerance can take center stage.
‘Polar’ Review: A Hit Man’s Redemption Gets Mired in Toxic, Wintry Sludge
Movies, January 31
Starring the usually reliable Mads Mikkelsen, “Polar” pales in comparison to other assassin-in-midlife-crisis movies like “Grosse Pointe Blank.”
‘Miss Bala’ Review: Gina Rodriguez Finds the Wrong Place at the Wrong Time
Movies, January 31
A Hollywood remake turns a grim tale of violence into a fable of empowerment.
‘Braid’ Review: Childhood Friends Play a Dangerous Game in This Jumpy Thriller
Movies, January 31
The movie, written and directed by Mitzi Peirone, eventually coalesces as a bitter parable against chasing-your-dreams optimism.
‘Piercing’ Review: A Killer Romance
Movies, January 31
Christopher Abbott plays a character who thinks his baby is telling him to commit murder and dismemberment.
‘Arctic’ Review: Madness in a Frozen Wasteland
Movies, January 31
Mads Mikkelsen, doing his rugged best, stars in this survival tale.
‘The Unicorn’ Review: Two’s Company, Three’s a Comedy
Movies, January 31
In this workmanlike film, a long-engaged couple consider a threesome to invigorate their moribund sex life.
‘They Shall Not Grow Old’ Review: World War I, in Living Color
Movies, January 31
Peter Jackson’s film is brisk, moving and destined to earn the ire of purists.
‘Daughter of Mine’ Review: Lessons in Imperfect Parenting
Movies, January 31
Ardent and primal, Laura Bispuri’s drama addresses complicated ideas with head-clearing simplicity.
‘Outlaws’ Review: Uneasy Riders.
Movies, January 31
This unremittingly vicious first feature from Stephen McCallum portrays a power struggle in an Australian biker club rife with toxic masculinity and slack-jawed idiocy.
‘Velvet Buzzsaw’ Review: Art Snobs Get a Gory Comeuppance
Movies, January 30
In this bilious satire, Jake Gyllenhaal plays an art critic on the edge of sanity as the paintings he covets turn murderous.
‘The Wild Pear Tree’ Review: A Gambler and a Writer at Odds
Movies, January 29
Modern Turkey is the backdrop for a father-son story rich with literary overtones and philosophical implications.
‘The Gandhi Murder’ Review: A Muddled Conspiracy Thriller
Movies, January 29
The movie unfolds in the weeks leading up to Gandhi’s death. It posits that the authorities knew the murder would happen and could have stopped it.
‘Soni’ Review: Two Delhi Policewomen Struggle Against Misogyny
Movies, January 25
In the world described in Ivan Ayr’s debut feature, men casually assume they are entitled to say or do whatever they want to women.
‘Never Look Away’ Review: A Lush Adventure in Sex, Politics and Painting
Movies, January 24
This film, based on the life of Gerhard Richter, follows a German artist from the Nazi era to the 1960s.
Revisiting a Film from Ida Lupino, Hollywood Star Turned Director
Movies, January 24
“Never Fear,” a 1949 movie directed by Lupino that has been superbly restored, tells the story of a dancer felled by polio.
‘Serenity’ Review: Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway and One Very Bad Mess
Movies, January 24
As Captain Baker Dill, McConaughey is asked to throw his ex-wife’s new husband into the ocean. He should have thrown the script in instead.
‘The Invisibles’ Review: On the Run and in Plain Sight in World War II
Movies, January 24
Splicing two movies into a documentary-fiction hybrid, the director Claus Räfle follows four German Jews as they resist deportation to the camps.
‘Heartlock’ Review: A Prison Kingpin Steals the Show in This Hackneyed Drama
Movies, January 24
Alexander Dreymon and Lesley-Ann Brandt star as a prisoner and a guard who flirt with forbidden romance under the dark gaze of Erik LaRay Harvey.
‘Jihadists’ Review: Interviewing, but Not Challenging, Islamic Extremists
Movies, January 24
In this French documentary, extremists in Mali, Tunisia and Mauritania preach to the camera. If its directors offered any pushback, it doesn’t show.
‘IO’ Review: It’s Eve or Oblivion for the Last Woman on Earth
Movies, January 23
Netflix’s new sci-fi movie is mostly a lugubrious Adam and Eve story. But the two leads are almost too swamped in ennui to tend the garden.
‘The Image Book’ Review: Godard Looks at Violence, and Movies
Movies, January 23
Jean-Luc Godard’s latest film is a gloomy, lively essay on some disturbing history, cinema and himself.
‘King of Thieves’ Review: Michael Caine Leads a Crew of Artful Codgers
Movies, January 23
Based on the 2015 Hatton Garden burglary, the film has many familiar faces. They’re just a bit older now.
‘The 5 Browns’ Review: United by Music and Scarred by Sexual Abuse
Movies, January 22
A new documentary tells the painful but ultimately hopeful story of a classical music quintet of siblings, three of whom were molested by their father.