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.
‘Primate’ Review: Going Ape
Movies, January 9
This blood-splattered survival film about a rabies-infected chimpanzee is powered by unabashedly simple pleasures.
‘People We Meet on Vacation’ Review: When Stuffy Met Silly
Movies, January 9
Love grows between a restless travel writer and a contented homebody in this occasionally cute, instantly forgettable romantic comedy.
‘Magellan’ Review: The Beauty and the Bloodshed of a Smaller World
Movies, January 8
Gael García Bernal plays the explorer Ferdinand Magellan in Lav Diaz’s portrait of a brutal adventurer and his travels across the globe.
‘Greenland 2: Migration’ Review: The New World
Movies, January 8
Gerard Butler returns for more earthshaking action in this crowd-pleasing postapocalyptic thriller.
‘Young Mothers’ Review: Teen Parents, Breaking Cycles
Movies, January 8
The Dardenne brothers’ latest film is a tender portrait of four teenage moms in a Belgian maternity shelter.
‘OBEX’ Review: An Analog Nightmare
Movies, January 8
In this indie oddity boasting visceral D.I.Y. effects, a gentle loner enters the world of a video game to save his beloved dog.
‘My Neighbor Adolf’ Review: The Nazi Next Door
Movies, January 8
The actors Udo Kier and David Hayman square off in this domestic drama where a man is convinced that his neighbor is Adolf Hitler.
‘Holding Liat’ Review: Hostage Situation
Movies, January 8
This unpredictable documentary follows a man and his family as they wait for news of his daughter and her husband, who were kidnapped in the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel.
‘Dead Man’s Wire’ Review: When the Action Is Razor Thin
Movies, January 8
Dramatizing an odd news item from 1977, Gus Van Sant’s crime film isn’t crazy enough.
‘All That’s Left of You’ Review: Hearts, Minds, History
Movies, January 8
The Palestinian American director Cherien Dabis offers eloquent context with her generational drama about Palestinian men.
‘We Bury the Dead’ Review: A Down Under Twist on the Zombie Flick
Movies, January 1
Daisy Ridley plays a woman who hopes her husband will spring back to life after a tragedy annihilates the population of Tasmania.
‘The Mother and the Bear’ Review: Dating for Her Daughter
Movies, January 1
This Korean Canadian soap opera is a moderately charming, if blandly earnest, drama about the dissonance and frictions between immigrant parents and their children
‘The Dutchman’ Review: André Holland Is Lost in New York
Movies, January 1
The actor stars along side Kate Mara in a psychological thriller that goes deep into the Black Arts archives.
‘No Other Choice’ Review: A Company Man Cut Loose
Movies, December 25
Park Chan-wook, the director of “Oldboy” and “The Handmaiden,” brings comedic flair to the cruel tale of an employee pushed to the brink.
‘Marty Supreme’ Review: Timothée Chalamet Sprints to the Top
Movies, December 24
The actor stars as a magnetic, striving table-tennis champ in Josh Safdie’s new movie, one of the most exciting movies of the year.
‘The Testament of Ann Lee’ Review: A Woman Clothed With the Sun
Movies, December 24
In an extraordinary performance, Amanda Seyfried plays the founder of the Shakers in a singular film.
‘The Choral’ Review: Singing to Keep the Fear at Bay
Movies, December 24
As England goes to war, a provincial choir master played by Ralph Fiennes is challenged to find available voices in this poignant drama set in 1916.
‘Song Sung Blue’ Review: A Christmas ‘Caroline’
Movies, December 24
Craig Brewer’s toe-tapping weepie about the triumphs and tragedies of a Neil Diamond tribute band is exactly the movie we need right now.
‘Anaconda’ Review: Back in the Jungle
Movies, December 24
The movie gets at least one thing right: Rebooting the shlocky, widely-panned creature-feature, starring Jack Black and Paul Rudd, is a goofy idea.
‘The Plague’ Review: Pool of the Flies
Movies, December 24
A stunner of a debut film follows a group of boys at a water polo camp, where an outsider is just trying to fit in.
‘Father Mother Sister Brother’ Review: Families, Untied
Movies, December 24
Jim Jarmusch’s uneven triptych, a prizewinner at Venice, saves its best segment for last.
‘Goodbye June’ Review: Terms of Endearment, and Estrangement
Movies, December 24
Kate Winslet directs a formulaic script by her son, Joe Anders, about a dying matriarch and her quarreling adult children.
‘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.