‘Breakdown: 1975’ Remembers the Distinctive Cinematic Voices of an Era
Movies, December 19
This documentary could be better, but it offers a helpful lesson for film fans new to the movies of that decade.
‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ Review: By Land, by Water, by Air!
Movies, December 18
For the franchise’s third movie, James Cameron throws in new creatures, new landscapes, melodramatic plot lines and big battle sequences. It’s a lot.
‘Cover-Up’ Review: Seymour Hersh, Scoops and Power
Movies, December 18
In their documentary, Laura Poitras (“Citzenfour”) and Mark Obenhaus trace the career highs and lows of the famed investigative journalist.
‘The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants’ Review: Underwater Adventure
Movies, December 18
The latest installment to this entertainment juggernaut relies on a cheap, rote formula and easy gags to keep children engaged.
‘Is This Thing On?’ Review: When a Punchline Becomes a Lifeline
Movies, December 18
Will Arnett and Laura Dern add emotional heft to Bradley Cooper’s intimate comedy about a separated spouse who finds solace in stand-up.
‘The Housemaid’ Review: Dusty Counters, Dirty Secrets
Movies, December 18
Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried star in a thriller that is best seen with a full house.
‘David’ Review: Preaching to the Choir
Movies, December 18
The story of David and Goliath is presented as a feel-good family epic in this animated musical released by the popular religious media company Angel Studios.
‘Counting Crows: Have You Seen Me Lately?’ Review: Becoming Big Stars
Movies, December 18
The band became a major success in 1993 with the hit “Mr. Jones.” Since then, the group has done its best to keep rock music alive.
‘The Voice of Hind Rajab’ Review: When Help Won’t Arrive
Movies, December 17
Kaouther Ben Hania’s dramatized feature about a Palestinian girl who is killed in Gaza City is both powerfully direct and purposefully removed.
‘Dust Bunny’ Review: A World of Wonders, Familiar and Foreign
Movies, December 11
The movie, starring Sophie Sloan and Mads Mikkelsen, is a blast of visual delights.
‘Resurrection’ Review: A Hallucinatory Voyage Into Cinema
Movies, December 11
The Chinese director Bi Gan, who has become a lauded fixture on the festival circuit, conjures a boundary-pushing tale that evokes moviemaking itself.
‘Silent Night, Deadly Night’ Review: A Slasher Gets a Giddy Reboot
Movies, December 11
This delightfully trashy entry in the seasonal subgenre follows a killer Santa with a heart, and a case of blood lust.
‘The King of Color’ Review: He’s Just Into Hue
Movies, December 11
In a new documentary, the creator of the Pantone system explains how he standardized colors across the globe.
‘Ella McCay’ Review: Right Girl, Wrong Time
Movies, December 11
James L. Brooks returns with a lieutenant governor comedy that might leave you more confused than amused.
‘Atropia’ Review: No Escape From Reality
Movies, December 11
Alia Shawkat and Callum Turner fake it so real in this Army simulation exercise in the California desert.
‘Merv’ Review: Not Much to Gnaw On
Movies, December 10
Zooey Deschanel and Charlie Cox play a former couple who share a dog in this shaggy rom-com that fails its titular lead.
The Protesters and the Police Are Both the Focus and the Filmmakers
Movies, December 5
To tell the story of the demonstrations surrounding a World Trade Organization meeting, “WTO/99” assembled scenes shot by the participants themselves.
‘Five Nights at Freddy’s 2’ Review: The Robots Are Malfunctioning (Again)
Movies, December 4
The bigger-budget follow-up to last year’s abysmal cult horror hit about haunted animatronic puppets is, at best, marginally scarier.
‘La Grazia’ Review: Paolo Sorrentino’s Portrait of Waning Power
Movies, December 4
The director reunites with Toni Servillo, casting the astonishingly expressive actor as a fictional Italian president facing the end of his term.
‘Merrily We Roll Along’ Review: It’s a Hit (Reprise)
Movies, December 4
The Tony-winning Broadway revival of the notorious Stephen Sondheim flop, starring Jonathan Groff, Daniel Radcliffe and Lindsay Mendez, gets a live stage recording for the big screen.
‘Rosemead’ Review: A Mother and Her Troubled Son
Movies, December 4
In this drama, Lucy Liu offers a compassionate and grim portrait of the lengths a mother will go to protect — and thwart — her teenage son.
‘Little Trouble Girls’ Review: Teenage Infatuation
Movies, December 4
Despite awareness of taboos, two girls in a Catholic school choir are drawn to each other in this feature debut by the Slovenian director Urska Djukic.
‘Jay Kelly’ Review: All His Memories Are Movies
Movies, December 4
Noah Baumbach’s latest film has George Clooney playing the last of the old-school movie stars.
‘Happy Holidays’ Review: Fissures in a Palestinian Family
Movies, December 4
In Scandar Copti’s film, set in Haifa, Israel, secrets and deceptions strain relationships.
‘Fackham Hall’ Review: Keep Calm and Chuckle On
Movies, December 4
Clever sight gags jazz up this “Downton Abbey” sendup about a bookish aristocrat under pressure to marry her first cousin.
‘Endless Cookie’ Review: An Animated Family History
Movies, December 4
Two filmmaking brothers trade tales in a tonally singular documentary.
‘The Chronology of Water’ Review: Saved by the Pen
Movies, December 4
Kristen Stewart’s feature directing debut stars a riveting Imogen Poots in an uncomfortably visceral tale of abuse and addiction.
‘100 Nights of Hero’ Review: A Feminist Fairy Tale
Movies, December 4
This flawed but endearing film stars Emma Corrin as a protective maid and features Charli XCX as a sister with a secret.
‘The Merchants of Joy’ Review: Cutthroat Christmas Tree Sales
Movies, December 1
A new documentary contains zesty character studies of competing New York City tree vendors as they prepare for the holiday season.
In ‘The Tale of Silyan,’ the Storks Are Watching
Movies, November 28
The birds’ presence lends an otherworldly air to this nonfiction look at a family farm in a dying North Macedonian village.
‘You Got Gold: A Celebration of John Prine’ Review: Paying Tribute in Nashville
Movies, November 27
Lyle Lovett, Bonnie Raitt, Kacey Musgraves and other luminaries perform Prine’s songs in this engaging concert film.
‘The Thing With Feathers’ Review: Parenting Without Your Better Half
Movies, November 27
A grieving father struggles to care for his two children after the death of his wife. Even with its star, Benedict Cumberbatch, the movie never takes flight.
‘The Stringer: The Man Who Took the Photo’ Review: Freelancing Woes
Movies, November 27
Was a freelance photographer intentionally left out of the famous Vietnam War photo of “Napalm Girl”?
‘Left-Handed Girl’ Review: An Electric Portrait of Taipei
Movies, November 27
The filmmaker Shih-Ching Tsou tells a sensitive story of a mother and her two daughters struggling to get by in Taiwan.
‘BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions’ Review: An Artist’s Mind-Expanding Collage
Movies, November 27
In this dazzling essay movie, the director Kahlil Joseph draws on an array of sources — news clips, old movies, family albums, an encyclopedia of ”Africana” — to create a thrilling whole.
‘The Secret Agent’ Review: Carnival in the Face of Carnage
Movies, November 26
Wagner Moura takes cover in this knockout from the filmmaker Kleber Mendonça Filho that is largely set in 1977 during Brazil’s miliary dictatorship.
‘Zootopia 2’ Review: Natural Habitats, Expanded
Movies, November 26
A sequel to the 2016 hit, this movie about an animal metropolis takes on an even messier social allegory than the first one, while building out a wider (if bloated) universe.
‘Teenage Wasteland’ Review: Young in Age, Mature in Reporting
Movies, November 26
This documentary looks back at a group of teenagers who, in the early 1990s, created a high school video project that ended up breaking real news.
‘Hamnet’ Review: The Rest Is Silence
Movies, November 26
Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal star in a heartbreaking adaptation of the best-selling novel.
‘Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery’ Review: Forgive Them, Father
Movies, November 26
Josh O’Connor leads a star-studded cast in the latest Benoit Blanc mystery — this one, about religious cults of personality.
‘Eternity’ Review: Dead Reckoning
Movies, November 26
Elizabeth Olsen plays a dead woman who must choose her forever partner in this silly afterlife rom-com.
‘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.