T/movie-reviews

‘Shari & Lamb Chop’: A Singular Talent Gets Her Due
Movies, Today

Shari Lewis’s pioneering role in children’s television becomes clear in a new film that can be perfunctory about her life.

‘No Sleep Till’ Review: Calm Before the Storm
Movies, Yesterday

This gauzy film builds an impression of Floridian malaise by trailing four locals the day before a hurricane.

‘Life After’ Review: What the End Means
Movies, Yesterday

The filmmaker Reid Davenport raises thorny questions about how the option of medically assisted death is presented to disabled people.

‘Unicorns’ Review: Where Glitter Meets Grit
Movies, Yesterday

This movie, directed by Sally El Hosaini and James Krishna Floyd, follows Luke and Aysha, who meet by chance at a drag event.

‘Smurfs’ Review: Don’t Stop the Music
Movies, Yesterday

The lovable blue guys (and one gal) go on a mission to save Papa Smurf in this colorful romp with an impressive voice cast.

‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’ Review: Nostalgia Is Overrated
Movies, Yesterday

This revival of a 1990s horror franchise fumbles its shot.

‘Finally Dawn’ Review: A Night to Remember in Rome
Movies, Yesterday

This Italian drama, set in the 1950s and starring Lily James, Willem Dafoe and Joe Keery, sends a star-struck naïf through the looking glass darkly.

‘Cloud’ Review: Buyer’s Remorse
Movies, Yesterday

In this genre-bending thriller, an online reseller’s tale of vengeance becomes a parable of human greed and disconnection.

‘Eddington’ Review: Once Upon a Time in the Pandemic
Movies, Yesterday

Ari Aster returns with a dystopian Western farce about a world gone mad that you definitely remember.

‘Apocalypse in the Tropics’: A Passionate Take on Brazilian Politics
Movies, July 11

The director Petra Costa examines a rightward shift in her country by zeroing in on the rise of a televangelist.

‘Madea’s Destination Wedding’ Review: Hellur, Bahamas
Movies, July 11

Tyler Perry returns as a series of characters, and this time, the real struggle for the family is boarding a plane.

‘Wild Diamond’ Review: The Reel World
Movies, July 10

In this French coming-of-age drama, a young woman auditions for a reality show to escape life at home.

‘Sovereign’ Review: The Fringe and the Forgotten
Movies, July 10

Nick Offerman stars as an anti-government widower whose extremist philosophy inches closer and closer to violent conflict.

‘Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight’ Review: Through a Child’s Eyes
Movies, July 10

This drama about a white family in Zimbabwe is told almost entirely from the girl’s point of view.

‘Brick’ Review: No Way Out?
Movies, July 10

In the overly constructed thriller from Germany, tenants are trapped in apartment building by a mysterious bulwark.

‘Daniela Forever’ Review: His Girlfriend’s Back
Movies, July 10

In this agreeably unpretentious science-fiction feature, Henry Golding plays a DJ who has lucid dreams about his dead girlfriend.

‘Rosa la Rose: Fille Publique’ Review: Lady Liberty of the Streets
Movies, July 10

A new restoration of a 1986 drama by the filmmaker Paul Vecchiali melds a candy-colored vision of the world’s oldest profession with a grim take on neoliberalism.

‘Little, Big, and Far’ Review: Dwelling in the Cosmos
Movies, July 10

The experimental director Jem Cohen’s latest is an uncategorizable film about astronomers and humanity and love and the stars.

‘Superman’ Review: It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s a Reboot!
Movies, July 8

Beginning again with the Man of Steel, this time in the hands of James Gunn.

‘Kill the Jockey’ Review: Backing the Wrong Horse
Movies, July 2

An equestrian suffers a brain injury that alters his identity in Luis Ortega’s stylized gangster movie.

‘Videoheaven’ Review: Rewinding the Tape
Movies, July 2

A documentary by Alex Ross Perry examines how movies and TV have portrayed video store culture.

‘The Old Guard 2’ Review: Thurman vs. Theron
Movies, July 2

Uma Thurman joins the expanded cast in this sure-footed sequel to the action blockbuster about a team of immortal heroes.

‘Heads of State’ Review: John Cena and Idris Elba Are Assassins’ Targets
Movies, July 2

This action movie about U.S. and British leaders, also featuring Priyanka Chopra Jonas, plays like a silly version of a BBC political satire series.

‘40 Acres’ Review: This Land Is Their Land
Movies, July 2

Danielle Deadwyler tussles with cannibals in a disturbing postapocalyptic thriller.

‘Jurassic World Rebirth’ Review: Wonder, Gone Extinct
Movies, July 1

With its seventh entry, the popular dinosaur franchise is starting to show signs of wear.

Barbara Walters Film Emphasizes the Highlights in a Mixed Legacy
Movies, June 27

“Tell Me Everything” is more of a puff piece than its subject might have liked, but the film is at its best examining TV journalism’s evolution.

‘Sorry, Baby’ Review: Life and Nothing but, Beautifully
Movies, June 26

In her tender, funny feature directing debut, Eva Victor tells the story of a woman, the trauma that changed her and the life she kept on living.

‘Stealing Pulp Fiction’ Review: A Lowbrow Homage
Movies, June 26

A couple of loser cinephiles concoct a dumb heist plan, and hilarity is the last thing that ensues.

‘Ponyboi’ Review: The Cost of Living Authentically
Movies, June 26

In this gritty film by River Gallo, an intersex character has to navigate New Jersey gangsters and double crosses.

‘My Mom Jayne’ Review: An Exceptional Family Tale
Movies, June 26

Mariska Hargitay sets out to learn about her mother, the Hollywood actress Jayne Mansfield, through intimate conversations with her siblings.

‘M3gan 2.0’ Review: Back to Slay Another Day
Movies, June 26

Everyone’s favorite campy killer doll returns in a movie that has some thoughts about artificial intelligence.

‘Hot Milk’ Review: Mommy Issues
Movies, June 26

Emma Mackey and Fiona Shaw star in this drama about a young woman in a codependent relationship with her disabled mother.

‘F1 The Movie’ Review: Brad Pitt Goes Zoom
Movies, June 26

In tanned, tousled form, the actor stars in a Formula One story about fast cars, last chances and pretty people by the director of “Top Gun: Maverick.”

‘Afternoons of Solitude’ Review:
Movies, June 26

Albert Serra’s mesmerizing documentary about a bullfighter faithfully depicts a violent tradition and the specter of death that suffuses it.

Marlee Matlin Tells Her Own Unvarnished Story
Movies, June 20

In a new documentary, the actress talks about the prejudice and loneliness she faced after becoming the rare Hollywood star who is deaf.

‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Review: Singing, Slinging and Slashing
Movies, June 19

Beyond the somewhat silly premise of this Netflix animated film is a charming, funny and artfully punchy original universe.

‘Elio’ Review: Pixar’s Fantastical, Familiar World
Movies, June 19

An orphaned boy is whisked away on a visually wondrous cosmic adventure, but he returns home with mostly reassuring lessons.

‘28 Years Later’ Review: Danny Boyle Revives His Monsters
Movies, June 19

The director returns to the postapocalyptic Britain he conjured in his 2002 movie “28 Days Later,” this time with a father and son running from flesh-eaters. Mom joins in, too.

‘Shanghai Blues’ Review: Slapstick Fun in a 1984 Tsui Hark Picture
Movies, June 19

This newly restored screwball comedy is a buoyant romp. The director revisits and refines the techniques used here in his later work in other genres.

‘The Queen of My Dreams’ Review: From Karachi to Toronto
Movies, June 19

Fawzia Mirza’s amiable feature debut traces the lives of a mother and her daughter in two coming-of-age tales.

‘Familiar Touch’ Review: Living With Dementia
Movies, June 19

In this empathetic debut feature, Kathleen Chalfant plays Ruth, a woman who moves into an assisted living facility and adapts to her new life.

‘Everything’s Going to be Great’ Review: Show People
Movies, June 19

A theater family sorts out its offstage drama in a coming-of-age movie starring Bryan Cranston and Allison Janney.

‘Bride Hard’ Review: Taking on Baddies at Her Best Friend’s Wedding
Movies, June 19

Rebel Wilson gamely plays the role of secret agent and bridesmaid in this action-thriller mixed with a 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.