\n<\/p>\n
Directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, the latest installment of this buddy cop franchise follows Officers Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) as they set out to clear their late captain\u2019s name after he\u2019s falsely linked to a drug cartel.<\/p>\n
From our review:<\/p>\n
\nSmith and Lawrence also make this adventure a riotous triumph. These stars embody the care and anxieties their characters feel for each other, wielding their chemistry to smooth over abrupt tonal shifts. For example, an all-out firefight looping in a Barry White needle drop is a major highlight. And a run-in with racist good old boys, inspiring a Reba McEntire cover of the film\u2019s theme song, makes for another memorable scene. This violent franchise has rarely felt so assured, so relaxed and knowingly funny.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
In theaters. <\/em>Read the full review<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n
Critic\u2019s Pick<\/p>\n
A fairy tale without the happily ever after.<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n\n\u2018Tuesday\u2019<\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n
In this feature debut from Daina O. Pusic, a mother (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and her terminal daughter, Tuesday (Lola Petticrew), meet and contend with Death, as embodied by a mystical parrot (voiced by Arinz\u00e9 Kene).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n\nFrom our review:<\/p>\n
\nWithout much to distract from the three central characters, \u201cTuesday\u201d can feel overlong and a little claustrophobic. Yet this compassionate fairy tale works because the actors are so in sync and the imagery \u2014 as in one shot of the bird curled like an apostrophe in a dead woman\u2019s tear duct \u2014 is often magical. \u2026 The sum is a highly imaginative picture that, while considering one family\u2019s pain, also asks us to ponder the possibility that a life without end means nothing less than a world without a future.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
In theaters. <\/em>Read the full review<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n
Out of the closet and into her 30s.<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n\n\u2018Am I OK?\u2019<\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n
Dakota Johnson plays Lucy, an introverted and repressed 30-something who comes out (of her shell and the closet) after her best friend, Jane (Sonoya Mizuno), announces that she\u2019s moving away and pushes Lucy to leave her comfort zone.<\/p>\n
From our review:<\/p>\n
\nDirected with a light and understated touch by a power couple \u2014 the comedian Tig Notaro and the actress Stephanie Allynne \u2014 the movie feels very lived-in, the banter fresh and funny, even if sometimes it feels like it\u2019s standing in place a bit too long.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Watch on Max<\/em><\/a>. <\/em>Read the full review<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n
Critic\u2019s Pick<\/p>\n
The killer\u2019s fake, the charisma\u2019s real.<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n\n\u2018Hit Man\u2019<\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n
Gary (played by Glen Powell) is a reserved professor who finds himself posing as a hit man for a sting operation. While in disguise, he falls for a potential client (Adria Arjona). This Richard Linklater comedy opened in theaters a few weeks ago, but it hits Netflix Friday.<\/p>\n
From our review:<\/p>\n
\nIf I see a movie more delightful than \u201cHit Man\u201d this year, I\u2019ll be surprised. It\u2019s the kind of romp people are talking about when they say that \u201cthey don\u2019t make them like they used to\u201d: It\u2019s romantic, sexy, hilarious, satisfying and a genuine star-clinching turn for Glen Powell, who\u2019s been having a moment for about two years now. It\u2019s got the cheeky verve of a 1940s screwball rom-com in a thoroughly contemporary (and slightly racier) package. I\u2019ve seen it twice, and a huge grin plastered itself across my face both times.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Watch on Netflix<\/em><\/a>. <\/em>Read the full review<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n
Psychological horror that\u2019s stuck in Psych 101.<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n\n\u2018The Watchers\u2019<\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n
This feature debut from Ishana Night Shyamalan (daughter of M. Night) stars Dakota Fanning as Mina, a woman who gets trapped in the Irish countryside with three strangers who are all subject to observation by mysterious creatures at night.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n\nFrom our review:<\/p>\n
\nIshana is 24, and \u201cThe Watchers\u201d shows that she truly is Jung at heart: At times the movie feels as if an eager undergraduate patched it together from the greatest hits of the Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung, most notably the forest as both physical and psychological place, the mirror as revelator and the presence of the double. Fine, so this is a lofty way to say that the film is a little bit frightening and a big bit comically grandiose.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
In theaters. <\/em>Read the full review<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n
A love story with rich textures.<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n\n\u2018Banel & Adama\u2019<\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n
In this love story directed by Ramata-Toulaye Sy, the titular couple (played by Khady Mane and Mamadou Diallo) make a life in their Senegalese village and struggle against tradition.<\/p>\n
From our review:<\/p>\n
\nSy has a terrific eye and, working with her cinematographer, Amine Berrada, she quickly hooks you with the beauty of Banel and Adama\u2019s world, pulling you into their everyday life with hints of drama and myth, though mostly with the graceful compositions and the region\u2019s natural riches, its green fields and blue skies. \u2026 Yet [Banel], like so much of this movie, remains frustratingly opaque, a cluster of blurry ideas about gender, tradition and mythology.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
In theaters. <\/em>Read the full review<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n
Critic\u2019s Pick<\/p>\n
A depression film we love.<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n\n\u2018I Used to Be Funny\u2019<\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n
Rachel Sennott stars as Sam, a stand-up comedian struggling with PTSD who learns that a girl she used to nanny, Brooke (Olga Petsa), has gone missing in this dramedy from Ally Pankiw.<\/p>\n
From our review:<\/p>\n
\nThe film is peppered with happier flashbacks to when Sam and Brooke were best pals, a team-up that annoyed Brooke\u2019s humorless dad (Jason Jones). We track time through the perkiness of Sam\u2019s posture and ponytail. Depression films can be a drag. Fortunately, Sennott is entertaining even as a mope. The script takes an annoyingly long time revealing what went wrong (and then rushes the resolution). Pankiw is more focused on the aftereffects of trauma on a character who wields quips as both weapon and shield. A former stand-up herself, Sennott holds a stage with command.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
In theaters. <\/em>Read the full review<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n
Make it make sense.<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n\n\u2018Longing\u2019<\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n
When Daniel (Richard Gere) meets up with a former partner, he learns that he unknowingly fathered a child with her \u2014 a son who has just died at 19 in a car accident.<\/p>\n
From our review:<\/p>\n
\nPlausibility complaints always feel cheap, but \u201cLonging\u201d strains credulity well past the breaking point. This is the Israeli writer-director Savi Gabizon\u2019s second try at this premise \u2014 he is remaking his 2017 feature of the same title \u2014 but it is difficult to imagine that it ever made sense.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
In theaters. <\/em>Read the full review<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n
Compiled by Kellina Moore.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n