\n<\/p>\n
Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender star as Kathryn and George, a married couple of glamorous spies who turn their espionage skills against each other.<\/p>\n
From our review:<\/p>\n
\n\u201cBlack Bag\u201d is the third movie written by David Koepp and directed by Steven Soderbergh that\u2019s been released since 2022, and it\u2019s a banger. It\u2019s also sleek, witty and lean to the bone, a fizzy, engaging puzzler about beautiful spies doing the sort of extraordinary things that the rest of us only read about in novels and \u2014 if we\u2019re lucky \u2014 watch onscreen. It\u2019s nonsense, but the kind of glorious grown-up nonsense that critics like to say they<\/em> (as in Hollywood) no longer make.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
In theaters. <\/em>Read the full review<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n
Critic\u2019s Pick<\/p>\n
Lost in the role.<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n\n\u2018The Actor\u2019<\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n
After suffering a traumatic brain injury that impacts his memory, Paul Cole (Andr\u00e9 Holland) tries to piece his life back together in this melancholic mystery directed by Duke Johnson.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n\nFrom our review:<\/p>\n
\nFilmed in a warehouse in Budapest, \u201cThe Actor\u201d feels at times like a horror movie about the struggle between amnesia and agency. Scenes snap off, as if the thread of events between has evaporated, and this sense of being unmoored pervades Holland\u2019s beautifully controlled performance. His Paul might be discombobulated, but he\u2019s also terrified of facing a life that could be no more than one endlessly recurring charade.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
In theaters. <\/em>Read the full review<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n
Critic\u2019s Pick<\/p>\n
Lights, camera, quarantine.<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n\n\u2018An Unfinished Film\u2019<\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n
A film crew attempts to pick up a production in Wuhan that stalled ten years prior, only to be derailed when coronavirus spreads and the crew must be isolated in this slightly meta, semi-fictional drama directed by Lou Ye.<\/p>\n
From our review:<\/p>\n
\nThere\u2019s a sense of space and time compression throughout, of Lou\u2019s movie\u2019s world crashing into our own, and of the familiar, tricky roles that screens and cameras played during those times, whether the holders were under strict lockdown, as in China, or under looser social recommendations, as in much of the United States.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
In theaters. <\/em>Read the full review<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n
No pain, all gain.<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n\n\u2018Novocaine\u2019<\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n
Jack Quaid stars as Nate Caine, a man who embarks a dangerous mission to save his crush with the advantage of a genetic condition that prevents him from feeling pain in this action romp directed by Robert Olsen and Dan Berk.<\/p>\n
From our review:<\/p>\n
\nThe violent comedy works most of all through Quaid, who is natural and nimble in embodying the funny paradox of a nebbishy hero who just won\u2019t go down. That spin on the indestructible man is, on paper, what\u2019s meant to make \u201cNovocaine\u201d stand out from the John Wicks and Jason Stathams we know so well. But what keeps it from deflating into tiresome shtick (which it very nearly does) is Quaid with his gawky, boyish charisma, an actual tough guy who just doesn\u2019t know how to act it.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
In theaters. <\/em>Read the full review<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n
This pop star sings to a different tune.<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n\n\u2018Opus\u2019<\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n
Directed by Mark Anthony Green, this horror film follows a journalist (Ayo Edebiri) as she joins the reclusive pop star Moretti (John Malkovich) in his remote mansion, where oddities and conspiracies abound.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n\nFrom our review:<\/p>\n
\nWhoever \u201cOpus\u201d is supposed to be sending up, its aim is a bit wide of the mark. But even if the movie\u2019s only real goal is to frighten, it bets far too much on its eventual twists. The explanations for Moretti\u2019s behavior aren\u2019t nearly as diabolical \u2014 or original \u2014 as Green appears to think. If that\u2019s the film\u2019s upshot, it\u2019s hard to say anything but: How retro.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
In theaters. <\/em>Read the full review<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n
Th-th-th-that\u2019s all?<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n\n\u2018The Day the Earth Blew Up\u2019<\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n
In this Looney Tunes feature directed by Peter Browngardt, Daffy Duck and Porky Pig uncover an alien mind-control plot involving bubble gum.<\/p>\n
From our review:<\/p>\n
\nThe action is frenetic and gleefully vulgar; at one point a dome of bubble gum emerges from a dog\u2019s rear end. There\u2019s also some old-school slapstick; chattering fake teeth turn out to be practically world-saving. But the movie\u2019s energy doesn\u2019t pay off in dividends of real pleasure. Anarchy has never been so mere as it is ultimately rendered here.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
In theaters. <\/em>Read the full review<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n
This \u201890s grunge sci-fi doesn\u2019t reach nirvana.<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n\n\u2018The Electric State\u2019<\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n
In an alternate version of the 1990s where mankind has barely triumphed in a war against technology, a teenager (Millie Bobby Brown) teams up with a roguish smuggler (Chris Pratt) and a few friendly robots in this action-comedy directed Anthony Russo and Joe Russo.<\/p>\n
From our review:<\/p>\n
\nThe design team clearly had fun creating a gallery of retrofuturist animatronics that heavily draw from mid-20th-century mascots and brands \u2014 their leader is Mr. Peanut (voiced by Woody Harrelson). But there is no logic in what the movie is saying about the relationship between humans and machines, or about anything in general. You can\u2019t blame some of the actors for appearing confused or bored.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Watch on Netflix<\/em><\/a>. <\/em>Read the full review<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n
Masculinity that misses the forest for the trees.<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n\n\u2018Who by Fire\u2019<\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n
In this ensemble drama directed by Philippe Lesage, a group of men gather and grapple with each other at a remote house in the woods.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n\nFrom our review:<\/p>\n
\nLesage\u2019s characters may talk a lot, but because he avoids exposition, he ends up overloading the story with dramatically heightened episodes. These keep things simmering, but they often overstate the obvious as much as any telegraphing dialogue might: A lost soul goes missing; men hunt with bows and arrows; a nubile woman bares flesh. It\u2019s very fraught, but so is the movie, starting the instant that Albert and Blake reconnect.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
In theaters. <\/em>Read the full review<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n
Dread and breakfast.<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n\n\u2018The Parenting\u2019<\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n
After a young couple (Brandon Flynn and Nik Dodani) brings their parents (played by Lisa Kudrow, Dean Norris, Edie Falco and Brian Cox) to a weekend getaway, the families discover that their rental home has a lingering ghostly tenant in this horror-comedy directed by Craig Johnson.<\/p>\n
From our review:<\/p>\n
\nWhen the demonic intrigue ramps up, the tone shifts to full-blown slapstick lunacy, with heads spinning \u201cExorcist\u201d-style, family members projectile vomiting, and in a meanspirited fashion, more than one Pomeranian getting brutally butchered. The cast is game \u2014 especially Cox, who gets to do some over-the-top Linda Blair mugging \u2014 but the script, by a \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d writer, Kent Sublette, is puerile and abrasive, lacking the wit of \u201cEvil Dead\u201d (an obvious influence) and the brio of \u201cScary Movie.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Watch on Max<\/em><\/a>. <\/em>Read the full review<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n
A tender story of first love.<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n\n\u2018Young Hearts\u2019<\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n
This coming-of-age drama directed by Anthony Schatteman follows Elias (Lou Goossens), a 14-year-old boy who struggles to accept his sexuality after falling in love with his neighbor.<\/p>\n
From our review:<\/p>\n
\nThe film shifts between Elias\u2019s states of blissful surrender and angsty repression, capturing him in emotionally baring close-ups. Naturalistic performances and quiet scenes of summertime idling bring to mind Luca Guadagnino\u2019s drama \u201cCall Me By Your Name,\u201d though \u201cYoung Hearts\u201d is a more wholesome, and ultimately more clich\u00e9, endeavor.<\/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