A Dopey movie makes us grumpy.
‘Snow White’
Directed by Marc Webb, this fairy-tale reimagining sees Snow White (Rachel Zegler) rescuing the seven dwarfs as they rebel against the Evil Queen (Gal Gadot).
From our review:
In an essay pegged to Disney’s unhappy 2019 live-action version of “Aladdin,” the critic Aisha Harris wrote in The New York Times that “shoehorned-in progressive messages only call more attention to the inherent crassness of Disney’s current exercise in money-grabbing nostalgia.” That was true then and it remains the case with “Snow White,” which is neither good enough to admire nor bad enough to joyfully skewer; its mediocrity is among its biggest bummers.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Critic’s Pick
Disrupting a town (and audience expectations).
‘Misericordia’
Jérémie (Félix Kysyl), an out-of-work baker, returns to a small French village to attend the funeral of his former boss and quickly becomes embroiled in several conflicts in the latest thriller from the director Alain Guiraudie.
From our review:
If Guiraudie isn’t mocking the way we’ve been trained to receive stories, movies, people, then he’s at least disrupting the usual patterns. Retraining us to see anew, to suspend expectation and abandon comfort, the way that John Waters and Mike Leigh, Aki Kaurismaki, Hal Hartley and the other oddball live-action cartoonists have. It’s risky, but something thrilling and often true comes of it.
In theaters. Read the full review.
‘The Hunger Games’ meets ‘Eurovision.’
‘O’Dessa’
This postapocalyptic musical directed by Geremy Jasper follows O’Dessa Galloway (Sadie Sink), as she competes in a high-stakes song competition and falls in love with the sex worker and cabaret singer Euri Dervish (Kelvin Harrison Jr.).
From our review:
What is clearly deliberate is the single most interesting aspect of “O’Dessa” — the way Jasper reverses the usual roles. The traditional ramblin’ man is now a ramblin’ lass with a pompadour, while the prostitute with a heart of gold and a penchant for self-sacrifice is now a sensitive guy. Is a cliché turned on its head still a cliché? “O’Dessa” will keep you wondering, and that counts for something.
Watch on Hulu. Read the full review.
Seeing double De Niro.
‘The Alto Knights’
Robert De Niro plays two friends-turned-rivals, Vito Genovese and Frank Costello, in this Mafia crime drama directed by Barry Levinson.
From our review:
Is there anything really new here? Well, yes. In a move that pretty much dares you to call it a stunt, the roles of Genovese and Costello are both played by De Niro. And the actor pulls it off, at least as far as anyone could pull it off. He provides each figure with a genuine, distinct characterization.
In theaters. Read the full review.
A bodybuilder muscles his way through life.
‘Magazine Dreams’
Jonathan Majors stars as an obsessive bodybuilder in this drama written and directed by Elijah Bynum, which, after its premiere at Sundance two years ago, was shelved when the star was arrested and charged with assault and harassment of his girlfriend at the time. Majors, who denied the accusations, was found guilty on two of four counts and sentenced to probation and a year of domestic violence counseling.
From our review:
It’s an impressive show of bravado from both the actor and the director, albeit in a way that makes it difficult to tell who’s swaggering more — the character or the filmmaker. “Magazine Dreams” bludgeons viewers to show off its sensitivity. Bynum piles on the misery in increasingly bogus ways.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Zero gravity, zero explanations.
‘Ash’
After she wakes up with foggy memories on a spaceship where she’s surrounded by dead crew members, Riya (Eiza González) must put the pieces together while marooned on a hostile alien planet.
From our review:
Though not as adventurous, “Ash,” from the musician-turned-director Steven Ellison, known as Flying Lotus, conjures comparisons to “Alien” and “Mission to Mars.” Its futuristic science — a terraforming planet, celestial alignment, parasitic beings — is equally wonky. Because the fractal script doesn’t aim to provide explanations, this film can be confusing. But that incomprehensibility is part of its aesthetically alluring package.
In theaters. Read the full review.
A less than fertile social critique.
‘The Assessment’
In a future dystopia where procreation is strictly controlled, a married couple (Elizabeth Olsen and Himesh Patel) undergo a weeklong evaluation to gauge their parental potential.
From our review:
A sterile drama about state-controlled procreation, “The Assessment,” the first feature from the French director Fleur Fortuné, is visually stark and emotionally chilling. From the elegant severity of Jan Houllevigue’s production design to Magnus Jonck’s coolly unwelcoming cinematography, the movie repels warmth. By the end, you’ll want nothing so much as a woolly jumper.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Facebook friendship IRL.
‘Bob Trevino Likes It’
After Lily (Barbie Ferreira) mistakenly friend-requests a stranger (John Leguizamo) on Facebook who has the same name as her estranged father, the two develop an unlikely friendship in this dramedy directed by Tracie Laymon.
From our review:
“Bob Trevino Likes It” is a middling indie tear-jerker. It suffers from an overwritten script chock-full of tropes and artificial dialogue. “You don’t have any tools,” Bob exclaims to Lily at one point, meaning a literal toolbox, but also, you know, a metaphorical, emotional one.
In theaters. Read the full review.
A locked-car thriller that’s stuck in one place.
‘Locked’
This thriller directed by David Yarovesky takes place almost entirely inside a locked car, where a devious vigilante (Anthony Hopkins) traps and tortures a petty criminal (Bill Skarsgard).
From our review:
The violent fun and games aren’t quite inventive enough to get past the single setting and its cramped leather seats. The performers hold their ground even if the script simply goes through the motions — the car-as-prison may at first come off like a new jam, and yet you’ve definitely seen it all before.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Compiled by Kellina Moore.