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In the Heights, Awake, Queen Bees, Censor and more
Awake **1/2
There’s only one major problem with this quick-and-dirty apocalyptic drama, and that’s the “quick” part. Gina Rodriguez plays Jill, a military veteran and ex-addict whose two children—teenager Noah (Lucius Hoyos) and 10-year-old Matilda (Ariana Greenblatt—are in the custody of her late husband’s mother (Frances Fisher).
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, Undine, Spirit Untamed and more
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It **1/2
It takes a Costco-size pair of cojones to make a visual nod to The Exorcist in your movie about demonic possession, as this third "official" Conjuring installment does when we get a shot from behind of a fedora-wearing priest arriving at night at a house where a child—young David Glatzel (Julian Hilliard)—is being tormented by a demon. During the ensuing ritual, Arne Johnson (Ruairi O’Connor), the boyfriend of David’s sister, invites the dark spirit to take him instead, and Arne subsequently commits a murder where demonologists Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga) attempt to prove that … well, it’s right there in the subtitle.
Cruella, A Quiet Place Part II, American Traitor, Port Authority and more
American Traitor: The Trial of Axis Sally **1/2
This truly weird historical drama/biopic shouldn’t work at all, yet somehow delivers just enough slivers of interest not to be a complete mess. It’s the story of Mildred Gillars (Meadow Williams), and American singer/actress who becomes a voice for Nazi radio propaganda while living in Berlin circa 1941, then winds up on trial for treason after the end of World War II.
New tunes by World's Worst, Cop Kid and Amateur Atlas
World’s Worst, “Balloons”
The dream of the ‘90s is alive in SLC—or at least, the dream of the ‘90s as it was re-imagined in the early 2010s by bands like Yuck.
Dream Horse ***
It would be hard to top Louise Osmond’s 2015 documentary about this same true story for both character charm and crowd-pleasing drama, but a fictionalized version could have done far worse than this one. Toni Collette plays Jan Vokes, the part-time barmaid/part-time supermarket employee in a small Welsh community who becomes the ringleader for a syndicate in which many local residents invest in a racehorse, which they name Dream Alliance.
Army of the Dead, Spiral: From the Book of Saw and The Killing of Two Lovers
Army of the Dead **1/2
Given the personal tragedy in Zack Snyder’s life, it’s hard to ignore the poignant subtext of building his zombie action thriller around a father-daughter relationship.
The Aces Release “Don’t Freak” Utah natives and nowadays Los Angelites The Aces are back with their first single since the release of their 2020 album Under My Influence.
Tom Clancy's Without Remorse, Four Good Days, Separation, Street Gang and more
About Endlessness **
Over the course of 20 years, Swedish filmmaker Roy Andersson has remained committed to his stylistic gimmick—master-shot tableaux of simple situations, often building to absurdist punch lines—to the point where it’s not clear what more he might have to say within this framework. Once again, his episodic scenes aren’t really connected to any overarching narrative, though a couple of characters—including a minister despairing over his loss of faith—do recur at various points.
