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Love Lies Bleeding, Arthur the King, Knox Goes Away, One Life and more
The American Society of Magical Negroes ***
Writer/director Kobi Libii concocts the kind of satirical premise that easily could have tipped over into pedantic self-importance, but emerges with a deft enough touch to end up both entertaining and urgent. The prospects for Aren Mbondo’s (Justice Smith) career as a visual artist appear to be vanishing, when he is approached by Roger (David Alan Grier) to join the titular secret society—a group of Black people dedicated to the proposition that solving White people’s problems and making them comfortable is the best way to keep their own lives safe.
Kung Fu Panda 4, Damsel, Cabrini, Io Capitano, Imaginary, Ricky Stanicky
Cabrini **
Director Alejandro Monteverde’s previous film about a real person on a single-minded quest to save children—last year’s surprise hit Sound of Freedom—had to deal with some unpleasant revelations about its subject. At least that problem is unlikely to face this historical biopic about Francesca Cabrini (Cristiana Dell’Anna), which plods through the life of a literal saint, but with the same self-righteousness about its message as Sound of Freedom did.
Madame Web, Bob Marley: One Love, The Taste of Things, Oscar-nominated shorts and more
Adam the First **
There’s an important distinction between “what is this movie about” from a synopsis standpoint and “what is this movie about” from a thematic standpoint—and while I can certainly explain to you the former, I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around the latter. It’s the tale of Adam (Oakes Fegley), a 14-year-old raised off the grid in a remote forest, who—after the death of the man who raised him (David Duchovny)—sets out with a list of three names to find out which one of them is his biological father.
Lisa Frankenstein, Out of Darkness, The Teachers' Lounge, Suncoast, Driving Madeleine
Driving Madeleine **1/2
At the outset, co-writer/director Christian Carion’s drama feels like one of those low-key character studies—and it’s definitely a bit of a surprise when it takes a different turn. In the present day, Parisian taxi driver Charles (Danny Boon) is a tightly-wound guy dealing with financial troubles, who picks up 92-year-old Madeleine Keller (Line Renaud) as she leaves her home to move, reluctantly, into an assisted-living facility.
Argylle, The Promised Land, Origin, Scrambled, Farewell Mr. Haffmann
Argylle **1/2
Much of Matthew Vaughn’s directing career—particularly Kick-Ass and the three Kingsman features—has been about exercises in laddish outrageousness, where the absurdity of the action set-pieces and copious exposition are considered features rather than bugs. His latest, in collaboration with screenwriter Jason Fuchs, is a convoluted espionage yarn so packed with plot twists and pivots that it kind of distracts from the enjoyable visual nonsense.
The Outrun, DEVO, Ibelin, Daughters, Ghostlight, Presence and more
DEVO *** [Premieres]Veteran documentarian Chris Smith (American Movie, Tiger King) offers a lively 50-years-on portrait of the veteran art band that offers not just a career retrospective, but a sense of how frustrating it can be for an artist to have a message that almost nobody seems to understand. From the initial meeting of founders Mark Mothersbaugh and Jerry Casale as Kent State University students in 1970, Smith spins the tale of angry Vietnam-era activists keen to spread a satirical message about human “de-evolution” in a chaotic time, and whose artistic endeavors to spread that message almost accidentally culminate in the formation of a band.
Exhibiting Forgiveness, Porcelain War, A Different Man, Gaucho Gaucho, Ponyboi
Exhibiting Forgiveness *** [U.S. Dramatic]
There are some challenging things percolating beneath the surface of writer/director Titus Kaphar's movie, which might have made even more of an impact had he not been so determined to underline things that didn’t need underlining. It’s the tale of on-the-rise visual artist Tarrell Rodin (André Holland), whose burgeoning success is unexpectedly accompanied by the reappearance of his long-absent father, La’Ron (John Earl Jelks), in recovery from years of drug addiction and seeking reconciliation for the damage he did as a father.
By Scott Renshaw and Aimee L. Cook
Jan 26, 2024 9:12 am
The Greatest Night in Pop, Union, Girls Will Be Girls, Nocturnes
The Greatest Night in Pop *** [Special Screenings]If you were there at the time—and perhaps a hipper-than-thou teenager—the 1985 all-star famine-relief hit “We Are the World” was an earnestly anthemic, well-intentioned piece of kitsch, which might make the prospect of a feature-length documentary about its creation a less-then-appealing prospect. But Bao Nguyen’s film isn’t so much celebration of the song as it is a fascinating home-movie about herding some of the most famous cats on the planet at the time.