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28 Years Later ***
You can tell director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland have been spilling over with ideas for how to expand the world of their 2002 “rage virus”/zombie original 28 Days Later, and enough of them connect here that it makes up for the potentially unsatisfying sensation of watching a pilot for an anthology series.
How to Train Your Dragon, Materialists, The Life of Chuck, The Unholy Trinity, Echo Valley
Echo Valley **1/2
One thing I desperately wish for the screenwriters of the world is that they would spend as much time trying to craft a compelling dramatic story as they spent trying to outsmart their viewers. You can see that sense of misplaced priorities in Brad Ingelsby’s script set on a horse farm where Kate Garretson (Julianne Moore), still mourning the recent death of her wife, most also deal with the latest crisis of her drug-addicted daughter Claire (Sydney Sweeney), who owes money to her dealer, Jackie (Domnhall Gleeson).
Ballerina, The Phoenician Scheme, Dangerous Animals, Predator: Killer of Killers, The Ritual
Ballerina ***
“From the World of John Wick” promises the marketing title of this spinoff/“sidequel” to the action franchise, which is a pretty high bar to reach after the Keanu Reeves films spent a decade setting the standard for crunching action choreography. This story follows a different quest for righteous vengeance, as Eve (Ana de Armas)—an orphan raised by the Ruska Roma and their Director (Anjelica Huston) in the ways of armed and unarmed badassery—risks everything by picking a fight with the cultish leader (Gabriel Byrne) responsible for the death of her father.
Karate Kid Legends, Bring Her Back, Jane Austen Wrecked My Life, Bad Shabbos, Tornado
Bad Shabbos ***
The comedic line between “farce” and “cringe” is a thin one, but co-writer/director Daniel Robbins walks it fairly deftly in this tale of family connection with a dark twist: During the Shabbos dinner in New York when David Gelfand (Jon Bass) will be introducing this parents (David Paymer and Kyra Sedgwick) to the parents of his non-Jewish fiancé, Meg (Meghan Leathers), the already-fraught scenario gets complicated further when another one of the dinner guests winds up dead on the bathroom floor. What follows is a Weekend at Bernie’s-style scenario as the dinner descends into chaos with everyone trying to cover up a possible crime, and some of the situations will inevitably come off as forced.
Lilo & Stitch, Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, Friendship, Fountain of Youth, The Last Rodeo
Fountain of Youth **1/2
The desire to create a globe-hopping adventure franchise in the spirit of Indiana Jones or National Treasure is one I totally understand—but when your roguish soldier-of-fortune hero is played by John Krasinski, Imma stop you right there. Krasinski plays Luke Purdue, scion of a famed archaeologist attempting to continue his dad’s legacy by searching for the legendary fountain of youth, and dragging his semi-estranged sister Charlotte (Natalie Portman) along for the ride.
Fight or Flight, Juliet & Romeo, Summer of 69, Clown in a Cornfield, Secret Mall Apartment and more
Clown in a Cornfield **
High-concept premise and social commentary certainly have the ability to work together, but it feels like those two things are pasted awkwardly together in co-writer/director Eli Craig’s adaptation of Adam Cesare’s 2020 YA horror novel. It’s set in a rural Missouri town where 17-year-old Quinn (Katie Douglas) and her widowed dad (Aaron Abrams) relocate after a family tragedy, only to discover that the place has a history with serial killings involving someone dressed as the clown mascot of the corn syrup company that was the town’s main industry.
Thunderbolts*, Another Simple Favor, The Surfer, Bonjour Tristesse, Rosario
Another Simple Favor ***
The plot here is somehow even more lurid and preposterous than the original based on Darcey Bell’s novel, but if that’s the price we have to pay to get more delightful interplay between Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively, then so be it. Those who saw 2018’s A Simple Favor might recall that it ended with suburban housewife Emily (Lively) in jail after mommy-blogger Stephanie (Kendrick) unmasked Emily as a homicidal con artist; several years later, Stephanie has written a true-crime novel based on that experience, Emily is freshly out of prison pending appeal for [waves hands] reasons, and everyone ends up in Capri for Emily’s wedding to an Italian crime lord (Michele Morrone).
Sinners, The Wedding Banquet, Sneaks, The Ugly Stepsister, One to One: John & Yoko
One to One: John & Yoko ***
I completely understand the idea that, after 50-plus years, we really don’t need another documentary about any of the Beatles—and if this one works, it’s because director Kevin Macdonald kind of understands that, too. Because this is less a documentary about John Lennon and Yoko Ono than it is about the world that shaped them at a particular moment in their lives: approximately 18 months between 1971 and 1973 when they were living in New York’s Greenwich Village, absorbing American culture and politics from television, including a documentary about conditions at a home for developmentally-disabled children that inspired the “One to One” benefit concert in August 1972.
