Beavers and Spiders and Thieves, Oh My 

• tk
• Hundreds of Beavers

Hundreds of Beavers
All things considered, it would be best for anyone to go into co-writer/director Mike Cheslik's rollicking comedy knowing as little as possible, because discovering just how inventive he's willing to get in the service of a joke plays such a huge role in why it's so effective. At its most basic level, it's the tale set in the 18th-century Canadian wilderness, where down-on-his-luck former purveyor of applejack Jean Kayak (Ryland Brickson Cole Tews, Cheslik's co-writer) must pivot to working as a fur trapper to survive. What ensues in the black-and-white, super-low-budget production is an inspired mix of Road Runner-vs.Coyote anarchy, old-school video-game plot mechanics and retro silent-film aesthetics á la Guy Maddin, utterly singular in being able to turn those ingredients into something cohesive. This is the kind of movie that takes a gimmick like using human actors in full-size, sports-mascot-like costumes to represent animals, and finds every possible way to exploit it for laughs. In fact, that's really the defining quality of Hundreds of Beavers: It's a comedy that manages to take several running gags, develop multiple variations on each one that's just as funny as the last one, then figure out how to connect those running gags in ways that are even funnier. Movies like this shouldn't be able to sustain their comedic momentum for nearly two hours, but that's what you get here with one of the biggest barrels of laughs in years. (NR) Available April 15 via FilmHub on AppleTV and Amazon Prime Video.

• Neon Films
• La Chimera

La Chimera
Throughout writer/director Alice Rohrwacher's drama, you can feel her reaching for complexity and profundity in the narrative, but somehow what emerges instead is merely muddled. It opens with Englishman Arthur Harrison (Josh O'Connor) recently released from prison and returning to Tuscany, where he and his cohorts plunder Etruscan tombs for valuable antiquities, found as a result of Arthur's almost mystical ability to locate buried treasures. That's only one of the odd components Rohrwacher inserts into the narrative, occasionally employing upside-down camera angles or silent comedy-style fast-motion in a way that adds an almost farcical component. Yet there's also an attempt to wrestle with when abandoned things become fair game for others to make use of, and an odd sub-plot involving a houskeeper pointedly named Italia (Carol Duarte) who hides her children from her employer (Isabella Rossellini). It's all generally engaging but quite messy, and isn't helped by a lead performance from O'Connor that's meant to be somewhat haunted by a lost love, but simply comes off as internalized to the point of invisibility. Rohrwacher's films have often been sprawling, ambitious tales bursting with thematic ideas; whether that approach strikes one as pleasingly dense or merely muddles is very much a "your mileage may vary" situation. (NR) Available April 12 at Broadway Centre Cinemas.

• WellGo Entertainment
• Sting

Sting
It takes only minutes into writer/director Kiah Roache-Turner's monster movie to realize you're in the hands of someone who understands how to have a blast with the premise of a giant alien spider terrorizing a Brooklyn apartment building. In the opening shot, the camera pans up a long strand of thread ... only to reveal it's knitting yarn rather than spider web; the opening credits find the eight-legged critter in its just-hatched form creeping around a dollhouse, the scale of things hinting at the giant-alien-spider excitement to come. The plot involves the creature initially becoming a kind of pet for trouble-making 12-year-old Charlotte (Alyla Browne), and there's a subplot involving Charlotte's complicated relationship with her stepfather (Ryan Corr) that is given far more attention—and taken far more seriously—than a movie of this kind really needs. But when the carnage gets rolling, it's loads of fun, as Roache-Turner demonstrates a keen sense not just for jump-scares, but for building tension through camera movement and the use of off-screen space. Meanwhile, all of the Chekhovian guns are placed in just the right places so that it's satisfying when they eventually fire. Simply put, this is the work of someone who just plain gets how to direct a monster movie built on practical effects—and on a realization that it should make you shriek and giggle in equal measure. (R) Available April 12 in theaters.