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Movies: New and Noteworthy

COMING THIS WEEK By Gary Thompson The Foreigner. When his daughter is killed by terrorists in London, a man (Jackie Chan) uses his martial arts skills to exact revenge. With Pierce Brosnan. R

"The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)": Dustin Hoffman as Harold and Emma Thompson as Maureen.
"The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)": Dustin Hoffman as Harold and Emma Thompson as Maureen.Read moreATSUSHI NISHIJIMA / Netflix

COMING THIS WEEK

By Gary Thompson

The Foreigner. When his daughter is killed by terrorists in London, a man (Jackie Chan) uses his martial arts skills to exact revenge. With Pierce Brosnan. R

Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House. Liam Neeson has the title role in this true story of an FBI administrator who gave information to journalists that eventually caused President Richard Nixon to resign. With Diane Lane. PG-13

Marshall. Chadwick Boseman stars as a young Thurgood Marshall, who, with another attorney (Josh Gad), tries to defend a man (This is Us' Sterling K. Brown) accused of attempted murder. PG-13

Also Opening This Week

Dina

Documentary about an unlikely relationship that develops between an eccentric shopper and a Walmart door greeter.

Happy Death Day A murdered college student keeps reliving the day of her death in an effort to find the killer.

The King's Choice In April 1940, the king of Norway and his son face down an attempt by the Nazis to lay claim to the country.

The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) Three adult siblings (Ben Stiller, Adam Sandler, Elizabeth Marvel) converge in New York to contend with their prickly artist father (Dustin Hoffman) and his fading legacy. Written and directed by Noah Baumbach.

Professor Marston & The Wonder Women True story of the creator of Wonder Woman and his eccentric home life.

Excellent (****)

Reviewed by critics Tirdad Derakhshani (T.D.), Dan DeLuca (D.D.), Gary Thompson (G.T.), and Nick Vadala (N.V.). W.S. denotes a wire-service review.

Columbus Two lonely, lovely young strangers - part-time librarian Casey (Haley Lu Richardson) and stuck-in-town son of an ill father Jin (John Cho) - strike up a friendship over several days spent walking and talking around Columbus, Ind., long celebrated as an improbable architectural enclave of Midwestern modernism. 1 hr. 44 No MPAA rating - W.S.

Very Good (***1/2)

The Big Sick

Based on comedian Kumail Nanjiani's life, a funny, touching comedy of a Pakistani American caught between his religious family and the American woman (Zoe Kazan) he loves. With Holly Hunter, Ray Romano. 1 hr. 59.

R

(sexual references) -

G.T.

Blade Runner 2049 An imaginative, visually stunning if overlong sequel from Denis Villeneuve that embraces and embellishes Ridley Scott's original 1982 dark vision of a future Los Angeles where police (Ryan Gosling) hunt down synthetic humans, even as the latter grow more like us. With Harrison Ford, Jared Leto, Ana de Armas and MacKenzie Davis. 2 hrs. 44 R (violence) - G.T.

Two Trains Runnin' Two groups of white blues nerds ventured, unbeknownst to each other, into Mississippi in the summer of 1964 hoping to locate and lure back into performing country blues legends Son House and Skip James. Interviews and music fill the film - including appearances by Gary Clark Jr., Buddy Guy, and Lucinda Williams - along with mesmerizing archival footage of House and James in their late phase of revitalized stardom. 1 hr. 22 No MPAA rating - W.S.

Also on Screens

American Assassin *1/2

Dylan O'Brien as Mitch Rapp - trained for a special-ops commando unit under an ex-Navy SEAL (Michael Keaton) - comes across as a poor man's Jason Bourne in the first of what might or might not be a string of movies based on Vince Flynn's series of pulpy spy novels. 1 hr. 51 R (strong violence, some torture, crude language, brief nudity)

- W.S.

American Made *** Tom Cruise stars in this fun but heavily fictionalized portrait of Barry Seal, a drug smuggler who found himself at the intersection of drug cartels and CIA adventurism in Central and South America in the 1970s and 1980s. With Sarah Wright and Caleb Landry Jones. Directed by Doug Liman. 1 hr. 55 R (violence) - G.T.

Battle of the Sexes **1/2 Women's tennis champ Billie Jean King (Emma Stone) and aging male star Bobby Riggs (Steve Carell) square off in a publicity stunt tennis match that ends up proving King's point about the value of female athletes. Some fun moments, but aside from the two leads, is given to caricature and some on-the-nose dialogue. With Andrea Riseborough, Sarah Silverman, and Bill Pullman. 2 hrs. 1 PG-13 (nudity) - G.T.

Brad's Status ** A man (Ben Stiller) takes his teen son (Austin Abrams) on a tour of prestigious university, prompting comic introspection. A few laughs and some insights, but in the end it's a movie examining the problems of a man who really doesn't have any. With Jenna Fischer, Michael Sheen, Luke Wilson. Written and directed by Mike White. 1 hr. 40 R (language) - G.T.

Flatliners (Not previewed) Medical students (including Ellen Page, Nina Dobrev, and Diego Luna) start to experience spooky, terrifying things after playing a game where they revive each other from near-death experiences. Based on the 1990 Joel Schumacher thriller. 1 hr. 48 PG-13 (violence, terror, sexual content, language, thematic material, some drug references)

The Force *** Documentary observes the Oakland, Calif., police department going through an unprecedented, unexpected series of issues, including officer-involved shootings. The film does not advocate for anything but the truth, aiming to show what happens on both sides of an issue, rather than coming down in favor of one or the other. 1 hr. 33 No MPAA rating - W.S.

Home Again **1/2 A woman (Reese Witherspoon) separates from her husband (Michael Sheen) and moves back into her childhood home, which doubles as a shrine to the movies her parents made. She invites three young filmmakers to move in and shenanigans begin. (some thematic and sexual material) 1 hr. 37 PG-13 - G.T.

It **1/2 Stephen King's thriller about a killer clown gets a new big-screen adaptation with a Philly kid at the helm. Jaeden Lieberher stars. 2 hrs. 15 R (violence, bloody images, profanity) - G.T.

Kingsman: Golden Circle **1/2 A blue-collar British lad (Taron Egerton) recruited to a posh spy service journeys to the U.S. where he links up with his American counterparts (Channing Tatum, Jeff Bridges, Halle Berry) to pursue a cheerfully demented drug dealer (Julianne Moore). Has some of the wit and energy of the original, but has come down with a case of sequel-itis - it's too long and overstuffed with CGI and cameos. 2 hr. 20 R (language, sexuality) - G.T.

Leap **1/2 The animated tale of a determined 11-year-old orphan named Felicie (voiced with girlish pluck by Elle Fanning) pursuing ballet in 1870s Paris is more of a hop than a grand jete in an already competitive cartoon arena. 1 hr. 43 PG (action) - W.S.

The Lego Ninjago Movie **1/2 This latest Lego installment maintains the silly and irreverent tone of The Lego Movie and The Lego Batman Movie but isn't as thick with the verbal and visual gags that made them deliriously fun. 1 hr. 41 PG (some mild action and rude humor) - W.S.

Logan Lucky *** Steven Soderbergh comes out of retirement for this "hillbilly heist" movie about a blue-collar man (Channing Tatum) who decides (along with Adam driver, Riley Keough, and Dan Craig) to rob the NASCAR track that fired him. A little long, but rewards you with laughs and surprises if you stick around. 1 hr. 59 PG-13 (language) - G.T.

Loving Vincent *** Each of the movie's 65,000 shimmering frames is a high-resolution photograph of an oil painting based on Vincent van Gogh's work in this speculative narrative attempting to penetrate the myth of the artist. 1 hr. 35 PG-13 (thematic elements, some violence, sexual material, smoking) - W.S.

Lucky *** Written as a starring role for the late character actor Harry Dean Stanton, who stars as a version of himself in this meandering, sometimes moving story of an elderly man contemplating the end of his life in a small desert town. With David Lynch, Tom Skerritt, and Ed Begley Jr. 1 hr. 29 No MPAA rating - G.T.

mother! *** Part psychological thriller, part anarchic horror flick, Darren Aronofsky's latest stars Jennifer Lawrence as the long-suffering muse of her husband, a writer's-blocked poet played by Javier Bardem. Their creepy old mansion fills inconveniently with guests who overstay their welcome as the movie becomes an all-out carnival of chaos. 2 hr. 1 R (disturbing violence, some sexuality, nudity, language) - N.V.

The Mountain Between Us *1/2 A strange lack of chemistry between leads Kate Winslet and Idris Elba in this story of two people stranded by a plane crash on a snowy mountain peak, hiking to safety. With Beau Bridges. 1 hr. 40 PG-13 (sexuality) - G.T.

My Little Pony: The Movie **1/2 Buttressed by strong voice talent and amusing bits of business amid the nonstop action and pony personality quirks, the movie lays on the sweet without too much of the sticky. Included are 13 songs, including "Rainbow" performed by Sia as a pony whose mane covers half her face, in a nod to the pop star's onstage persona. 1 hr. 39 PG (mild action) - W.S.

Stronger *** When a man (Jake Gyllenhaal) suffers the loss of his legs at the Boston Marathon terror bombing, his fiercely determined girlfriend (Tatiana Maslany) helps him become the hero the city wants him to be. Unusual spin on familiar themes, with top-notch performances by the two leads. Based on a true story, directed by David Gordon Green. 1 hr. 56 R (language, sexuality) - G.T.

Viceroy's House **1/2 Hugh Bonneville is Lord Louis Mountbatten, who as the last viceroy of India is entrusted to end British control in 1947 and partition the nation to create Pakistan, at the same time that violence between Muslims and Hindus escalated. The true story is more affecting than the fiction of this drama. 1 hr. 46 No MPAA rating (limited language, riots) - W.S

Victoria & Abdul *** Judi Dench stars as Queen Victoria, who late in life develops a rejuvenating friendship with an Indian servant (Ali Fazal) who teaches her about the customs of his native land, to her delight and to the consternation of her scandalized staff. With Eddie Izzard, Olivia Williams. Directed by Stephen Frears. 1 hr. 52 PG-13 (language) - G.T.

Wind River **1/2 Taylor Sheridan's screenplay has smart dialogue, likable neo-western heroes in cowboy hats, sudden open-carry shootouts, a capable woman navigating a man's world, and some searing social commentary, but, as a rookie director, Sheridan gets lost trying to assemble these elements into a tight package. 1 hr. 41 R (strong violence, disturbing images including a rape, language) - G.T.