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Parasite (R, 2 hours, 12 minutes)
Even the savviest film fans are unlikely to predict what will happen next in this fascinating black comedy/thriller from South Korea that concerns the infiltration of the wealthy, gullible Park family by the scheming street-wise Kim family.
With the morality of a household that bears more than a passing resemblance to the Gallaghers of Showtime’s Shameless, the clever Kim kids start out reasonably enough as tutor and art therapist to the children of the Parks, who are too preoccupied living lavish lives to notice the increasing amount of influence the Kims are gaining over their household.
When the Parks’ put-upon housekeeper introduces an equally exploitative character that threatens the Kims’ gravy train, a fightto-the-finish battle breaks out. The startling results will surprise you.
With Song Kang Ho, Lee Sun Kyun, Park So Dam; Directed by Bong Joon Ho. Subtitled.
Motherless Brooklyn (R, 2 hours, 24 minutes) Complex, sometimes unsettling, often funny, and definitely noir in nature, Motherless Brooklyn follows private detective, Lionel Essrog (Edward Norton, fabulous in the role), who has Tourette’s Syndrome, as he battles New York City bureaucracy and corruption in the 1950s while assembling fragments of a puzzle to figure out who murdered his mentor and friend Frank Minna (Bruce Willis). With Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Alec Baldwin, Willem Dafoe; written and directed by Edward Norton.
Terminator: Dark Fate (R, 2, hours, 8 minutes) Devotees of this franchise will be happy to get a fresh shot of Terminator tales in this unsurprising yet relatively satisfying installment, taking place over 20 years after Sarah Connor prevented Judgment Day and changed the future. Time travel is involved, so don’t get too hung up on searching for a logical explanation of the plot. With Linda Hamilton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mackenzie Davis, Gabriel Luna; directed by Tim Miller.
Harriet (PG-13, 2 hours, 5 minutes) An earnest, predictable and sometimes inspired look at the life of freedom fighter Harriet Tubman, who escapes from slavery and dedicates herself to freeing others from a similar fate. With Cynthia Erivo, Leslie Odom Jr., Janelle Monáe, Joe Alwyn; directed by Kasi Lemmons.
My Name Is Myeisha (not rated, 1 hour, 22 minutes) A unique hip-hop musical loosely based on police brutality against blacks that pays tribute to a California teenager who, when shot to death by police, drifts into a fantasy where she considers the life she’s leaving behind. With Rhaechyl Walker; directed by Gus Krieger.
Battle of Jangsari (not rated, 1 hour, 44 minutes) Alternately brutal and melodramatic, this war drama concerns a barely trained battalion of student soldiers who are sent into the trenches to serve as diversions before Gen. Douglas MacArthur shows up to attack the crucial area of Incheon at the height of the Korean War in 1950. Based on actual events. With Megan Fox, Myung-Min Kim, George Eads; directed by Kyung-taek Kwak.
In Search of the Last Action Heroes (not rated, 2 hours, 20 minutes) A wide-ranging feature-length documentary by Oliver Harper that surveys 50 years of the classic action genre from Westerns to the contemporary movies of today. With Scott Adkins, Stuart Ashen, Paul Verhoeven, Shane Black.