NOW PLAYING
Reviews of movies showing in theaters or streaming online
‘THE BATMAN’: Just when you’ve had it with Gotham City, caped crusaders and the whole franchise, along comes a good Batman movie — easily the best since “The Dark Knight” 14 years and an entire film industry ago. “The Batman” features a solemnly effective new Bruce Wayne/ Batman courtesy of Robert Pattinson. He has a superb counterpoint/frenemy/ soul mate in Zoe Kravitz’s Selina Kyle/Catwoman. Selina works as a nightclub hostess (vaguely defined on purpose) in a mob hangout frequented by John Turturro’s Falcone, who is outfitted by sunglasses handed down, apparently, from Sam Giancana. “Oz” Cobblepot, aka The Penguin, reports to Falcone but isn’t happy about the arrangement. He’s played by an unrecognizable Colin Farrell. Meanwhile, Andy Serkis as Wayne’s guardian Alfred Pennyworth is lovely, a naturally civilized antidote to all the hellishness swirling around him. All it takes for Gotham, aka America, to give into pure chaos, is simple:
“fear, and a little focused violence,” according to
Paul Dano’s Riddler. “The Batman,” rated PG-13 but barely, plays all the sides of Gotham’s mean streets more compellingly, and without mainlining the viciousness “Joker” style. I don’t know if we needed “The Batman,” but Matt Reeves, the director and co-writer, and company certainly elevated it. 2:56. 3 stars. — Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
‘DEEP WATER’: Whither the erotic thriller? The genre, so popular in the late ’80s and early ’90s, is a dying breed in the current Hollywood landscape, so any time one makes it
to the screen, it’s a cause for celebration, or at least notice. Especially one directed by Adrian Lyne, the king of the erotic thrillers, having directed “Fatal Attraction,” “9 ½ Weeks,” “Indecent Proposal” and “Unfaithful.” His latest film, “Deep Water,” is a husband “allowing” his wife to conduct extramarital affairs in order to keep her within the family fold. But Vic Van Allen (Ben Affleck) doesn’t seem to allow, so much as he barely tolerates, visibly grimacing when Melinda (Ana de Armas) parades her lovers under his nose. Outside of the complex central relationship to which Lyne dedicates his attention, the supporting characters are disposable. “Deep Water” is ridiculous and trashy, but in that “Saturday night, bottle of wine, bowl of popcorn on the couch” kind of way. 1:55. 2 ½ stars. Streaming on Hulu. — Katie Walsh
‘EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE’:
Describing the premise of “Everything Everywhere All at Once” is a unique challenge. The luminous and legendary Michelle Yeoh stars, playing against type as Evelyn, the harried proprietress of a laundromat, juggling her father’s arrival from China, her daughter’s desire to have her girlfriend accepted by the family and her husband’s threats of divorce, plus the challenges of keeping a small business running, including a looming tax audit. Evelyn doesn’t have time or attention to dole out to anyone, and her family is struggling. It’s at said tax audit that something strange happens. 2:12. 2 stars.
— Katie Walsh
‘THE LOST CITY’: The enduring power of Sandra Bullock as a rom-com star is one of the greatest wonders of the world. In her latest action-comedy “The Lost City,” where she plays romance novelist, Loretta Sage, opposite
Channing Tatum, she’s just as fresh, funny and beguiling as she was 28 years ago, in her breakout role in “Speed.” The characters in “The Lost City” (also starring Brad Pitt and Daniel Radcliffe) are searching for treasure in a remote jungle, but the real marvel is in front of them all along, in the form of our beloved Sandra B. “The Lost City” isn’t just a diverting romp, it’s a return to rom-com form for one of our best and brightest stars of the genre. Bullock’s still got it, and she won’t soon let you forget it. 2:12. 3 stars. — Katie Walsh
‘THE OUTFIT’: Leonard (Mark Rylance), the proprietor of the finest bespoke suiting shop in 1956 Chicago, wants to make one thing very clear: He’s not a tailor, he’s a cutter. “Anyone with a needle and thread can call themselves a tailor,” he sniffs. No, Leonard trained for years on legendary Savile Row in London learning the art of cutting suits from fine cloth, and he wields his trusty old shears with the precision and confidence that comes from decades dedicated to his craft. “The Outfit,” written by Johnathan McClain and Graham Moore, is the directorial debut of Moore, who won the adapted screenplay Oscar for “The Imitation Game.” It takes place entirely within the confines of Leonard’s shop, a cozy respite from the freezing, seemingly bulletriddled Chicago streets.
But the gang warfare creeps beyond the threshold of L. Burling Bespoke, and the result is a twisty, blood-soaked chamber piece, a retro gangster noir as meticulously crafted as a fine custom suit. 1:45. 3 stars. — Katie Walsh
‘MORBIUS’: “Morbius” is an itty sort of Marvel movie, from Sony and Columbia, a little “Doctor Strange” drenched with gallons of “Venom.” Early in the movie the character of Dr. Michael Morbius (Jared Leto), introduced originally in a 1971 “Amazing Spider-Man” comic storyline, turns down his Nobel Prize for inventing artificial blood and saving countless lives. The discovery was accidental, he reasons. The film, just this side of an R-rated melee, is one big fake blood squib. Struggling with a rare blood disorder, Dr. M ’copters into Costa Rica to subject himself to a caveful of vampire bats. His research suggests a blend of human and bat DNA will cure him, and he’ll be able to save his similarly afflicted childhood friend nicknamed “Milo” (played by Matt Smith). An awful lot of the movie depends on the chemistry between Leto and Smith, playing old friends and new enemies. I don’t relish pinning blame on a particular star/executive producer, in this case Leto, since so much in corporate franchise commerce has a chance to go wrong before a single performer gets in front of a camera. But my bafflement regarding Leto is becoming chronic. 1:44. 1 ½ stars. — Michael Phillips
‘YOU WON’T BE ALONE’: First-time feature filmmaker Goran Stolevski’s ruminative supernatural tale is set in the rustic hillside villages of 19th-century Macedonia. The hills are alive with the sound of screaming, whenever the presence of Old Maid Maria, the witch also known as the Wolf-Eateress, can be felt. In the film’s opening minutes, the burnscarred witch (Anamaria Marinca, smiling like a hag who knows she has the upper hand) makes a hard bargain with a peasant woman: Raise your infant daughter, and I’ll come back for her when she turns 16. From there “You Won’t Be Alone” combines a tale of no-win parenting with the pungent, oddly delicate persuasion of an old folk tale imagined anew. The girl, Nevena, rendered mute by the witch, is raised in a cave by her real mother. Once she’s collected by Old Maid Maria, she learns how to become whomever or whatever she kills. In every design detail, the physical production and realization of “You Won’t Be Alone” really does take you somewhere. However unsettling, it’s a film that knows what it’s doing. 1:49. 3 stars.
— Michael Phillips
RATINGS: The movies listed are rated according to the following key: 4 stars, excellent; 3 stars, good; 2 stars, fair; 1 star, poor.