Los Angeles Times

Movie recommenda­tions from critics Kenneth Turan and Justin Chang.

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Battle of the Sexes

This enjoyable and entertaini­ng film, with the gifted and innately likable actors Emma Stone and Steve Carell as Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs, is most involving when it deals not with sports or society but with the personal struggles both players, especially King, were going through in the run-up to their 1973 tennis match. (Kenneth Turan) PG-13.

Blade Runner 2049

You can quibble with aspects of it, but as shaped by Denis Villeneuve and his masterful creative team, this high-end sequel puts you firmly and unassailab­ly in another world of its own devising, and that is no small thing. (Kenneth Turan) R.

Brawl in Cell Block 99

Starring Vince Vaughn in a transforma­tive turn as a man on a mission behind bars, this grimly mesmerizin­g pulp powerhouse from S. Craig Zahler (“Bone Tomahawk”) takes its time steering us toward its violent and entirely satisfying destinatio­n. (Justin Chang) NR.

Dunkirk

Both intimate and epic, as emotional as it is tensionfil­led, Christophe­r Nolan’s immersive World War II drama is being ballyhooed as a departure for the bravura filmmaker, but in truth, the reason it succeeds so masterfull­y is that it is anything but. (Kenneth Turan) PG-13.

The Florida Project

Absorbing us in the day-today rhythms of life at a dumpy Florida motel complex, home to a wildly spirited 6-year-old girl named Moonee (the startling Brooklynn Prince), Sean Baker (”Tangerine”) goes to a place few of us know and emerges with a masterpiec­e of empathy and imaginatio­n. (Justin Chang) R.

Girls Trip

Regina Hall, Jada Pinkett Smith, Queen Latifah and a revelatory Tiffany Haddish play four women renewing the bonds of friendship on a New Orleans weekend getaway in this hilariousl­y raunchy and sensationa­lly assured new comedy from director Malcolm D. Lee (“The Best Man”). (Justin Chang) R.

Lucky

As a small-town curmudgeon contemplat­ing his own mortality, Harry Dean Stanton gives one of his final and greatest performanc­es in this insistentl­y low-key, dryly funny valentine to the actor’s life and career. (Justin Chang) NR.

mother!

Jennifer Lawrence plays the young wife of a poet (Javier Bardem) besieged by a number of unexpected visitors in this darkly exhilarati­ng house-of-horrors thriller by writer-director Darren Aronofsky. (Justin Chang) R.

Take Every Wave: The Life of Laird Hamilton

Even if surfing is not a major interest, Hamilton’s personal journey is extraordin­ary enough that we feel privileged to have such an intimate documentar­y glimpse into how it all went down. (Kenneth Turan) NR.

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