Movie recommendations from critics Justin Chang and Kenneth Turan.
Ant-Man and the Wasp
This Peyton Reed-directed sequel to 2015’s “Ant-Man” reunites Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly in a superhero caper of deliberately low stakes and enormous charm. (Justin Chang) PG-13
The Cakemaker
A provocative, unexpected and very moving GermanIsraeli coproduction that is as unusual a love story as you are likely to find. (Kenneth Turan) NR
Eighth Grade
Starring a superb Elsie Fisher as a girl about to graduate from the eighth grade, writer-director Bo Burnham’s debut feature paints a beautifully, painfully honest portrait of adolescent girlhood. (Justin Chang) R
Incredibles 2
There is good news in the world tonight: Writer-director Brad Bird has brought everyone’s favorite superhero family back to the big screen, and we are all better off for it. (Kenneth Turan) PG
Madeline’s Madeline
A dazzling hall of metamirrors, Josephine Decker’s gorgeous third feature turns the story of a 16-year-old aspiring actress named Madeline (astonishing newcomer Helena Howard) into an explosively creative rumination on art, acting, identity and the awesomeness of cats. (Justin Chang) NR
Puzzle
Kelly Macdonald, one of the best actors out there and a perennial costar (“Trainspotting,” “No Country for Old Men”), steps out and shows us what she can do on a bigger stage. Working with Indian star Irrfan Khan, she is a knockout as a suburban housewife who discovers herself through an unexpected mastery of jigsaw puzzles. (Kenneth Turan) R
Searching
A Bay Area dad (John Cho) looks for his missing daughter in this compelling thriller from director Aneesh Chaganty, which unfolds entirely on the characters’ computer and phone screens. (Justin Chang) PG-13
Skate Kitchen
A Long Island teenager (Rachelle Vinberg) falls in with an all-female skateboarding collective in this lyrical, visceral and exhilarating ode to female friendship from director Crystal Moselle. (“The Wolfpack”). (Justin Chang) R
Sorry to Bother You
Rapper-activist Boots Riley’s joyous dystopian cackle of a directing debut stars a superb Lakeith Stanfield as an Oakland telemarketer who stumbles into that surreal zone where racial identity, class rage and corporate malfeasance intersect. (Justin Chang) R
Support the Girls
Regina Hall gives a marvelous lead turn as the manager of a crummy sub-Hooters “breastaurant,” with strong backup from Shayna McHayle and Haley Lu Richardson, in Andrew Bujalski’s wise and wonderfully loose-limbed workplace comedy. (Justin Chang) R
Three Identical Strangers
A scientific and philosophical inquiry by way of a detective story, Tim Wardle’s intensely compelling documentary tells the twistier-by-the-minute story of identical triplet boys who found one another 19 years after being separated at birth. (Justin Chang) PG-13
Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
The goal of this exemplary documentary is not to tell the story of TV host Fred Rogers’ life but to show the way of someone whose formidable task was, in his own words, “to make goodness attractive” and made it happen. (Kenneth Turan) PG-13