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Reviews of movies showing in theaters or streaming online
‘BENEDETTA’: The ecstatic agonies (or is it the agonizing ecstasies?) that have become the signature of legendary Dutch filmmaker Paul Verhoeven are on full display in his historical religious epic, “Benedetta,” a tale of sex, suffering and the sacrament. In Judith C. Brown’s 1986 book, “Immodest Acts,” detailing the life story of Sister Benedetta Carlini, Verhoeven has found a vessel for his interest in hypocritical systems of power and the ways that irrepressible sexuality can threaten to burn down those structures from the inside out. The outre “Benedetta” feels like the unholy love child of Verhoeven’s own “Black Book,” the tale of a Dutch Jewish woman (played by Carice van Houten) who seduced Nazis in service of the Resistance during World War II (and endured the humiliating torture that ensued), and Ken Russell’s controversial “The Devils,” in which Oliver Reed plays a priest who drives a convent of nuns mad with lust and finds himself the subject of religious persecution for pursuing a loving relationship with a woman. Verhoeven, who adapts Brown’s book with co-writer David Birke, positions the character of Benedetta as a powerfully commanding figure, but also a woman subject to the rules of patriarchal systems in early Renaissance Italy. 2:11. 3 stars. — Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service ‘C’MON C’MON’: Joaquin Phoenix has never been more engaging than he is in “C’mon C’mon.” The four-time Oscar nominee (and one-time winner) is at his warmest and most personable — characteristics not usually associated with the actor — in Mike Mills’ bighearted drama, in which he plays a radio journalist working on a project about the way children see the world.
Phoenix has been a steady presence in American film since he starred in “Space Camp” 35 years ago, but in “C’mon C’mon,” he shows a range and level of humanity that he has rarely showed before. His performance isn’t a revelation, but rather a reconfirmation that he’s one of the very best talents working in movies today. And “C’mon C’mon” is a lovely showcase for him. Mills, with just his fourth film (and first since 2016’s “20th Century Women”), paints an affectionate, poetic portrait of youth and wisdom, in a world where everybody is just trying to figure things out for themselves. Adults don’t have the answers any more than kids do, but they’re grown so they get to make most of the decisions. And hopefully the ones they make are correct. 1:49. 3 ½ stars. — Adam Graham, Detroit News
‘ENCANTO’: The latest Disney Animation film, “Encanto,” sweeps audiences away to a colorful, enchanted world of Colombian magical realism, introducing the Madrigal family, who have each been granted extraordinary gifts, except one, our heroine, Mirabel (Stefanie Beatriz), who has yet to discover her own personal magic. The Madrigal family magic was borne out of extreme trauma and pain, when matriarch Abuela Alma (Maria Cecilia Botero) lost her husband while fleeing violence in their village. In desperation, she cried out for protection for herself and her infant triplets, and a magical candle raised mountains around a charmed casita, where she’s raised her family since. Each Madrigal receives a gift in a coming of age ceremony, whether it’s super strength, high-powered hearing, talking to animals, spinning flowers out of thin air, shape-shifting,
future divining, weather controlling or food healing. The only exception to the magical rule so far is the sweet, smart Mirabel, who never received her gift, and has since felt like the family outcast, bending over backward to earn her place among them. As she starts to see cracks in the foundation of their beloved casita, Mirabel probes deeper in to the family’s magic and ultimately realizes that all of her family members are caught in the trap of perfectionism, believing that they have to use their gifts in the ways others want them to, without remaining authentic to themselves and their desires. 1:39. 3 stars. — Katie Walsh
‘GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE’: “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” is indeed haunted. But it’s not just the likes of Muncher and the StayPuft Marshmallow Man that need to be zapped into proton packs. This film is haunted by the specter of the legacy of the 1984 “Ghostbusters,” which isn’t just lurking around the edges but literally baked into its DNA. “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” brings a new family into
the ghostbusting dynasty, which includes a single mom, Callie (Carrie Coon), and her two kids: brainy tween Phoebe (Mckenna Grace) and gawky teen Trevor (Finn Wolfhard of “Stranger Things”). Anyone with even the most casual passing interest in “Ghostbusters” can see where this family story is going. 2:04. 1 ½ stars. — Katie Walsh ‘HOUSE OF GUCCI’: For director Ridley Scott, “House of Gucci” is an entertaining if dramatically thin return to the factbased machinations of the rich, famous and weaselly. Sometimes they’re criminal underworld tales, such as “American Gangster” (2007); other times, as with the 2017 Getty kidnapping account “All the Money in the World,” they’re criminality-adjacent, more about the ruthlessness of the crazy-rich. This movie’s a bit of both. It’s bit-of-both in other ways, too, swinging from straight-faced drama to opera buffa extravagance. Lady Gaga, representing the former, co-stars with, among others, Jared Leto (the latter). However, Gaga’s the star and driver in “House of Gucci.” The
high-gloss and even higher-fashion festival of backstabbing stars Gaga as the woman whose controversial business practices after marrying into the Gucci fashion dynasty included hiring a hit man to deal with her pesky, cheating husband. 2:37. 2 ½ stars. — Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
‘LICORICE PIZZA’: Gary Valentine is almost famous. This enterprising hustler parlays his demi-fame into a kind of accidentalon-purpose mystique, that of a 15-year-old LA whiz kid, with one foot in the Industry as a child actor and the other in whatever he’s cooking up at the moment. “Licorice Pizza,” writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson’s gloriously hazy hangout of a movie, starts from the premise of this San Fernando Valley high schooler putting his idea of “the moves” on 25-yearold Alana. She works as a photographer’s assistant. He first spies her when he’s in line for picture day. Their queasy age difference makes Gary’s ardor, in Alana’s eyes, a foolish delusion. Yet Alana — as played, indelibly, by Alana Haim of the Grammy-nominated sisters band Haim — finds herself weirdly charmed by this boy/man. Pretty soon she’s hanging out with his friends, accompanying him as an adult chaperon on a movie promotional trip to New York, all the while yearning for her own niche in life with actual adults. 2:13. 3 ½ stars. — Michael Phillips
‘THE POWER OF THE DOG’:
The gorgeous Otago region of New Zealand makes for one hell of a 1925 Montana in “The Power of the Dog,” the first feature written and directed by Jane Campion since “Bright Star” 12 years ago. This adaptation of the 1967 Thomas Savage novel is worth seeing, and arguing with, for several reasons. It’s a chamber Western, focused on four main characters, and those warring personalities are played by the exactly right quartet of Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit-McPhee. The environment these forlorn souls call home works like a spacious dream of the Old West, shortly after it has given way to 20th century notions of progress. For Campion, the personifications of Western heroism and toughness are practically indistinguishable from their own nightmarish distortions. “The Power of the Dog” lays out this theme pretty bluntly, in a story that can feel a mite thin. It’s also well worth your time because it imagines the time, place and people it’s about so intriguingly. Campion, cinematographer Ari Wegner, the entire design team knew what they wanted. And got it. 2:06. 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.