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Reviews of movies showing in theaters or streaming online
‘ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA’: Paul Rudd is back as Scott Lang/ Ant-Man, as is secondbilled Evangeline Lilly as Hope Van Dyne/ Wasp. Second-billed implies a certain portion of the action and the talking, but Lilly is practically mute in “Quantumania.”Aside from the occasional boilerplate, Hope’s strictly sideline material. The plot this time sends Scott, Hope, Hope’s parents (Michelle Pfeiffer and Michael Douglas) and Scott’s socially conscious daughter, Cassie (Kathryn Newton), into the sub-universe of Quantumville. “Quantumania” also introduces the highly screen-worthy revolutionleading warrior, Jentorra, portrayed by Katy O’Brian. She’s a beast, the best kind, and ready for anything. Even when the film itself isn’t much of anything.
2:05. 2 stars. — Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune ‘CHAMPIONS’: Lots of people will find lots to like in “Champions,” a seriocomic story of how young men and one woman — Special Olympics basketball hopefuls with intellectual and developmental disabilities — turn their arrogant coach, played by Woody Harrelson, into less of a jerk. The film remakes the 2018 Spanish comedy-drama “Campeones.” Stuck in Des Moines, Iowa, after being fired from his semipro assistant coaching gig and sentenced to 90 days of community service after a DUI, Marcus (Harrelson) reluctantly takes over a ragtag community center team’s fortunes. Disarming one minute, baldly manipulative the next, “Champions” is a tricky one. At one point, Marcus compliments his players for coping with “the stuff you guys put up with from ignorant people every day,” and while that is well-meaning and rooted in bittersweet reality, the movie itself extends a hand to these characters even as it tells its preferred redemption story. 2:03. 2 stars. — Michael Phillips ‘CREED III’: For “Creed” star Michael B. Jordan, stepping behind the camera for his directorial debut in “Creed III” is following in the very famous footsteps of the original star of the franchise — Sylvester Stallone. After the critical success of “Rocky,” for which he wrote the screenplay, Stallone took over directing duties from John G. Avildsen, directing “Rocky II,” which became a box-office smash, cementing Stallone as an unlikely action-star auteur. There’s a meta element to Jordan’s move behind the camera that’s mimicked in Adonis Creed’s journey in the screenplay by Keenan Coogler and Zach Baylin. Adonis, aka Donnie (Jordan), has hung up the gloves and moved into a promoter role, supporting the championship aspirations of Felix Chavez (played by pro boxer Jose Benavidez), and spending time with his family, wife Bianca (Tessa Thompson) and daughter Amara (Mila Davis-Kent). The domestic challenges — finding his purpose outside of the ring, reckoning with the history of his relationship with his adopted mother (Phylicia Rashad) and learning to express himself with his wife — are fairly standard issue and not all that compelling beyond what the actors bring to the role. Where “Creed III” really starts to stir to life is in the introduction of Jonathan Majors as a figure from Donnie’s dark and violent childhood. 1:56. 3 stars.
— Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service
‘JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 4’:
For four bloody installments, Keanu Reeves has played the sorrowful, taciturn assassin John Wick, directed by his former stunt double Chad Stahelski. Together, these two have offered up a completely unique blockbuster action franchise, one that dares to be somber, centering the doleful Reeves as the grieving Wick. All you need to know is that Wick is fighting for his freedom, that the governing body of assassins, the High Table, doesn’t want to grant it, and he’s going to duel to the death for it. The new leader of the High Table, the preening, poncy Marquis (Bill Skarsgard) hasn’t just put out a huge bounty on Wick’s head, he’s also compelled the Zatoichi-like blind swordsman Caine (Donnie Yen) to kill Wick in exchange for protecting his daughter. And so it unfolds. “John Wick: Chapter 4” is structured roughly in three parts set in different locations across the globe. Wick is a man of few words, but a lot of action, and when all is said and done, it’s simply a treat to watch him move about these spaces, from the galleries of Japanese art, to a pounding Berlin club, to the traffic circle at the Arc de Triomphe and the 222 steps to SacreCoeur. We like to watch him work — a skill he employs almost regretfully — and “John Wick: Chapter 4” is a stunningly beautiful, if a bit narratively sludgy, climax for America’s favorite assassin. 2:49. 3 stars.
— Katie Walsh
‘THE LOST KING’: Fact, fiction and feeling collide and combine in Stephen Frears’ “The Lost King,” written by Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope, an adaptation of the book “The Lost King: The Search for Richard III.” This unique and lively mystery based on a true story comes from the team behind the Oscar-nominated “Philomena,” and it takes much the same approach, centering the story of a British woman embarking on a nigh-impossible search for a man, assisted in some way by a kind, yet put-upon, Coogan. While Judi Dench’s Philomena sought her long lost son, Sally Hawkins’ Philippa seeks a long lost king, Richard III, trapped in the amber of our collective imaginations as the titular evil antihero of Shakespeare’s play. Philippa, a middle-aged woman in Edinburgh with two boys, a faltering marriage to John (Coogan), a deadend sales job and a challenging diagnosis of ME/ CFS (otherwise known as chronic fatigue syndrome), becomes inspired by the story of Richard III at a local production of the play she has to attend for her son’s school. Struggling to be taken seriously at home and work despite her physical condition, she relates to Richard’s struggle with his disability (his “hunchback”), and objects to his villainous depiction. Philippa sets out to discover the truth about Richard’s life and story, embarking on a research journey that lands her in a car park in Leicester, England, uncovering and rewriting history with her own intuition. 1:48. 3 stars. — Katie Walsh
‘SHAZAM! FURY OF THE GODS’:
“Shazam! Fury of the Gods” is exceedingly grating, labored and annoying, and that’s in large part due to star Zachary Levi’s confounding performance as Shazam, the superhero alter ego of teenager Billy Batson (Asher Angel). In 2019’s “Shazam!,” also directed by David F. Sandberg, there was something rather charming about Levi’s boyish performance, a grown man playing Superman with all the aw shucks wonder of a teenager. In the four years hence, the shtick has grown old, or Levi is simply laying it on too thick, adopting a vaguely urban accent, speech peppered with tired slang (“trippin’ ”), and an extra-randy attitude. Here’s hoping this is not only Shazam’s last outing, but the nail in the coffin of the smarmy superhero as well. 2:10. 1 star. — Katie Walsh ‘SCREAM VI’: “Scream” movies are like pizza — when they’re good, they’re great, and even when they’re not as good, they’re still satisfying. Thankfully, “Scream VI” is a tasty slice. Writers James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick keep the blade sharp, while directors Matt BettinelliOlpin and Tyler Gillett bring a brawny, bruising and bloody style to this “requel sequel.” This is the second “Scream” movie not directed by Wes Craven (Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett took over with the previous “legasequel”), and the first without franchise star Neve Campbell as Sydney Prescott. There’s a new “Scream” queen in town — Melissa Barrera — and she stabs back. Last year’s “Scream” proved that this filmmaking team were worthy heirs to Craven’s iconic franchise, and while “Scream VI” underlines that point, it also illustrates that there’s still a rich vein to tap in the “Scream” franchise, using established lore to take the preeminent slasher movie franchise of 20th and 21st centuries in new and fascinating directions. 2:03. 3 stars.
RATINGS: The movies listed are rated according to the following key: 4 stars, excellent; 3 stars, good; 2 stars, fair; 1 star, poor.