BRAD’S STATUS
R, 101 minutes. Starts tonight at Mystic Luxury Cinemas. The writer, director and actor Mike White has a knack for telling stories about the chasm between what people really want and who they really are. His sweet-and-sour satires are minefields of personal disappointment, bitterness and despair, littered with the wreckage of broken promises and unmet expectations. The characters who populate them, from the animal-loving loner played by Molly Shannon in “Year of the Dog” to Laura Dern’s post-rehab whistle-blower on the HBO series “Enlightened,” are typically dismissed as society’s weirdos and losers. Brad Sloan (Ben Stiller), the middle-aged family man in White’s wonderful new comedy, “Brad’s Status,” is neither a weirdo nor a loser by any stretch of the imagination. He runs a small nonprofit based in Sacramento and enjoys a pleasant middle-class existence with his loving wife, Melanie (Jenna Fischer), and their smart, college-bound son, Troy (Austin Abrams). But Brad also worries intently about money and the future, and deep down he is troubled by what he suspects is his own mediocrity. He is reminded of this whenever he hears news of his four closest college buddies, who have all gone on to far greater material success than he has. His old pal Billy (Jemaine Clement) is now a tech titan enjoying an early retirement on a Maui beach, while Craig (Michael Sheen, deliciously smug) has become an in-demand political pundit and best-selling author. Jason (Luke Wilson) is a major Wall Street player with his own private jet. And White himself pops up briefly, and with tongue firmly in cheek, as Nick, an in-demand Hollywood director with a beach house that was recently featured in the pages of Architectural Digest. The slender story is set in motion when Brad and Troy head to Boston on a college-scouting trip, with both Harvard and Tufts on the agenda. — Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times
KINGSMAN: THE GOLDEN CIRCLE
R, 141 minutes. Starts Friday at Niantic. Starts tonight at Mystic Luxury Cinemas, Waterford, Stonington, Westbrook, Lisbon. “Kingsman: The Secret Service” caught many by surprise when it was released in 2014. On the surface, it’s an updated, cheekier riff on Bond — the British gentleman spy gets an upgrade when a lower-class Cockney lad gets recruited into their ranks, utilizing his street smarts and brute force. It was shockingly violent, soundtracked to classic pop hits, and the one-two punch of director Matthew Vaughn’s dizzying camera work and star Taron Egerton’s crinkly-eyed charm pummeled audiences into thinking it was all “fun.” However, the sequel, “Kingsman: The Golden Circle,” really shows the seams on this franchise. In upping the ante we can see that this whole affair is just a truly cynical, painfully retrograde pastiche of meaningless pop nostalgia wrapped around a nonsensical plot, sprinkled with a dusting of repulsive sexism. Fun. In “Golden Circle,” Kingsman agent Eggsy (Egerton) seemingly has it all together as a gentleman spy, cozied up with his Swedish princess girlfriend Tilde (Hanna Alstrom), before it all falls apart at the hands of a kooky entrepreneur villain much like it did in the first film. This time, our disruptor of industry is Poppy Adams (Julianne Moore, stooping far below her standard), an intrepid drug lord camped out in a retro neon ‘50s paradise deep in the Cambodian jungle. She decides to hold the world hostage by infecting drug users with a mysterious virus in order to push through legalization of all drugs. Since the U.S. president (Bruce Greenwood) decides to play chicken with Poppy, only the private security force of the Kingsmen, with an assist from the Kentucky-based Statesmen, can bring Poppy’s evil plot down. Like the Kingsmen, the Statesmen are total stereotypes of their nation, with Agents Tequila (Channing Tatum, criminally underused), Whiskey (Pedro Pascal) and Champagne (Jeff Bridges) sporting dude-ranch fresh cowboy duds and swinging lassos. — Katie Walsh, Tribune Content Agency
THE LEGO NINJAGO MOVIE
1/2 PG, 101 minutes. Starts Friday at Niantic, Waterford, Stonington, Westbrook, Lisbon. If you’re of a certain age and childless, it’s entirely possible you haven’t the foggiest idea what a “Ninjago” — of the latest Lego movie — might be. Apparently it is both a show and a toy, but that’s as far as I got into the Wikipedia article. With the wild success of both “The Lego Movie” and “The Lego Batman Movie,” released just earlier this year, it stands to reason that Warner Bros. would strike while the iron is hot and churn out more Lego-themed movies, like “The Lego Ninjago Movie,” which sadly proves that when it comes to the super fun Lego movies, there can be diminishing returns. The genius of “The Lego Movie” and “The Lego Batman Movie” lies in the extremely high joke density of those films, which are thick with verbal and visual gags, nearly overwhelming in their detailed specificity to both the Lego character style, and the incredibly rich worlds and mythology created around these little plastic toys. “Ninjago,” directed by Charlie Bean, Paul Fisher and Bob Logan, and credited to no less than nine screenwriters (including Fisher and Logan) doesn’t quite maintain that level of mania that make both “Movie” and “Batman” deliriously fun. Signaled by the vintage WB logo at the beginning, and a live-action opening featuring Jackie Chan as a kindly shop owner telling the story of Lloyd and Ninjago to a young patron, “The Lego Ninjago Movie” is inspired by 1970s kung fu and monster movies. The young hero, Lloyd (Dave Franco), is a forlorn teenager in the seaside city of Ninjago, leading a secret double life as both the much maligned son of evil villain Garmadon (Justin Theroux) and the Green Ninja of the ninja crew that saves the city from Garmadon’s destruction. Think of the ninja crew like the Power Rangers: these teens have different colors, different powers, and ride around in giant animal-shaped robots fighting Garmadon and his army. Lloyd’s just a sensitive kid with daddy issues, and therefore, he overcompensates a bit. During a battle, he accidentally unleashes a terrifying monster. — Katie Walsh, Tribune Content Agency
STRONGER
R, 116 minutes. Starts Friday at Madison Art Cinemas. Starts tonight at Mystic Luxury Cinemas. The real life story of Jeff Bauman, an ordinary man who became a symbol of hope following the infamous 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal. A review wasn’t available by deadline.
FRIEND REQUEST
R, 92 minutes. Starts tonight at Stonington, Westbrook, Lisbon. A popular college student accepts an outcast’s online friend request, but she finds herself fighting a demonic presence that kills her closest friends. A review wasn’t available by deadline.