now showing
movies at local cinemas
THE BAD GUYS
★★
PG, 100 minutes. Through today only at Mystic. Still playing at Waterford, Westbrook, Lisbon.
In “The Bad Guys,” the big bad wolf is the most evil villain on the planet. It’s a fast-paced, slickly rendered film But it never quite grounds itself or finds a through line of storytelling reality.
— Adam Graham, Detroit News
DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS ★★ 1/2
PG-13, 126 minutes. Mystic Luxury Cinemas, Waterford, Stonington, Westbrook, Lisbon.
The film sees snarky superhero surgeon Dr. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) crashing through the multiverse while trying to save a scrappy new kid (Xochitl Gomez) from the Scarlet Witch’s grasp.
— Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service
DOWNTON ABBEY: A NEW ERA
★★ 1/2
PG, 125 min. Niantic, Mystic Luxury Cinemas, Waterford, Stonington, Westbrook, Lisbon, Madison. The new “Downton Abbey” proclaims that it’s “A New Era,” but it’s a real throwback. There are new visitors to the estate, a film crew. Meanwhile, the Dowager Countess (Maggie Smith) has been willed a villa in the south of France by a mysterious former lover.
— Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service
FATHER STU ★★
R, 124 minutes. Westbrook.
“Father Stu”? He’s not a regular priest, he’s a cool priest. A tough priest. A priest who swears, a priest with a history of boozing and boxing. But there’s more to the story of Catholic priest Stuart Long.
— Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service
FIRESTARTER ★
R, 94 minutes. Through today only at Waterford, Stonington, Westbrook. Still playing at Lisbon. For a movie about a girl with pyrokinetic powers, “Firestarter” is lacking a certain spark. This new adaptation of Stephen King’s 1980 novel is not scary or thrilling, nor is it emotionally resonant or moving.
— Lindsey Bahr, Associated Press
THE LOST CITY ★★★
PG-13, 112 minutes. Westbrook.
In “The Lost City,” Sandra Bullock just as fresh, funny and beguiling as she was 28 years ago, in her breakout role opposite Keanu Reeves in “Speed.”
— Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service
MEN
★★★
R, 100 minutes. Waterford, Stonington, Lisbon. It’s probably helpful to approach the movie “Men” — a visually gorgeous, heady, deeply unsettling horror film that could be said, broadly, to be about toxic masculinity — with the understanding that its title is more allusive than explicit.
— Michael O’Sullivan, The Washington Post
THE NORTHMAN ★★★ 1/2
R, 136 minutes. Westbrook.
Director Robert Eggers brings the Viking epic back to the big screen in a big, bold and bloody way with this new retelling of the myth of Amleth, the Scandinavian legend that inspired Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.”
— Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service
PETITE MAMAN ★★★ 1/2
PG, 72 minutes. Through today only at Niantic. An odd, sweet, mysterious, soulful, warm little film about loss and connection.
— Adam Graham, Detroit News
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 2 ★★
PG, 122 minutes. Through today only at Waterford. Still playing at Westbrook, Lisbon.
With “Sonic the Hedgehog 2,” we get a sequel that is bigger and, unfortunately, looonnnngeeerrrrr.
— Mark Meszoros
THE UNBEARABLE WEIGHT OF MASSIVE TALENT ★★ 1/2
R, 105 minutes. Westbrook.
In “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent,” Nicolas Cage is back — not that he ever went away. That’s one of the oft-repeated observations made about Cage’s acting career in the meta-on-meta action comedy in which Nicolas Cage stars as Nicolas Cage, Hollywood star, tangled up in an international incident while reevaluating his life and life’s work.
— Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service