Movies still screening in Bay Area theaters
“The Big Sick”: The screenplay, written by star Kumail Nanjiani and his reallife wife, Emily V. Gordon, was inspired by their courtship. The sexy, beguiling Zoe Kazan brings intelligence and believability to the Gordon role. The romance is almost derailed because Kumail can’t bring himself to tell his traditional Pakistani parents he’s in love with an American named Emily, who comes down with something debilitating, and is in a medically induced coma when Kumail finally visits the hospital and meets her parents. Fortunately, this film transcends the clichés of each formula it flirts with. ★★★ ½ (Bob Strauss, Los Angeles Daily News) R, 2:00
“Columbus”: This beautifully photographed indie drama from debuting Korean American writer-director Kogonada follows two lovely young strangers — Seoul-based book translator Jin, played by John Cho (Sulu in the “Star Trek” films), and recent high-school graduate Casey, played by Haley Lu Richardson (“The Edge of Seventeen”) — as their friendship develops. They spend a few days talking and exploring Casey’s hometown, Columbus, Indiana — an unlikely setting for several mid-20thcentury buildings designed by internationally renowned architects of the day — while each tries to come to terms with strained parental relationships. ★★★ (Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times) Unrated, 1:44
“Dunkirk”: Christopher Nolan’s WWII drama is a stunning, immersive survival film that puts viewers in the midst of the action, whether on the beach with the 400,000Allied soldiers waiting and hopeing for a rescue that may never come; on the English Channel in a little civilian ship with only an aging man and two teenage boys aboard, heading into hostilewaters; and in the air above the beach in two lone Spitfires that are about to run out of fuel. “Dunkirk” ranks as the best film of 2017so far and as Nolan’s best, too. ★★★★ (Lindsey Bahr, Associated Press) PG-13, 1:46
“Good Time”: Robert Pattinson (“Twilight,” “The Lost City of Z”) is all but unrecognizable giving a virtuoso performance as an inept bank robber who gets into, and improvises ways out of, one hair-raising situation after another. The cast features Ben Safdie — who co-directs with his brother Josh — plus Jennifer Jason Leigh and Buddy Duress. With its originality, unpredictability and lightning pace, “Good Time” delivers precisely that. (Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times) R (1:40) “The Hitman’s Bodyguard”: A hitman (Samuel L. Jackson) must testify at a court in the Netherlands about military crimes committed by a notorious Belarusian dictator (Gary Oldman). But getting the witness to the Hague becomes a big problem after an Interpol transfer goes awry. Called in to help is the world’s top bodyguard (Ryan Reynolds), and his 24-hour trip with the hitman, a former adversary, becomes quite eventful. It’s no surprise the most magnetic character is Jackson’s, whether singing folk songs with nuns or doling out romantic advice via speakerphone during a high-speed chase. A close second is Salma Hayek playing Jackson’s feisty wife. But the nonstop action gets tedious well before the credits roll. ★½ (Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service) R, 1:58
“It”: Stephen King’s sneering Pennywise the clown (Bill Skarsgård) once again stalks the misfit children of the “losers club” from the sewers of small-town Maine in Andy Muschietti’s remake of the author’s 1966horror novel. Skarsgård grounds the villain with an intellectual depth that’s always disturbing, despite some moments when the tale lapses from shudder-worthy into the realm of schlock. ★★★ (Karen D’Souza, Bay Area News Group) R, 2:15
“Mother!”: Filmmaker Darren Aronofsky’s chamber piece of domestic discord soon gives way to outright horror, but mostly this intriguing but frustratingly undisciplined experiment is about Jennifer Lawrence — who delivers a performance of transparency, stillness, physical grit and self-sacrificing courage. She plays a woman restoring a Victorian house as a cocoon for her husband, a famous poet (Javier Bardem). But soon a strange couple (Ed Harris, Michelle Pfeiffer) shows up, injecting a malign, anarchic force. As the visual language becomes increasingly nightmarish, the message of “Mother!” becomes more and more obscure. ★★ (By Ann Hornaday, Washington Post) R, 2:01 “Wind River”: Screenwriter Taylor Sheridan (“Sicario,” “Hell or High Water”) makes his feature directing debut with an atmospheric murder thriller set on the Wyoming Native American reservation of the title. A teenage girl has been killed, and the richly layered story explores tribalism and gender relations within and across Indian and Anglo lines, as a tracker-marksman (Jeremy Renner) helps a greenhorn FBI agent (Elizabeth