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PIECES OF A WOMAN ★★★1/2

Drama, R, 126 minutes, 2021

In a stunningly authentic performance sure to garner an Oscar nomination, Vanessa Kirby plays a woman reeling from the tragic turn of her childbirth. This is a stark and unforgettable character study about love and loss, and what loss does to love, and how some tragedies are so devastating, so huge, the survivors will never be the same.

FIND IT: Netflix

OUR FRIEND ★★★

Drama, R, 126 minutes, 2021

When a young mom (Dakota Johnson) learns her cancer is terminal, her longtime friend (Jason Segel) moves in to help her overworked husband (Casey Affleck) and their children. The sentiment sometimes goes overboard, but thanks in large part to Segel’s huggable-bear persona, Affleck’s typically steady work and Dakota Johnson’s impressive performance, the laughs and the tears feel quite real.

FIND IT: On-demand at Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Google Play, Vudu

SOUL ★★★★

Animated adventure, PG, 106 minutes, 2020

In arguably the most spiritually ambitious film in Pixar history, a man who lost his life on Earth (voice of Jamie Foxx) is assigned to help a nascent soul (Tina Fey) find her purpose. It’s a strikingly beautiful, bold, funny journey almost dizzying in its multileveled complexity, and yet containing the simplest and most enduring Capra-esque messages.

FIND IT: Disney+

GREENLAND ★★★

Disaster thriller, PG-13, 119 minutes, 2020

Gerard Butler gives a grounded everyman performance as a structural engineer rushing his family to safety as a comet threatens to collide with Earth. Unlike the typical effects-laden, comet-threatens-the-planet B-movie, “Greenland” is a well-crafted and surprisingly humanistic thriller.

FIND IT: Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play, Vudu