NOW PLAYING
Reviews of movies showing in theaters or streaming online
‘BARBARIAN’: Back in 2007, Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez tapped an up-and-coming genre filmmaker, Edgar Wright, to make a parody trailer for a fake movie to play between their “Grindhouse” double feature. Wright came up with “Don’t,” in which a gravelly voice intones, “If you are thinking of going into this house — don’t! If you are thinking of opening this door — don’t! If you are thinking of checking out the basement — don’t!” It was funny because it was deeply recognizable, and it tapped into the audience’s urge to yell at the screen, “don’t go in there!” This is also essentially the plot of Zach Cregger’s “Barbarian,” about which the less one knows, the better. In fact, consider this permission to stop reading this review right now, and just buy tickets. Do not watch trailers, do not read reviews, proceed directly to the theater for one of the most brilliantly executed, sharply incisive and wildly scary horror films of the year, starring Georgina Campbell and Bill Skarsgard. 1:43. 3 ½ stars.
— Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service
‘BEAST’: “Beast” is a fairly good, pretty brutal, dumbsmart survival thriller made with a clear, even reductive sense of purpose. After the passing of his beloved but estranged wife, New York-based doctor Nate (Idris Elba) has brought his daughters, played by Iyana Halley and Leah Jeffries, to South Africa for a safari and a visit to their mother’s ancestral African village. The family is hosted by Nate’s old friend (Sharlto Copley), who takes an intensely personal interest in fighting the illegal poachers going after the lions and other animals native to the savanna. The prologue depicts the nocturnal slaughter of an entire pride, with the exception of the bloodied and now vengeful rogue lion bent on teaching his enemies, the humans, a lesson. This is poor timing for Nate and his girls, though you know how these movies go: What’s bad for short-term survival odds is generally favorable for long-term family healing. 1:33. 2 ½ stars.
— Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
‘BREAKING’: The tragic case of Brian Brown-Easley didn’t take the nation by storm back in 2017 when he walked into a Marietta, Georgia, Wells Fargo branch and passed the teller a note reading, “I have a bomb.” But attention was what the former Marine demanded, and deserved, in that moment of desperation, and with “Breaking,” a depiction of the tense hours that unfolded during the hostage standoff that ensued, Brown-Easley’s story finally gets its due, though the resolution is far from heartening. “Breaking” keeps a tight focus on the events of the day, and offers a showcase for star John Boyega, who gives one of the most transformed, and riveting, performances of his career. With an economy of storytelling, just an opening scene and a few flashbacks are needed to situate the audience in Brown-Easley’s frame of mind when he walked into that bank. 1:43. 2 ½ stars. — Katie Walsh
‘BURIAL’: As the horrors of World War II continue to resonate throughout our collective memory,
writer/director Ben Parker mines that time period for his historical action/ horror film “Burial,” and finds an original concept within that well-known milieu. Using a framing device set in London in 1991 that reminds us of the ways in which Nazism still permeates throughout the culture, Parker tells the story of Anna Marshall (Harriet Walter), an older woman who captures a skinhead intruder in her home. He has heard a rumor about what she was doing at the end of the war, when she was a Russian intelligence officer known as Brana Vasilyeva (Charlotte Vega). With the intruder sufficiently immobilized, Anna decides to share her story. Though at times the simple plot sags, the story moves quickly and the action never stops. Tasked with delivering the film’s final word, Walter is chilling in relaying the power of the “memento mori.” The phrase, from Latin, serves as a reminder that we all must die, that
we are human and that monsters who inflict genocide, or skulk in the trees, and even the war heroes, are all just human, for better, and often, for worse. Nothing supernatural could be as terrifying as some of the things that human beings are capable of. Available via video on demand and digital. 1:35. 2 ½ stars. — Katie Walsh
‘HONK FOR JESUS. SAVE YOUR SOUL.’:
Adamma Ebo’s directorial debut is a bracing and bold film that blends documentary style filmmaking into a traditional narrative to create a bone-dry comedy and social commentary that’s one part “The Office” and two parts “The Eyes of Tammy Faye.” Regina Hall stars as Trinitie Childs, the long-suffering wife of disgraced pastor LeeCurtis Childs (Sterling K. Brown). The couple used to minister to a congregation of thousands in their Southern Baptist megachurch, Lee-Curtis preaching the prosperity gospel decked out in flamboyant three-piece suits, Trinitie smiling at the TV cameras from under her elaborate church hats. After a sex scandal, they’ve been left preaching to a group of five, and have hired a documentary crew to capture their comeback, planned for Easter Sunday, if it isn’t thwarted by the young upstarts at a new church, Heaven’s House, led by the Pastors Sumpter (Nicole Beharie and Conphidance). “Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul.” signals a fresh new voice in writer/ director Ebo, who taps into a unique world ripe for big screen exploration. But this satirical take on religion is far more cerebral than laugh-out-loud funny, and leaves much potential material to pillory on the table. Streaming on Peacock 1:43. 2 ½ stars.
— Katie Walsh
‘MEDIEVAL’: Jan Zizka, a beloved 15th-century Czech folk hero, looms large in the nation’s collective consciousness, a skilled, ingenious, one-eyed warrior who led peasants and rebels into battles that he never lost. In Prague, they have erected one of the largest bronze equestrian statues in the world in his honor, and now, the most expensive Czech film ever made, “Medieval,” depicts his early years, with the intense actor Ben Foster taking on the role of Zizka. “Medieval” is written and directed by Czech filmmaker, actor and stuntman Petr Jakl. The story is in part by his father, Petr Jakl Sr., and it’s clear that father and son have both a tremendous reverence for the man, his mission and for his brutal, bloody reputation. If there’s anything to recommend about “Medieval,” it’s the daring, no-holds-barred stunt work, the battles a crunchingly gory affair, with some spectacular underwater sequences. 2:06. 2 stars.
— Katie Walsh
‘THREE THOUSAND YEARS OF LONGING’: Australian Filmmaker George Miller based his latest cinematic exploration of humanity on the short story “The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye” by A.S. Byatt, adapted by Miller and Augusta Gore. “Three Thousand Years of Longing” is a philosophically ambitious project, a cerebral exploration of the function of storytelling in human existence and the meaning of desire. It is a nested Matryoshka doll of story. The outer layer is told by Alithea (Tilda Swinton), a narratologist who has made her way to Turkey for a conference. Upon arrival, she starts to encounter mysterious, magical figures, what she calls djinn (another word for “genie,” referring to the Muslim belief in invisible spirits that inhabit the world and take the form of humans or animals). While giving a talk about the continuing purpose of myth in our modern, science-based world, she is spooked by a djinn in the audience and faints. The script is so densely packed with mythological insight that some scenes almost gloss over interesting concepts. But even if Miller doesn’t linger on these ideas, they remain in the background of “Three Thousand Years of Longing,” constantly informing the rest of the film. 1:48. 2 ½ stars.
RATINGS: The movies listed are rated according to the following key: 4 stars, excellent; 3 stars, good; 2 stars, fair; 1 star, poor.