Critics’ Choices
Eye in the Sky
Superbly acted, this taut nail-biter starring Helen Mirren, the late Alan Rickman and Aaron Paul is a fully involving war drama about the new rules of engagement. (Sheri Linden, March 11) (1:42) R.
Hunt for the Wilderpeople
This wonderful New Zealand film has a gently absurdist quality, a simultaneously sweet and subversive sensibility all its own, mixing warmth, adventure and comedy in ways that consistently surprise. Don’t miss it. (K.T., June 24) (1:41) PG-13.
The Innocents
Anne Fontaine’s postWorld War II drama involving a Polish convent and a French female doctor proves yet again that though moral and spiritual questions may not sound spellbinding, they often provide the most absorbing movie experiences. (K.Tu., July 1) In French and Polish with English subtitles. (1:55) NR.
The Jungle Book
By turns sweetly amusing and scarily unnerving, crammed with story, song and computer generated visual splendors, this revisiting of the old Rudyard Kipling tales aims to be a model of modern crowd pleasing entertainment. (K.Tu., April 15) (1:51) PG.
The Kind Words
An emotionally rich, beautifully textured family dramedy that touches on a wealth of interpersonal issues with buoyancy, charm and grace. (Gary Goldstein, July 1) In French and Hebrew with English subtitles. (1:58) NR.
Life, Animated
A remarkable documentary about how Disney animated features changed the life of a young autistic boy in a deep and profound way. (K.Tu., July 1) (1:31) NR.
The Lobster
Yorgos Lanthimos’ hypnotically strange and suggestive new movie is very much its own brand of horror movie as well as a deranged thought experiment, a stealth love story, and a witty dismantling of the usual barriers separating man from beast. (J.C., May 13) (1:58) R.
Love & Friendship
Whit Stillman has finally made a full-fledged Jane Austen adaptation, a master class on the art of comic timing, taking the author’s early epistolary novella and infusing it with his own droll, mocking spirit and expert way of looking behind societal facades. (Glenn Whipp, May 13) (1:32) PG.
Maggie’s Plan
Rebecca Miller’s dramedy is sweet but analytical and pragmatic in its approach to exploring the ways of navigating partnership, parenthood and personal values. (Katie Walsh, May 20) (1:38) R.
The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble
It was a given that this Morgan Neville documentary would feature fine music, but it’s as concerned with emotion as it is with performance, investigating how so much joyous music was able to come out of exploration, disturbance, even pain. (K.Tu., June 10) (1:36) NR.
The Neon Demon
A Helmut Newton fever dream by way of a Dario Argento splatter flick, Nicolas Winding Refn’s hypnotically beautiful thriller stars Elle Fanning as a young woman trapped in a murderously deranged corner of the Los Angeles fashion industry. (J.C., June 24) (1:57) R.
Our Little Sister
A delicate, unforced meditation on the joy and wonder of ordinary life, this film’s ability to move audiences without apparent effort must be experienced to be fully appreciated and understood. (K.Tu., July 8) In Japanese with English subtitles. (2:06) PG.