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2022 OSCAR NOMINATED SHORTS

Trailer youtu.be/ckTmBX5qUOI For the 17th consecutive year, ShortsTV and Magnolia Pictures present the 2022 Oscar-nominated short films in all three categories offered: animated, live action and documentary. Not rated, 140 minutes, CCAC

THE BATMAN

Trailer youtu.be/mqqft2x_Aa4 The Batman director Matt Reeves has fully bought into the darker-equals-deeper myth, delivering a film that’s as ponderous as it is convoluted and, ultimately, devoid of meaningful stakes. Robert Pattinson gets back to his vampire roots in The Batman, in which he plays the title character with the same moody, broody intensity he brought to his breakout role in Twilight. Ostensibly, The Batman is about Pattinson’s character solving a string of sadistic murders, but thematically it’s about his personal transformation. In Reeves’ murky, dystopian vision, Batman’s evolution from pariah to messiah isn’t a triumph so much as a grunge-worthy shrug. He may be fueled by newfound righteousness, but The Batman is still kind of a drag. (Ann Hornaday/The Washington Post) Action/adventure, rated PG-13, 176 minutes, Regal Santa Fe Place 6, Regal Stadium 14, Violet Crown

CYRANO

Trailer youtu.be/5e8apSFDXsQ Joe Wright gives Cyrano de Bergerac a timely, smartly conceived refresh with Cyrano, his adaptation of an adaptation of Edmond Rostand’s 1897 play. Cyrano (Peter

Dinklage) dazzles everyone with his brilliant wordplay and swordplay, but he’s convinced his appearance renders him unworthy of the affections of the luminous Roxanne (Haley Bennett), a devoted friend in love with someone else. What ensues is one of the great tragedies of romantic literature, a heartbreaking exercise in classic irony that serves as a commentary on appearance and reality, facade and authenticity, and human beings’ enduring inability to get out of our own way. Cyrano is unmistakably a period piece, but it’s also infused with anachronistic touches that give it a jolt of offhand humor and fierce urgency. It also joins a crop of recent movies that have sought to revivify the musical form; here, the effort is uneven, if ultimately deeply moving. (Ann Hornaday/The Washington Post) Musical/romance, rated PG-13, 123 minutes, Violet Crown

DEATH ON THE NILE

Trailer youtu.be/dZRqB0JLizw Death on the Nile is an undeniably handsome, old-fashioned affair — a classic “locked room” murder mystery set on a photogenic river boat in Egypt where a cluster of well-dressed guests have gathered to celebrate the marriage of two pretty people (Gal Gadot and Armie Hammer), until someone gets killed. Make that several someones. Director Kenneth Branagh does double duty as the eccentric Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. It’s a surprisingly intimate portrayal, in a tale that has two mysteries at its center: one involving a killing and the other having to do with a human enigma. The crime’s solution is fine and dandy, but it’s Poirot himself who most fascinates. (Michael O’Sullivan/The Washington Post) Mystery/crime, rated PG-13, 127 minutes, Regal Stadium 14, Violet Crown

DOG

Trailer youtu.be/V4tAtp-TyzQ With a dog named Lulu by his side, Army Ranger