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Reviews of movies showing in theaters or streaming online
‘BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER’:
A big, rangy Marvel follow-up — made without the grand presence of Chadwick Boseman, who died two years after “Black Panther” came out in 2018 —
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” acknowledges the loss of both King T’Challa and the actor who played him with a grave and moving extended prologue. It’s exactly right, down to the last flip-flip-flip of the Marvel Studios logo dedicated this time to images of the star no longer with us. This is followed by an hour or so of scene-setting, reintroductions and introductions deft and engaging enough to make you think: Can all this really be sustained in the back half? If the answer is no, well, welcome to the majority of Marvel sequels, and sequels in general. “Wakanda Forever” is not special like the first movie was. The quality of the storytelling and especially the action sequences grows less effective as the film proceeds. That said: It’s still juicier than most Marvels. 2:41. 3 stars. — Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
‘BONES AND ALL’: The most romantic movie of the year is a teenage dirtbag road trip featuring a couple of crazy cannibal kids colliding unexpectedly before embarking on a meander across the Midwest. It’s “Badlands” with ’80s punks who feast on flesh, and one of the most moving and authentically beautiful love stories about the rarity that is finding yourself in someone else. Luca Guadagnino’s “Bones and All” is a swoony tapestry of Americana dripping with gore, caked in viscera. David Kajganich, who wrote the screenplays for Guadagnino’s “A Bigger Splash” and “Suspiria,” has adapted Camille DeAngelis’ award-winning young adult novel to the screen,
a coming-of-age tale that just so happens to feature cannibalism, in all its gory detail. The luminous yet steely Taylor Russell stars as Maren, a teenager “eater” who finds herself abruptly on her own after she’s abandoned by her father (Andre Holland), who simply can’t continue keeping his daughter’s cravings under wraps. 2:10. 4 stars. — Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service
‘DEVOTION’: J.D. Dillard’s 2016 breakout feature film “Sleight” was a low-budget gem that showcased what this up-and-coming filmmaker could do. Applying an indie sensibility to a gritty, magic-inspired superhero origin story, his focus on character over spectacle made “Sleight” moving, and memorable. In Dillard’s follow-up film, the Korean War epic “Devotion,” the budget may have gotten bigger, and the sumptuous, soaring visuals more spectacular, but the emphasis on character remains the same. That makes “Devotion” an emotional and fitting tribute to the real men behind the incredible true story: Lt. Tom Hudner and Ensign Jesse Brown.
Their experiences in the Korean War are detailed in Adam Makos’ 2014 book, “Devotion: An Epic Story of Heroism, Friendship, and Sacrifice,” adapted for the screen by Jake Crane and Jonathan A.H. Stewart. Glen Powell, who has cornered the market on playing wingmen this year with “Top Gun: Maverick,” plays Hudner; the remarkable actor Jonathan Majors plays Brown. 2:18. 3 stars.
— Katie Walsh
‘THE FABELMANS’: “I need to see them crash.” These are the first fated words of a future filmmaker, Sammy Fabelman (Mateo Zoryon Francis-DeFord), whispered to his mother, Mitzi (Michelle Williams), after he has crashed his toy train after bedtime, inspired by his very first big-screen cinematic experience, “The Greatest Show on Earth.” Mitzi instantly recognizes that re-creating the train crash is a way for young Sammy to exert some control over the fear he felt during the movie, and so she presents him with his father’s 8mm camera to capture, and replay, the crash. With this lesson on art as catharsis imprinted in his young mind, a movie
director is born. In the deeply personal “The Fabelmans,” filmmaker Steven Spielberg applies his artistic instincts to his own familial catharsis, turning his lens on his own upbringing, his childhood journey to becoming a filmmaker, and his parents. What could have been some kind of autohagiography is a playful, honest and ultimately gracious childhood memoir that derives its universal lessons from its specificity. 2:31. 4 stars. — Katie Walsh
‘GOOD NIGHT OPPY’: Great true stories about space exploration don’t come around too often anymore. Our pop cultural representations about NASA’s achievements (or failures) tend to be period pieces and retreads of the greatest hits. But the new documentary “Good Night Oppy,” directed by Ryan White, is an exciting and fresh story about a very recent mission to Mars, one that exceeded all expectations and then some, thanks to hard work, ingenuity, a lot of luck and dogged perseverance. Produced by, among others, Amazon Studios, Amblin Entertainment and Industrial Light & Magic, “Good Night Oppy” aims to capture the sense of childlike wonder and expansive, imaginative scope akin to the films for which Amblin and ILM are known. It’s a documentary recounting the amazing story of the Mars Exploration Rover Mission that manages to feel emotionally like “E.T.” and look like “Star Wars.” Streaming on Amazon Prime Video. 1:45. 3 stars.
— Katie Walsh
‘THE MENU’: An elite, motley crew assembles for a very special dinner in the deliciously dark thriller satire “The Menu,” a philosophical deconstruction of artists and their enablers. Written by Seth Reiss and Will Tracy, of “Succession” and “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,” and directed by Mark Mylod, who has made his name in prestige television, directing episodes of “Game of Thones” and more, “The Menu” is a tightly wound, sharply rendered skewering of the dichotomy between the takers and the givers, or in this case, the eaters and the cooks. The recipe for “The Menu” is: one fillet of bloody class warfare a la “Ready or Not,” a dash of cultish folk horror in the vein of “Midsommar,” a puree of “Chef ’s Table,” dusted with a sprinkling of “Pig,” spritzed with an essence of “Clue.” We go along for this ride through the point of view of a classic Final Girl, the spunky, sarcastic and street-smart Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy), a late addition to the guest list who is an unexpected and unpredictable element in the sauce. 1:46. 3 stars. ‘SHE SAID’: When the allegations of sexual harassment and assault against super-producer Harvey Weinstein were published in the New York Times and the New Yorker in October 2017, it hit Hollywood like a bomb. The stories ignited the #MeToo and Time’s Up movement, prompted an industrywide reckoning with a culture of harassment, bullying and silence, and ultimately led to Weinstein’s conviction for rape and sexual assault in New York in February 2020 and his subsequent imprisonment. Weinstein is on trial for rape and sexual assault in Los Angeles, where his victims have been offering gut-wrenching testimony about their experiences with him. Though it’s recent history, the incredible bravery of the women who came forward and the journalists who told their story bears repeating, as in Maria Schrader’s “She Said,” the film adaptation of the book based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation by New York Times journalists Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, who broke the Weinstein story after months of investigation and decades of Weinstein successfully silencing his victims. 2:08. 3 stars.
RATINGS: The movies listed are rated according to the following key: 4 stars, excellent; 3 stars, good; 2 stars, fair; 1 star, poor.