Movies

The boldest thing about "The Creator," a mash-up of mostly familiar sci-fi and war-movie tropes, is the filmmakers' choice of a villain: the United States of America. Set some 40 years in the future, director and co-writer Gareth Edwards's movie imagines an American campaign of mass destruction against New Asia, a sort of pan-Asian restaurant of a country.

In "Flora and Son," Eve Hewson plays the feisty, irrepressible title character, a single mom living in Dublin with 14-year-old Max (Orén Kinlan), a grumpy troublemaker who largely ignores his mother when they're not lobbing vulgarities at each other in their cramped apartment.

'Final Cut': a zombie film within a film

First impressions aren’t everything.

Back in 2010, Sylvester Stallone created the mother of all geezer teasers in “The Expendables,” collecting every over-the-hill action star in a single movie like they were Pokémon — gotta catch ‘em all. Since then, our favorite monuments of masculinity have come and gone, but nevertheless, the Expendables persist, whether we want them to or not. A full nine years after “The Expendables 3,” we have the confoundingly titled “Expend4bles,” with Stallone back in the cockpit with trusty Jason Statham riding shotgun.

There are a few “super” new streaming releases this week, plus a couple of excellent movies hitting streaming after their theatrical runs.

HBO's 'Telemarketers' unveils phone scams

Grief casts a heavy pall in "A Haunting in Venice," Kenneth Branagh's third installment of his Hercule Poirot series. As both a director and an actor, Branagh has sought to imbue the meticulously groomed Belgian detective - one of Agatha Christie's most beloved creations - with psychological depth, even darkness. Since 2017's "Murder on the Orient Express" and last year's "Death on the Nile," that aspiration has yielded some interesting artistic choices but, on a pure entertainment level, diminishing returns.

The dividing line could not be clearer between the two forces that are marshaled against each other in "Dumb Money," an entertaining if cardboard docu-comedy based on the true David-vs.-Goliath tale of small investors in GameStop who faced off against predatory hedge fund managers hoping to profit from the video game retailer's demise. On one side are the Wall Street guys: Gabe Plotkin of Melvin Capital Management (Seth Rogen); Steve Cohen of Point72 Ventures, and the owner of the New York Mets (Vincent D'Onofrio); and Ken Griffin of Citadel LLC (Nick Offerman). They're all based on real people.

'The Blue Caftan': of love and acceptance

How about another round of religious trauma, the movie? Five years after “The Conjuring” Cinematic Universe spinoff “The Nun” glowered her way to boffo box office numbers (the highest grossing in the successful franchise), the imposing sister is back in “The Nun II,” this time directed by Michael Chaves, who helmed the latest CCU installments “The Curse of La Llorona” (2019) and “The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It” (2021).

“They talk about magic but I never believed in it until Dante.” That sentence, and sentiment, is simple but sneakily powerful, evoking the kind of epic, all-consuming feelings of teenagers and the way they approach love, life, and friendship during that heady transitional time. The year is 1987, the place is El Paso, Texas, and the person who has just discovered Dante (Reese Gonzales) is Aristotle (Max Pelayo). This is “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe,” a coming-of-age drama based on the young adult novel by Benjamin Alire Sáenz.

Hilary Swank, a two-time Oscar winner for “Boys Don’t Cry” and “Million Dollar Baby,” lends a touch of class to “The Good Mother,” a noirish, yet not especially mysterious murder mystery set in gritty 2016 Albany, just as illegal fentanyl and other synthetic opioids are overtaking prescription painkillers as the number one source of overdose deaths in the United States. But the death that opens the film is a murder by firearm.

The blood flows like wine in “The Equalizer 3,” as dark as Chianti, seeping into cobblestone streets, splattering onto stained glass and statuary. Yes, star Denzel Washington and director Antoine Fuqua have used the third installment of this trilogy as the opportunity for an Italian vacay, with vigilante hero Robert McCall (Washington) leaving Boston behind to follow a spate of movie sequels, TV productions and Instagram influencers to the old country for a taste of “la dolce vita.” But Robert has to take care of business before he can truly enjoy retirement on the Amalfi Coast, which means ridding this charming village of pesky mafiosi.

'Passages': a study in self-absorption

Meet “Bottoms”: she’s the wild, brutish and unrepentantly doomer Zoomer child of the classic Gen X teen movie “Heathers,” and the nasty niece of the Y2K-era black comedies “Jawbreaker” and “Drop Dead Gorgeous.” She’s the naughty little sis of “Mean Girls,” and the bratty cousin of “Superbad,” the BFF of “But I’m a Cheerleader.” It’s been a long time since a movie has been this delightfully, unapologetically and hilariously mean-spirited in satirizing the heteropatriarchy of high school hegemony.

The visual exterior of Neill Blomkamp’s racing simulator video game adaptation “Gran Turismo” mimics that of a race car itself: shiny, colorful and chrome. There’s a real surface appeal to this movie, which is based on the remarkable true story of Jann Mardenborough, a gamer and fan of the “Gran Turismo” driving game (billed as the most accurate driving game simulator), who won a Nissan-sponsored driving academy and has since gone on to become a successful race car driver himself – on real tracks, not virtual ones. But pop the hood on this bad boy and there’s an undeniable cynicism undergirding this vehicle. A movie about a publicity stunt is still just a publicity stunt after all.

Netflix's 'Heart of Stone' a middling thriller

It’s lonley on State Route 25 approaching Fruitland late in the evening.