Florence Pugh’s antiheroine saves the day.
‘Thunderbolts*’
A band of miscreants led by Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) embarks on a mission to save the world in this antihero action flick directed by Jake Schreier.
From our review:
For “Thunderbolts*,” Marvel has thrown so much stuff into its new branding event — an enigmatic asterisk, a guinea pig, a comic villain, a depressed superhero, nepo babies, veterans of David Simon’s “The Wire” — that some of it was bound to stick. The results are fitfully amusing, sometimes touching and resolutely formulaic.
In theaters. Read the full review.
A passable film in the shadow of tragedy.
‘Rust’
This period western directed by Joel Souza reaches theaters four years after the film’s cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, was killed when the gun that Alec Baldwin was rehearsing with discharged a real bullet.
From our review:
The images are nicely composed and dramatically lighted, with bright, sometimes moody big-sky exteriors that suggest freedom and many interior scenes pushed to claustrophobic darkness. … Because “Rust” looks as good as it does, every time riders on horseback appear against a florid sky, it isn’t the characters you think about — it’s Halyna Hutchins.
In theaters. Read the full review.
Another simple pleasure.
‘Another Simple Favor’
Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick reprise their roles as stylish frenemies in this sequel directed by Paul Feig.
From our review:
Neither of the “Simple Favor” films are really about the plot. … They’re about craving a bone-dry martini in the Italian sunshine while wearing a rhinestone-studded bikini, about embracing the maximal amount of frivolity by proxy that you can muster in a world where it’s easy to resent how serious, and frustrating, and impossible everything feels.
Watch on Prime Video. Read the full review.
Critic’s Pick