Flora and Son

• Director: John Carney
• Writers: John Carney
• Starring: Eve Hewson, Oren Kinlan, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jack Reynor

Grade: B

John Carney knows his lane, and he sticks to it. Just as Guillermo del Toro has mastered films with fanciful horror, and Miyazaki has cornered the market on wistful animated fantasy for all ages, Carney has breathed new life into independent musicals, with lovely films like Once, Sing Street, and Begin Again. None of the above-mentioned films necessarily break the mold in terms of characterizations or drama, but there’s a lived-in tenderness, along with a number of catchy songs, to each of them that breaks through. His latest, Flora and Son, coming to select theaters on Friday, is no exception.

El Conde

• Director: Pablo Larraín
• Writers: Pablo Larraín, Guillermo Calderón
• Starring: Jaime Vadell, Gloria Munchmeyer, Alfredo Castro, Paula Luchsinger, Catalina Guerra

Grade: C

In his still young career, Pablo Larraín has already made a name for himself by re-contextualizing the lives of famous figures throughout history. Though he’s certainly made other notable films, his best known work – Jackie and Spencer – examined specific periods in the lives of people like Jacqueline Kennedy and Princess Diana, while adding in elements of additional genres to make a less straightforward biopic. His latest, El Conde, which translates to “The Count” and hits Netflix on Friday, attempts the same formula but mashes in one too many genres, ultimately failing to measure up to his already high standard.

Gran Turismo

• Director: Neil Blomkamp
• Writers: Jason Hall, Zach Baylin
• Starring: Archie Madekwe, David Harbour, Orlando Bloom, Geri Horner, Djimon Hounsou, Josha Stradowski, Maeve Courtier-Lilley, Darren Barnet

Grade: C+

Before we can get started with the film proper of Gran Turismo, we’re treated to a miniature commercial on the history of the PlayStation game that the film is based on. Its creator, Kazunori Yamauchi, went to painstaking detail to recreate the feeling of driving a race car, to give players the most realistic experience possible. But why include this bit into a film at all? After all, we as viewers are experiencing an extra degree of separation from reality – we’re watching someone play a simulation of a real race. Because, first and foremost, Gran Turismo feels like a glorified commercial for intellectual property, and a true-life story second.

Strays

• Director: Joseph Greenbaum
• Writer: Dan Perrault
• Starring: Will Ferrell, Jamie Foxx, Will Forte, Isla Fisher, Randall Park, Bret Gelman

Grade: C

Hey kids, remember the Homeward Bound films from the mid 90’s? Those movies were all about real cute and cuddly animals as they faced the perils of nature to get back to their owners who definitely loved them, but not enough to keep track of them. Well guess what, kids – those animals are all dead now. And those films left out a lot of the likely harsh realities that they faced on those journeys, and ignored the inherently bizarre behavior that animals naturally exhibit. Want something more realistic, for the real world of 2023? Take your kids to see Strays.

The Monkey King

• Director: Anthony Stacchi
• Writer: Steve Bencich, Ron J. Friedman
• Starring: Jimmy O. Yang, Bowen Yang, Jolie Hoang-Rappaport, Jo Koy, BD Wong, Ron Yuan

Grade: C–

I have no problem whatsoever with a film moving at a quick pace. It happens especially often with children’s entertainment, an unfortunate byproduct from filmmakers who play into a kid’s supposedly short attention span. There’s certainly nothing wrong with a film targeted to younger audiences that chooses to value action over character building, but there is a way to do both, by building character through action. Netflix’s newest animated film The Monkey King tries to achieve this, but fails to provide any characters worth rooting for. The film moves at such a breakneck speed that, for anyone that’s not giving their full attention (this is a Netflix film after all), it can be jarring to lose focus even for a minute.

Heart of Stone

• Director: Tom Harper
• Writer: Greg Rucka, Allison Schroeder
• Starring: Gal Gadot, Jamie Dornan, Alia Bhatt, Sophie Okonedo

Grade: C

Every film critic worth a grain of salt tries to go into every film as a blank slate, whether it be the latest PVOD horror shlock, or the newest Paul Thomas Anderson film, and everything in-between. This goes for Netflix’s, and every other streaming service’s, ever-expanding library of films that barely register past their release dates. Sure, we have our expectations and pre-conceived notions, but we don’t let that stop us from giving the film a fair shake. So when pressing play on Heart of Stone, the newest Netflix action/spy thriller with a generic premise starring Gal Gadot with little-to-no fanfare – much as you can have right now, given the labor strikes – I still went into it with an open mind, hoping for an unexpected gem.

Oppenheimer

• Director: Christopher Nolan
• Writer: Christopher Nolan
• Starring: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, Casey Affleck, Benny Safdie, Josh Hartnett, David Krumholtz, Kenneth Branagh

Grade: A

For all the myriad ways that films and television have explored the Second World War, very few have been concerned with the man who helped put an end to it. Christopher Nolan may not initially seem like the ideal fit for a biopic of anyone, less a notable historical figure – though he did give his own spin on WWII with Dunkirk – but he’s made one of his best films with Oppenheimer. Indeed, Nolan made a splash throughout his career with his Dark Knight trilogy, plus blockbuster original sci-fi films like Inception, Interstellar, and Tenet, so for the venerated director to choose a grounded subject matter came as a bit of a surprise when it was first announced.