Reviews for July 31st, 2026
Mason (John Travolta), a professional thief, comes out of retirement for one more heist with his brother, Shawn (Lukas Haas). They get more than they bargained for when they plan to rob a $100 million painting from a yacht in The Gentleman Thief. Rebecca De Mornay plays Odessa, an art broker and Mason's ex-lover, who helps them with the heist. Director Randall Emmett and screenwriter Chris Sivertson have made an often anemic crime thriller that's low on thrills, suspense and intrigue. There are some plot twists, but they're incorporated very lazily and feel tacked-on. Even if you suspend your disbelief, too much occurs that makes very little internal logic, e.g. when Mason steals a wealthy man's expensive watch at a party and the man doesn't notice it until much later without even suspecting Mason. As Hitchock once wisely observed, "logic is dull" and imagination is more important. Unfortunately, The Gentleman Thief lacks imagination that would've compensated for the lack of logic and plausibility. The dialogue almost sounds unintentionally funny, i.e. when someone exclaims, "Fire in the hole!" when a yacht explodes in the distance.
Very few of the beats actually land, and Travolta and De Mornay have very little chemistry during their scenes together. It doesn't help that Travolta gives a bland performance that's not even remotely as lively as his performances Broken Arrow, Face/Off or even Swordfish. The action sequences are poorly shot with subpar visual effects. Perhaps if the plot didn't take itself so seriously and gone bonkers instead, it would've been more fun on a purely superficial level. The Gentleman Thief serves as the final film in the Travolta heist trilogy which also includes Cash Out and High Rollers, but it works as a standalone film, so it's not a requirement to watch the previous films. At a running time of 1 hour and 37 minutes, The Gentleman Thief opens in select theaters and on VOD via Vertical. In a double feature with either versions of The Thomas Crown Affair, it would be the inferior B-movie.
Number of times I checked my watch: 4
Elliot (Cooper Hoffman) gets hired as the assistant of Erika (Olivia Wilde), an artist who persuades him to submit to her as her sexual muse in I Want Your Sex. Mason Gooding plays his co-worker, Zap, Charli XCX plays Minerva, his girlfriend, Chase Sui Wonders plays his roommate, and Johnny Knoxville and Margaret Cho show up as police detectives. Writer/director Gregg Araki and co-writer Karley Sciortino is an often bonkers and offbeat, but clunky and mostly unfunny sex comedy. The screenplay tries too hard to push the envelope and doesn't always succeed because too much of the sight gags falls flat. Don't try to make much sense out of the plot that involves a potential murder---Elliot discovers Erika's body face down in a pool during the opening scene before the plot flashes back 9 months to show the events that lead up to that and how they met. I Want Your Sex, which would have also been the more blunt title of The Invite, is actually the opposite of The Invite in terms of how it tries to generate laughs and to entertain the audience. The comedic attempts come more from the sight gags than from the dialogue which isn't particularly witty, unfortunately. The performances are over-the-top and silly without much-needed campiness which would've made the film more entertaining on a superficial level. At a running time of 1 hour and 30 minutes, I Want Your Sex opens nationwide via Magnolia Pictures. Just watch The Invite instead if you want to see a smart, witty and funny sex comedy that's concurrently well-acted and well-written.
Number of times I checked my watch: 2
Jimmy is a well-shot, poetic and unconventional, but underwhelming and tedious snapshot of what James Baldwin's visit to Paris in 1948 might've been like. The screenplay by writer/director Yashaddai Owens merely follow Jimmy (Benny O. Arthur) thoughout Paris with barely any dialogue. That lack of dialogue makes for a frustrating experience more often than not. If you're unfamiliar with Baldwin and his work as a poet, novelist and civil rights activist, so don't expect to learn much about him because this isn't even close to thorough biopic. The stunning black-and-white cinematography adds some visual style and the music is well-chosen, so the style becomes part of the film's substance albeit not enough. Beyond that, though, Jimmy has nothing new or interesting to say about James Baldwin. It's essentially an experimental film with a decent impression of Baldwin, but it leaves the audience hungry for more intellectual and emotional depth. Why leave the audience at such a cold distance from Jimmy? At a thankfully brief running time of 1 hour and 7 minutes, it opens at IFC Center via Strand Releasing.
Number of times I checked my watch: 2
A Paradise Lost is a captivating and eye-opening documentary about Palila v. Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, a 1979 lawsuit where the plaintiff, a palila bird, an endangered species, sued to prevent becoming extinct. The basic argument was that goats and sheep destroyed its habitat, the Māmane forest in Hawaii. Director Laurie Sumiye blends contemporary interviews with archival footage, animation and a narrator, Kaipo Schwab, who serves as the voice of a stuffed palila bird named Ānuenue. In terms of its content, A Paradise Lost doesn't offer anything very profound, surprising or revealing. However, like the other bird-related documentary opening this week, Wild Inside, it's a fine introduction to an important event that opens the door to conversations about environmental issues in the U.S and how the law can help to protect animals in an ecosystem where humans and animal live symbiotically. The use of animation and the narration elevates the film slightly above mediocrity while making it more palatable, cinematic and imaginative. It would be an interesting double feature with In the Company of Wolves: An American Journey and Wild Inside which is playing at IFC Center. At a running time of 1 hour and 29 minutes, A Paradise Lost opens at DCTV's Firehouse Cinema.
Number of times I checked my watch: 2
In The Samurai and the Prisoner, Araki (Masahiro Motoki), a samurai, seeks the help of Kuroda (Masaki Suda), an imprisoned military strategist, to solve a series of murders inside Arioka castle. Writer/director Kiyoshi Kurosawa has made a spellbinding, gripping and intriguing murder mystery set in 16th Century feudal Japan and based on the Honobu Yonezawa. Two major aspects of the film make it more than your average crime thriller: the mystery itself remains engaging from start to finish with plenty of twists and turns, and the evolving dynamics between Araki and Kuroda, the prisoner, feels fascinating and even somewhat moving at times. The plot is complex without being confusing and has just the right amount of exposition without revealing too much information to the audience. You'll know just as much as Araki knows and suspect different people in and around the castle at various times. The less you know about the plot beforehand, the better in order to avoid spoiling the many surprises.
Beyond the sensitively written screenplay, The Samurai and the Prisoner also boasts strong performances by Masahiro Motoki and Masaki Suda, especially when they're together. Everything from the set design to the costume design, set design and cinematography provide the film with style that becomes part of the film's substance concurrently. Moreover, Kurosawa keeps the pace moving slowly, but not too slowly, so he trusts the audience's patience, but not too much in a way that would lead to scenes that overstay their welcome. There's very little action and violence in general, so if you're into dialogue-driven mysteries that treat you like an intelligent audience member, this will be just the film for you. Or if you could imagine a more serious version of Knives Out that's just as entertaining, it would look something like The Samurai and the Prisoner.
At a running time of 2 hours and 27 minutes, which feels more like 2 hours, The Samurai and the Prisoner opens at IFC Center and Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center via Janus Films.
Number of times I checked my watch: 1
Spider-Man (Tom Holland) continues to protect New York City while everyone has forgotten that he's actually Peter Parker. He now must deal with a new enemy: Jean (Sadie Sink), who has telekinetic powers and can "hop" from person to person, in Spider-Man: Brand New Day . Zendeya returns as his ex-girlfriend, MJ, and Jacob Batalon returns as Ned, Peter Parker's former friend.
Director Destin Daniel Cretton and his co-writers, Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, have made a character-driven and surprisingly poignant superhero movie that's like a breath of fresh air. If you're sick of loud and shallow superhero movies that bombard the audience with mindless Spectacle, boring villains and underwritten heroes, you'll be in for a treat because the screenplay actually takes its time to flesh out Peter Parker's innate struggles. He's coping with the death of his aunt, May (Marisa Tomei), how to balance being a human being and a superhero concurrently, and whether or not to disclose that he's Spider-Man to Ned. His physical battles with Scorpion (Michael Mando) and the new villain, Jean, aren't as interesting as his emotional battles. There are some action sequences and comic relief, but, again, this is unlike previous installments that often rely on comedy and thrills to engage the audience. There are some scenes that feel slightly maudlin and almost veer into melodrama, but Tom Holland's emotionally convincing and nuanced performance helps tremendously to avoid those pitfalls. He gives one of the best performances of his career--even better than his performance in The Odyssey.
Kudos to Cretton and his screenwriters for designing a window into the heart, mind and soul of Peter Parker and to Holland for opening that window, especially during the interactions between Peter and MJ as well as the flashbacks with him and his aunt. The filmmakers should also be commended for finding just the right balance between Truth and Spectacle while finding plenty of Spectacle within the film's humanism, a truly special effect. Please be sure to stay through the end credits for a brief stinger. At a running time of 2 hours and 25 minutes, Spider-Man: Brand New Day opens nationwide via Columbia Pictures.
Number of times I checked my watch: 1
Wild Inside is an engrossing and provocative documentary about Flaco, a male Eurasian eagle-owl that escaped from captivity in Central Park back in February 2023 and survived for nearly an entire year. Flaco's escape got attention from not only New Yorkers and birders, but also from people around the world. Director Penny Lane uses footage shot by lucky people who spotted Flaco and captures his journey in and around Central Park. . If you're an animal lover, especially a birder, you'll be particularly moved and fascinated by this documentary, even if you've heard of Flaco's story and already know the ending. Would Flaco have been better off in captivity where he's safer or out in the wild where he learned how to survive on its own while being free? Why didn't it return to its enclosure in Central Park where it had spent the past 12 years? The answers to those questions turn out to be complex, and Wild Inside doesn't veer into a preachy documentary that explores them thoroughly. However, at least it manages to raise awareness of those important questions while letting you, as an intelligent and compassionate audience member, ponder them on your own and come to your own conclusions.. At a running time of 1 hour and 36 minutes, Wild Inside opens at IFC Center via Sandbox Films.
Number of times I checked my watch: 1
