The Carpenter (Nicolas Cage), his wife (FKA Twigs), and their son, Jesus (Noah Jupe), move to a remote village where they deal with mysterious supernatural forces in The Carpenter's Son. Writer/director Lotfy Nathan has made a visually stylish and gory, but clunky and heavy-handed psychological horror thriller that's low on scares, suspense and intrigue. Nathan doesn't trust the audience's imagination or intelligence enough because there's nothing that's left to the imagination onscreen. There's much to chew on because the screenplay doesn't explore the relationships between the son and his father and mother enough, so they're all merely plot devices. Noah Jupe and Nicolas Cage are both very good actors, but they're undermined here by the vapid screenplay that fails to breathe life into their roles. For a more provocative, bold, gripping and entertaining Nicolas Cage movie that's equally dark and twisted, see The Surfer. At 1 hour and 34 minutes, The Carpenter's Son opens nationwide via Magnolia Pictures.

 

      In  Eternity, Joan (Elisabeth Olsen) and her husband, Larry (Miles Teller), have been married for 65 years. They both die a few days apart and end up in an afterlife waiting room where they have one week to pick where they want to spend their eternity in.  Little does Joan know that her first husband, Luke (Callum Turner), who died in a war, has been patiently for her there for the past 67 years. They're each assigned an AC (Afterlife Coordinator)---Anna (Da'Vine Joy Randolph) assists Larry while Ryan (John Early) assists Joan.  Writer/director David Freyn and co-writer Pat Cunnane have made a captivating, witty and charming romantic dramedy with a terrific ensemble cast. The concept isn't taken as far as it could have been taken because there's not enough "world building" nor do you learn much about the many different eternities that everyone has to choose from. Where's God? No one bothers to even ask that obvious question. Eternity's plot doesn't take any risks nor does it have any big surprises. It's sugar-coated and occasionally a little corny. However, it has a few sweet and tender moments along with a very charismatic cast that breathe life into their roles, especially Elisabeth Olsen who gets many chances to shine here. Eternity isn't as profound or funny as Defending Your Life nor as poignant and powerful as 9 Days or What Dreams May Come, but it's nonetheless an enjoyable and uplifting slice of escapism that never becomes dull, clunky or tedious like many films do nowadays. At 1 hour and 54 minutes, Eternity opens nationwide via A24.

Number of times I checked my watch: 2




 

         Jay Kelly (George Clooney), a famous actor, suffers a midlife crisis while questioning his career and love life while trying to be there for his daughter, Daisy (Grace Edwards), who'll soon be going to college, in Jay Kelly. The screenplay by writer/director Noah Baumbach and co-writer Emily Mortimer sounds like it could be an interesting character study of a man who's at a crossroads in his life. Unfortunately, it's a very shallow, sugar-coated and undercooked character study with an uneven tone and too many underdeveloped subplots. There's even a random action scene where Jay gets to chase someone through a field. Is this supposed to be a parody or a serious film? Either way, it's not funny nor emotionally engrossing. Moreover, Jay's epiphanies don't feel well-earned or organic, and it's not very clear if he has truly changed because the screenplay ultimately fails to design a large enough window into his heart, mind and soul. How introspective is he? What's his relationship like with his father? What was his childhood like? There are hints of answers to those questions, but none of them are truly explored beneath the surface. George Clooney gives a decent performance as does the entire ensemble cast all of whom try their best to rise above the shallow screenplay. However, they're all underdeveloped characters and don't get much of a chance to shine, including Adam Sandler as Jay's manager and Laura Dern as his publicist. Jay Kelly tackles many complex themes including fame, regret, insecurity and happiness, but with oversimplifications, contrivances and not nearly enough depth. At 2 hours and 12 minutes, Jay Kelly opens at Angelika Film Center via Netflix.

Number of times I checked my watch: 3

      King Ivory is a dramatic thriller about the war on fentanyl from multiple perspectives. Layne (James Badge Dale) works as a narcotics officer while his teenage son, Jack (Jasper Jones), happens to be addicted to fentanyl. Smiley (Ben Foster), an incarcerated drug dealer, returns to drug dealing when he gets out of prison. Melissa Leo plays his mother. The screenplay by writer/director John Swab suffers from too many underdeveloped subplots, too many underwritten characters and not enough emotional depth. The plot often feels by-the-numbers, uninspired and ultimately less than the sum of its parts. Moreover, it gets repetitive and exhausting around the 90 minute mark with over 30 more minutes left to go, so it overstays its welcome. King Ivory would be the inferior B-movie in a double feature with Traffic or the underrated Narc. At 2 hours and 10 minutes, King Ivory is gritty and intense, but often shallow, tedious and undercooked. It opens in select theaters nationwide via Roadside Attractions and Saban Films.

Number of times I checked my watch: 3




 

      After the death of his father, the head of the Yakuza, teenaged Kikuo (Ryo Yoshizawa) becomes the apprentice of a famous kabuki actor, Hanai (Ken Watanabe), and performs kabuki with his son, Shunsuke (Ryusei Yokohama), in  Kokuho. Director Lee Sang-il and screenwriter Satoko Okudera have made a mildly engaging drama with great production design, costume design and cinematography, but it's often tedious while failing to pack an emotional punch. The pace moves very slowly and even sluggish at times. There are many scenes, like when Kikuo and Shunsuke perform kabuki together, that overstay their welcome. Despite spanning roughly 50 years in the life of Kukuo, Kokuho doesn't feel very sweeping. It often feels like the plot just goes through the motions while repeating itself over and over. The filmmakers don't quite grasp the concept that "less is more." There's some poignancy which derives from the performances, but not from the screenplay which leaves the audience at somewhat of a cold distance from the characters. For a much more entertaining movie involving kabuki, see Topsy-Turvy. At an overlong 2 hours and 55 minutes, Kokuho opens at Angelika Film Center via GKids.

Number of times I checked my watch: 4




 

       Shu-Fen (Janel Tsai) moves from the countryside to Taipei with her daughters, teenaged I-Anne (Shih-Yuan Ma) and 5-year-old I-Jing (Nina Ye), where she opens a small restaurant stand at a busy market in Left-Handed Girl. Writer/director Shih-Ching Tsou and co-writer Sean Baker have made an engrossing, well-acted and visually stylish drama with just the right balance of poignancy and humor. Fundamentally, it's about a family that's struggling to make ends meet and to adapt to a new life in a big city. Tsou and Baker do an adequate job of tying all of the subplots together as the film constantly jumps around from Shu-Fen's perspective to I-Anne's to I-Jing's. What could've turned into a disjointed, uneven and undercooked mess instead becomes a tender slice-of-life with a few surprising moments, like I-Jing's interactions with a meerkat or when Shu-Fen takes her to various vendors in the market to return stolen goods and to apologize for stealing them.  Although the cinematography looks great with stylish use of lighting and camerawork, it occasionally feels distracting and almost overshadows the film's substance. If you're hoping to find some food porn here given the fact that the family runs a restaurant, you'll be disappointed because, where there are indeed some scenes with food, they won't make your mouth water like in Eat Drink Man Woman.At 1 hour and 49 minutes, Left-Handed Girl opens at Quad Cinema via Netflix.

Number of times I checked my watch: 2

      Bosco (Dominic Sessa), Charlie (Justice Smith), and June (Ariana Greenblatt) join The Four Horseman, a.k.a. J. Daniel (Jesse Eisenberg), Jack (Dave Franco), and Henley (Isla Fisher) and Merritt (Woody Harrelson) to steal a precious diamond from the wealthy Veronika (Rosamund Pike) in Now You See Me: Now You Don't. Despite four four writers, namely, Michael Lesslie, Paul Wernick, Rhett Reese and Seth Grahame-Smith, the screenplay is dull, silly and increasingly preposterous. Yes, there are twists, but they're handled in a way that lacks internal logic, especially in hindsight. The magic tricks, even when they're explained in flashbacks to spoon-feed the audience, aren't particularly clever. It would've been fine if the film were to sacrifice logic and replace it with imagination, but that doesn't happen either. The villain, Veronika, seems cartoonish and one-dimensional. Also, it's not quite clear what kind of accent Rosamund Pike was aiming for because it's all over the place. Only a few of the attempts at humor land, but, for the most part, they fall flat no matter how hard the cast tries to make them funny. Unfortunately, the Now You See Me franchise has run out of steam with this third installment. At 1 hour and 52 minutes, Now You See Me: Now You Don't, directed by Ruben Fleischer, opens nationwide via Lionsgate.

Number of times I checked my watch: 3




 

        Quiet Voices in a Noisy World, directed by Alan Govenar, is an illuminating and occasionally poignant, but by-the-numbers documentary about the history of racial violence in Jasper, Texas and how African American volunteers have helped to overcome and move on from their town's dark and tragic past. There's nothing exceptional about the cinematography, editing or the film's structure, so this isn't the kind of doc that has much style to make it feel cinematic. It could be watched on the small screen without much of a difference. That said, it's conventional, a bit too dry and academic at times, and not unflinching enough to make a powerful emotional impact or to rise above mediocrity. A truly great documentary shouldn't actually feel like a documentary. Natchez is a superior documentary that also deals with a town's dark past albeit with more insights and visual style. At a running time of only 1 hour and 13 minutes, Quiet Voices in a Noisy World opens at Cinema Village via First Run Features.

Number of times I checked my watch: 3




 

      After wildfires destroys his home, Dusty (Josh O’Connor) moves into a FEMA trailer park and reconnects with his ex-wife, Ruby (Meghann Fahy), and his estranged daughter, Callie-Rose (Lily LaTorre), in Rebuilding. Writer/director Max Walker-Silverman has woven a warm, quietly moving and understated emotional journey. Exposition remains at a bare minimum while eschewing a first act. As the film opens, Dusty's home has already burned down and he drives to the temporary FEMA trailer park. He's just struggling to make ends meet and get back up on his feet.  However, he's not selfish; he cares about his ex-wife, his daughter and his neighbors at the trailer park who've also lost their homes because of the wildfire.  The dialogue sounds organic, there are no villains, there's not melodrama, schmaltz or anything that can be labeled as heavy-handed. So it's unlike the overrated Oscar-bait film Hamnet that tries too hard to make the audience cry. The natural performances from Josh O'Connor and the supporting cast all help ground the film in authenticity. Amy Madigan makes the most out of her supporting role as Ruby's mother, Bess (Amy Madigan). The exquisite  cinematography provides visual poetry and spectacle through the natural landscape while the use of music, especially a song that plays at the end, also enriches the film.

      Like with his previous film, A Love Song, writer/director Walker-Silverman trusts the audience's patience, intelligence and imagination. He also knows how to find just the right balance between Truth and Spectacle, and to find the Spectacle within the Truth which makes for a film that's equally captivating and emotionally resonating. At a running time of only 1 hour and 35 minutes, Rebuilding opens at Angelika Film Center and AMC Lincoln Square via Bleecker Street.

Number of times I checked my watch: 1

      Johan (Gerrit Knobbe), a reed cutter, lives with his granddaughter, Dana (Loïs Reinders), on his Dutch farm in Reedland. He takes the law into his own hands by trying to track down the killer of a young girl whose corpse he discovers in the field of reeds on his property. Writer/director Sven Bresser has made a slow-burning, spellbinding and atmospheric thriller. Everything remains understated, so if you're looking for edge-of-year-seat suspense, this might not be the film for you. If, however, you like psychological thrillers that trust your patience without shocking you with violence or gore or big twists, you'll truly appreciate Reedland. Moreover, Bresser captures plenty of poetry through the haunting images of the natural landscape which concurrently add style and substance to the film. At 1 hour and 52 minutes, Reedland opens at Cinema Village. It would be an interesting double feature with When Fall is Coming and Twilight (the Hungarian crime thriller from 1990 remade into Insomnia, not the 2008 fantasy film nor the 1998 crime thriller starring Paul Newman).

Number of times I checked my watch: 1




 

       Ben  (Glen Powell) joins a popular game show, "The Running Man", in hope of winning the prize money to pay for his ailing daughter's medical treatment in The Running Man. He must survive 30 days while highly skilled killers hunt him and other contestants down. Josh Brolin plays the show's producer, Colman Domingo plays the show's host, and Katy O'Brian plays one of the contestants. Writer/director Edgar Wright and co-writer Michael Bacall have made a toothless, shallow and tedious sci-fi action thriller that doesn't even manage to be fun or entertaining as a B-movie. Unlike Wright's previous films, there's nothing here that stands out in terms of wit, imagination or absurdity. If it were more campy and bonkers, perhaps it would've been at least exciting as a form of mindless entertainment. Or it could've been more provocative, deep and scathing in its social commentary which would've made it a smart satire. What ensues is an action-packed, violent, inane and bland video game masquerading as a Hollywood movie. Even the charisma of its talented ensemble cast or the stylish, John Wick-like production design can't save it. At an overlong 2 hours and 13 minutes, The Running Man opens nationwide via Paramount Pictures.

Number of times I checked my watch: 4

      Luis (Sergi López) takes his young son, Esteban (Bruno Núñez Arjona), to search for his missing daughter, Mar, in the Moroccan desert in Sirāt. Writer/director Óliver Laxe and co-writer Santiago Fillol have made a mesmerizing and often exhilarating, but tedious and exhausting thriller. The beats don't land as strongly as they would have if the audience were to know more about Mar and why she disappeared. Exposition remains at a bare minimum. There are some twists that make the film more and more tragic, but those twists seem like plot devices in retrospect, especially after something happens to one of the characters. The filmmakers aren't interested in getting to know Luis or any of the ravers that he meets during his dangerous trek through the desert, so they all stay at a cold distance from the audience. Moreover, the use of music feels bizarre, heavy-handed and intrusive. That said, the cinematography and breathtaking desert landscape, which becomes a character in itself, are the film's major strengths. They add visual style, although that's not enough to compensate for the lack of substance. At 1 hour and 55 minutes, Sirāt opens at Angelika Film Center via NEON.

Number of times I checked my watch: 3




 

       Cody (Jack Champion) and his sister, Denny (Sophia Lillis), hatch a plan to steal from a cartel while their dad, Ray (Dave Bautista), an undercover DEA agent, gets involved in  Trap House. Director Michael Dowse and screenwriters Gary Scott Thompson and Tom O'Connor have made a lackluster, uninspired and forgettable action thriller. It's action-packed, but the screenplay lacks wit, imagination and anything to make any of the characters stand out. What ensues is nothing more than a pedestrian B-movie that begins to get exhausting and tedious around the hour mark and never recovers from that ailment. Perhaps if the plot were more of a dark comedy or went bonkers, it would've been more entertaining, but it often plays it too safely and doesn't offer anything new or surprising to the audience. At 2 hours and 7 minutes, Trap House opens in select theaters nationwide via Aura Entertainment.

Number of times I checked my watch: 4




 

      With the help of his gardener, Reza (Erkan Kolçak Köstendil), Ali (Ekin Koç) takes the law into his own hands when he investigates the mysterious death of his mother in The Things You Kill. Writer/director Alireza Khatami has made a dark, gritty and emotionally devastating, but also exhausting revenge thriller full of twists and surprises.  It's better than the overrated It Was Just an Accident because Khatami has a great command of tone by keeping it consistently foreboding without any comic relief or any other form of levity. If you like your thrillers consistently grim like No Country for Old Men, then this film will be right up your alley. Please keep in mind, though, that it's not for the faint of heart. That said, the third act, albeit being un-Hollywood, feels a bit rushed and leaves too many questions unanswered. At 1 hour and 53 minutes, The Things You Kill opens in select theaters via Cineverse.

Number of times I checked my watch: 2




 

        Dalia (Ydalie Turk), a young woman from London, travels to Italy to visit her grandfather, Igor (Umberto Orsini), a truffle forager who's suffering from dementia in Trifole. When she discovers that he'll be losing his home if he doesn't make the necessary mortgage payments, she and his dog, Birba, search the forrest for truffles in hope of winning a prize money at a truffle contest. Writer/director Gabriele Fabbro and co-writer Ydalie Turk have made a slow-burning, picturesque and tender, but tonally uneven drama that morphs into somewhat of a thriller. It's sweet and whimsical one minute and dark and tragic the next. However, the film's tragic elements are handled in a way that's sugar-coated and not unflinching enough. The relationship between Dalia and her grandfather is the most interesting part of the film,  but after about 30 minutes, it's no longer the focus as Dalia ventures off with Birba into the woods. What happens to her and Birba won't be mentioned here, though. It's around that point that Trifole takes a bit of a nosedive with contrived twists and a third act that veers in yet another direction that doesn't feel organic or well-earned. Dalia's relationship with her mother (Margherita Buy) remains underdeveloped, and there's not nearly enough exposition about Dalia's life back in London. The performances are decent and the dog is cute while the breathtaking scenery, just as expected, becomes a character in itself. At 1 hour and 40 minutes, Trifole opens at Quad Cinema via Cohen Media Group.

Number of times I checked my watch: 3