Keanu casts Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key (of Key And Peele) as cousins who find themselves flailing through the Los Angeles criminal underworld in search of a missing kitten. It’s ridiculous, but in a really engaging way, with our clueless heroes essentially trapped in a never-ending improv game of “yes, and” that starts when they’re mistaken for a pair of murderous gangsters and ends with a shootout and a car chase. (See full review).
Opens April 29. See listing.
Rating: NNN
Mother’s Day is an intergenerational celebration of the eponymous “special” day, starring Jennifer Aniston, Julia Roberts, Kate Hudson and Jason Sudeikis. If you’re wondering how director Garry Marshall can keep slapping together atrocious Hallmark movies like Valentine’s Day and New Year’s Eve, it’s because those omnibus affairs turn an enviable profit, as will Mother’s Day. And it will be your fault. (See full review).
Opens April 29. See listing.
Rating: N
Precious Cargo puts two late-80s icons head-to-head: Die Hard’s Bruce Willis and Mark-Paul Gosselaar. If that latter name doesn’t ring a bell, think Zack Morris. It’s the onscreen match absolutely nobody asked for. In this heavy-artillery heist movie, Gosselaar has a tough-guy beard and muscles but also some of that Zack Morris mischief. (See full review).
Opens April 29. See listing.
Rating: N
Green Room is a siege movie in the distinctive style of the writer/director of revenge flick Blue Ruin. It takes place primarily in an isolated Oregon club, where a punk band becomes trapped in the eponymous lounge after walking in on something terrible. It’s tense, merciless and very, very bloody. (See full review).
Opens April 29. See listing.
Rating: NNNN
Too Late plays out in a series of discrete takes, each the length of a reel of 35mm film, that slowly connect the fates of its disparate Los Angeles characters. Conceptually, pretty cool: think of all the rehearsal and choreography that goes into each shot! (See full review).
Opens April 29. See listing.
Rating: N
Viva is set in Cuba and performed entirely in Spanish, but it’s actually an Irish production, which adds a sizzle of novelty. Still, scratch the surface and it’s just a bog-standard indie about a son (Héctor Medina) coming out to his disapproving father (Jorge Perugorría). (See full review).
Opens April 29. See listing.
Rating: NN
Louder Than Bombs focuses on the family of a dead photojournalist (Isabelle Huppert) struggling with their issues as they prepare a retrospective of her work. Reprise director Trier’s first English-language film has a very European feel, skipping back and forth in time to follow various lost souls through their damaged lives. (See full review).
Opens April 29. See listing.
Rating: NNN
Available now on Netflix
A Most Violent Year is a moody character study of Abel Morales (Oscar Isaac), an entrepreneur who spends a month in the winter of 1981 trying to put his heating-oil business on a solid financial footing. There’s only one problem: someone keeps hijacking his trucks in broad daylight. Chandor uses Abel’s predicament as a window on the corruption and lawlessness of pre-comeback New York City. (See full review).
Available to watch here.
