A captivating journey for an endangered 11-year-old, a magnificent meditation on an endangered planet, an animated heist sequel intended to be greater than its predecessor, and a relaunch of a beloved comedy franchise. This weekend, Hollywood has everything.
The Naked Gun
Friday in theaters
Leslie Nielsen portrayed Frank Drebin, the deadly serious investigator who was the butt, often literally, of most of the jokes that surrounded him, for many years on Police Squad! on television and later in The Naked Gun films. Now, nearly 30 years after the last Naked Gun film, Liam Neeson plays Frank Drebin, Jr., who clearly inherits his father’s traits. Here, he and his partner (Paul Walter Hauser) face off against Cane (Danny Huston), a malevolent computer magnate. Drebin must stop Cane since he has created the P.L.O.T. device, which is obviously extremely harmful. He meets Pamela Anderson’s seductive character, Beth Davenport, along the way. Like the original franchise, this Naked Gun is all about a joke pileup, so that’s pretty much all you need to know about the plot.Holmes, Linda
She Rides Shotgun
Friday in select theaters
As all the other children and staff leave for their homes, we encounter 11-year-old Polly (a superb Ana Sophia Heger) outside her primary school. It’s difficult not to yell “no!” when her mother arrives late to pick her up and a car squeals to the curb and Nate (Taron Egerton), who is severely tattooed and recently convicted, implores her to get in. When he turns out to be her father, obviously on the run, things are hardly any more reassuring. In the brutal film adaptation of Jordan Harper’s 2017 novel, directed by Nick Rowland, it turns out that he might be her only chance of surviving.
Soon after, Polly and Nate are scuttling across the American Southwest, narrowly avoiding some really evil guys. Because Nate isn’t talking much, Polly is unsure of whom to believe. We don’t either, which makes their bloody journey stressful and the action disturbing as Rowland switches between cramped hideouts and expansive landscape. Egerton is ripped and terrifying as a father whose very presence seems to put his daughter in danger; Rob Yang and John Carroll Lynch are briskly effective as lawmen who may or may not have Polly’s welfare at the forefront of their minds; and Heger is simply amazing as a child who proves to be as resourceful and cunning as she is vulnerable.Bob Mondello
The Bad Guys 2
Friday in theaters
When light-fingered Mr. Wolf (voiced by Sam Rockwell) slows down from the car chase that begins this boisterous sequel, he learns that it’s difficult to find a job at a bank you’ve looted. Therefore, even though he and his animated gang made an effort to be morally upright in the previous film, they are soon tempted to conduct another theft. In order to steal the world’s entire supply of gold and take a rocket from a tech billionaire (Colin Jost), Safecracker Mr. Snake (Mark Maron), the irritable Mr. Piranha (Anthony Ramos), disguise-master Mr. Shark (Craig Robinson), and computer hacker Ms. Tarantula (Awkwafina) team up with ruthless schemer Kitty Kat (Danielle Brooks), science whiz Pigtail (Maria Bakalova), and a seductive raven named Doom (Natasha Lyonne).
This time, the parody is more James Bond (more especially Moonraker), the kind of bigger-must-be-better escalation that has long plagued live-action sequels, and less Oceans Eleven, the target of humor in the original Bad Guys movie. Fortunately, the overkill is partially counterbalanced by the voice cast’s outstanding character performance as well as the same wit and artistic flair that enchanted children and their parents in the first movie.Bob Mondello
Architecton
Friday in select theaters
An almost wordless reflection on the foundational elements of civilization: concrete and stone In this stunning, epically cinematic documentary, Viktor Kossakovsky makes the case that the condition of the world as a result of human abuse and use is unsustainable. Instead than using words to convey his ideas, the director uses imposing, breathtakingly gorgeous images: Larger pieces of stone break and fracture as they slide downhill in slow motion, while smaller pieces crumble into dust in a torrent that resembles a frothy waterfall. While mocking the ancient geologic striations of nearby granite mountains, deep, even cuts in a terraced quarry capture light and shadow in patterns that have their own majesty. When seen directly overhead, a neighboring pine tree covered in recently fallen snow gleams in the sunshine like a massive, symmetrical snowflake before collapsing to the ground after being cut down by a chainsaw.
The film also features aerial drone shots of ancient Roman ruins with Corinthian columns standing proud among rubble and shattered modern structures destroyed by bombs in Ukraine or earthquakes in Turkey, as if to remind us that man’s changes to the planet have a shelf-life measured in years rather than eons. Michele De Lucchi, an architect, admits to feeling a little embarrassed by a bland concrete building he assisted in integrating into Milan’s already congested city. As a form of atonement, he hires two stonemasons to construct a basic stone circle in his backyard, intended to serve as a negative space—a place devoid of people that will be permitted to revert to its natural state. The work is meticulous and accurate, and by the end of this incredibly powerful movie, it appears to be fundamental in some manner.Bob Mondello
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