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“Babes” explores that gulf with exuberant joy, endearingly vulnerable characters, and performances filled with heart and charisma. Also with every possible bodily function and fluid. This is a smart and loving movie about female friendship. But before I get to the women, I want to say a word about what a pleasure and relief it […]

“Back to Black” chronicles the years between the success of 2003’s breakthrough Frank and the blowup of the film’s titular album in 2006. But if you expect to learn about Amy the person or even Amy the musician, temper your expectations. Taylor-Johnson’s film, penned by Matt Greenhalgh, is concerned with Amy the addict, making “Back

2008’s “The Strangers” didn’t seem like the kind of film that would produce a series when it was released. But it’s about to explode into precisely that with the release of “The Strangers Trilogy,” three films directed by Renny Harlin that serve as sort of a remake but also a prequel to the Bryan Bertino

J.K. Simmons knows how to do sociopath. There’s something so fascinating about a performer like Simmons who can pivot from a guy who looks like your average suburban neighbor to a total lunatic with a perfectly timed malevolent smile. He’s having a blast in most of “You Can’t Run Forever,” and the fact that it

“The Blue Angels,” a nonfiction film about the Navy’s flight demonstration team, was made for IMAX, in two senses of the phrase. First, technically: according to Cineworld’s website, “‘The Blue Angels’ was shot with Sony’s Venice 2 IMAX-certified digital cameras and features IMAX exclusive Expanded Aspect Ratio (EAR) throughout.” Second: it’s mainly, perhaps almost exclusively,

“Nightwatch,” the 1994 Danish thriller about a young psych ward attendant who gets stalked by a killer? There was an English language remake in 1997 with the same title and director (Ole Bornedal) and starring Ewan McGregor, Nick Nolte, and Patricia Arquette, among others. The Danish version was better, though even that was mostly charming

“IF,” you may be greeted with a short introduction by the writer/director, asserting that the film is expressly for all the “girl dads” out there. Having now seen it, that much is true: despite its family-friendly brief, “IF” is less for kids than for the adults of kids the girl dads, if you will who

“Nothing Can’t Be Undone By a Hotpot” is not only the best movie title of the year so far, but also a no-frills Chinese whodunit about a pile of stolen cash, a human body, and a long line of dirty laundry. The cash and the body present themselves early on in this sugary Agatha Christie-style

“Poolman,” is a character comedy about oddball Los Angelenos that doubles as a spoof of 1940s detective movies. Pine also cowrote (with Ian Gotler), co-produced, and plays the title character, Darren Barrenman. Darren is a big-bearded, long-haired, talkative, thoroughly goofy pool cleaner who lives in a tiny trailer right next to the pool that he