Friday, July 30, 2021

Movies Update: ‘The Green Knight,’ ‘Stillwater’ and More

Plus, Scarlett Johansson sues Disney.

By Mekado Murphy

Hey, movie fans!

This week's movie offerings range from medieval legend to modern crises.

Dev Patel stars in "The Green Knight," David Lowery's adaptation of the 14th-century poem that tracks Gawain on a deadly countryside quest. In his Critic's Pick review, A.O. Scott calls the movie "sumptuous, ragged and inventive." Read an interview with Patel and watch Lowery break down a key scene.

Matt Damon heads up the contemporary thriller "Stillwater," about an Oklahoma man with a daughter in a Marseille prison and a quest to the find the truth behind how she got there. In her review, Manohla Dargis calls it "ponderously earnest."

Both of those films are opening only in theaters, which is how Scarlett Johansson would have liked "Black Widow" to have debuted. She's suing Disney, saying that the movie's simultaneous premiere in theaters and on Disney+ was a breach of her contract and cost her millions in pay. (Disney's latest movie, "Jungle Cruise," is also opening both in theaters and on its streaming service this week).

For those looking for home-viewing options, we recommend five new international streaming discoveries. And Netflix has new releases this week, including a Jean-Claude Van Damme action comedy and a resort-set rom-com starring Christina Milian.

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MOVIE REVIEWS

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Michael Coles/Sony Pictures Classics

'Nine Days' Review: Belief in the Beforelife

In this drama featuring Winston Duke and Zazie Beetz, unborn souls are given a chance at life on Earth.

By Glenn Kenny

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Alois Maillet

'The Last Mercenary' Review: Still Kicking

In this diverting action comedy, Jean-Claude Van Damme plays a former secret agent forced back into action to save his estranged son.

By Jeannette Catsoulis

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Shudder

'The Boy Behind the Door' Review: Best Friends in Peril

Tween boys attempt to escape mysterious abductors in this thriller borrowing from the slasher-horror genre.

By Elisabeth Vincentelli

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Pief Weyman/Film Movement

'Tailgate' Review: Retribution for Road Rage

In this Dutch thriller, a man puts his family in danger by refusing to apologize to a serial killer with a pious streak.

By Lena Wilson

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Strand Releasing

'The Evening Hour' Review: Heart of the Country

In this drama, a wholesome young man in an Appalachian town tries to do right by friends and family but gets caught up in a side hustle dealing pills.

By Nicolas Rapold

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David Bloomer/Netflix

'Resort to Love' Review: A Struggling Singer in Paradise

In this romantic comedy, a woman reeling from a failed engagement and a flailing career escapes to a glamorous island resort.

By Concepción de León

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Decal

'Ride the Eagle' Review: A Nontoxic Bro Faces Midlife Lessons

A conga-playing, marijuana-smoking man approaches middle age — and romance — with help from a video from his mother.

By Glenn Kenny

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Kino Lorber

'Never Gonna Snow Again' Review: You're Getting Warmer

There's a stranger in town, and his touch is hypnotic, which is just what these icy, disaffected people needed.

By Beatrice Loayza

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