Cinema News: Movies Update: ‘The Northman’ and More

April 22, 2022

By Mekado Murphy

Movies Editor

Hey, movie fans!

Would you like a Nicolas Cage action comedy in which the actor plays himself this week? Or perhaps you'd prefer a grandiose Viking revenge film featuring Alexander Skarsgard. Or perhaps an animated heist movie? You've got options.

"The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent" has Cage poking fun at his big-screen persona. Fans of the actor should be on board, though the critic Manohla Dargis calls it "a single joke sustained for 106 minutes, amid many rapid tone shifts, mood swings and set changes." Read an interview with Cage and watch this scene breakdown that pays tribute to "Con Air."

"The Northman" takes its protagonist Amleth on a long, dark, bloody journey, wreaking havoc and encountering Björk along the way. It's from Robert Eggers, a director whose attention to detail is his calling card. A.O. Scott writes, "Amleth inhabits a world whose operating principle is cruelty, and Eggers's accomplishment lies in his fastidious, fanatical rendering of that world, down to its bed linens and cooking utensils."

For those seeking something a little more kid-friendly, there's "The Bad Guys," an animal-centric heist movie from DreamWorks Animation. Though it's a little smirkier than the critic Calum Marsh prefers. Of the main characters, he writes, "they steal, they banter, they have car chases, as animals do not. There's barely a frame in which they don't smirk."

The critics recommend a couple of festival favorites this week, the family drama "Hit the Road," from Panah Panahi and a once-upon-a-time tale from Céline Sciamma called "Petite Maman."

Enjoy the movies!

Aidan Monaghan/Focus Features

'The Northman' Review: Danish Premodern

Alexander Skarsgard, Anya Taylor-Joy and Nicole Kidman star in Robert Eggers's bloody Viking revenge saga.

By A.O. Scott

Katalin Vermes/Lionsgate

'The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent' Review: Being Nicolas Cage

Nicolas Cage plays Nick Cage — maybe, kind of, not really — in a comically romantic, buddy-movie thriller that is also an ode to him in all his Caginess.

By Manohla Dargis

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CRITICS' PICKS

Kino Lorber

Critic's Pick

'Hit the Road' Review: Wheels Within Wheels

A family trip is the occasion for humor and heartbreak in Panah Panahi's debut feature.

By A.O. Scott

Neon	Critic's Pick 'Petite Maman' Review: Into the Woods The French director Céline Sciamma's enchanting new movie centers on a young girl who discovers a mysterious friend in a storybook forest. By Manohla Dargis

MOVIE REVIEWS

Nick Wall/Pathe UK/Sony Pictures Classics

'The Duke' Review: Suspect's 61

This film from the director Roger Michell has a compelling art-thief protagonist, but is weighed down by soggy family drama.

By Amy Nicholson

Strand Releasing

'Saturday Fiction' Review: Theater of History

In this period drama set in Shanghai in December 1941, the resplendent Gong Li conveys depths of pain and longing even when the script offers none.

By Devika Girish

Nanu Segal/FilmRise

'Marvelous and the Black Hole' Review: Finding Magic Amid Rage

A teenager reeling from the loss of her mother discovers an unlikely companion in an older magician.

By Concepción de León

Dreamworks Animation/Universal

'The Bad Guys' Review: Smirking All the Way to the Bank

In a heist film-inspired DreamWorks comedy, the Big Bad Wolf goes good, begrudgingly.

By Calum Marsh

Breaking Glass Pictures

'See You Then' Review: The More Things Stay the Same

Former lovers reconnect, litigating the past and present, in this drama from Mari Walker.

By Kyle Turner

Film Movement

'Sexual Drive' Review: Best Served Hot and Heavy

Natto, mapo tofu and fatty ramen become objects of titillation in this intriguing Japanese triptych that centers on sex without ever depicting it.

By Natalia Winkelman

Good Deed Entertainment

'Charlotte' Review: An Artist's Brief Life

This animated biopic about the German Jewish painter Charlotte Salomon takes faithful inspiration from her life. What if it had taken more energy from her art?

By Lisa Kennedy

Pantelion Films

'¿Y Cómo Es Él?' Review: A Fraught Buddy Comedy

A jealous man tries to exact revenge on his wife's lover, but ends up taking a road trip with him instead.

By Beatrice Loayza

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ANATOMY OF A SCENE

Katalin Vermes/Lionsgate

Anatomy of a Scene

How Nicolas Cage Parodies Himself in 'Massive Talent'

Tom Gormican, the director of "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent," narrates a sequence featuring the star and Pedro Pascal.

By Mekado Murphy

NEWS & FEATURES

Robbie Lawrence for The New York Times

Alexander Skarsgard's Viking Dream

Stories from his grandfather inspired what would eventually become "The Northman." But it took years of development and then seven months in the mud to complete.

By Kaly Soto

Sinna Nasseri for The New York Times

Nicolas Cage Is in on the Nicolas Cage Jokes

In his new movie, "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent," the actor plays "himself" in all his meme-ified glory.

By Sarah Lyall

Alex Ingram for The New York Times

In 'The Duke,' Jim Broadbent Puts an Eccentric at the Center

The British actor has spent six decades seeking out carefully observed, often quirky characters. In his latest film, he's also the lead.

By Simran Hans

Eric Gaillard/Reuters

Will Smith, Before the Slap

Plenty has been said about Oscars night. But what about the rapper-turned-actor's remarkable journey up to that point?

Pool photo by Jim Lo Scalzo

Johnny Depp Confronted With Texts and Audio at Libel Trial

Mr. Depp was questioned on the stand by lawyers for his ex-wife Amber Heard, whom he is suing for defamation.

By Julia Jacobs

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STREAMING RECOMMENDATIONS

Netflix

Five Action Movies to Stream Now

This month's picks include a Polish gangland film recalling "A Clockwork Orange," an Indonesian fight flick interrogating toxic masculinity and more.

By Robert Daniels

Netflix

The 50 Best Movies on Netflix Right Now

Movies upon movies await, and you don't even have to drill down to find them.

By Jason Bailey

Marvel/Disney

The 50 Best TV Shows and Movies to Watch on Disney+ Right Now

The Disney streaming platform has hundreds of movie and TV titles, drawing from its own deep reservoir classics and from Star Wars, Marvel, National Geographic and more. These are our favorites.

By Scott Tobias

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