Cinema News: Movies Update: ‘Nope’ and More

July 22, 2022

By Stephanie Goodman

Film Editor

Hi, movie fans!

It's the heart of summer blockbuster season, with Jordan Peele's much-anticipated "Nope" and Netflix's big-budget gamble "The Gray Man" both hitting screens this weekend.

We didn't know much about "Nope" before its release, and now that our critic A.O. Scott has seen it, he still has questions: "Is it a western? A horror film? Science fiction? Satire? Will it fulfill the expectations raised by Peele's first two mind-bending, zeitgeist-surfing features, 'Get Out' and 'Us,' or disappoint them?" he wrote in his review. "I can now report that the answer to all of those questions is: Yup." I'm not going to give anything away about the plot, but to be clear, he's wholeheartedly making "Nope" a Critic's Pick.

"The Gray Man," from the Russo brothers, comes with a different set of expectations: At nearly $200 million, this is the most expensive film Netflix has ever made and the streaming service, which lost nearly 1 million subscribers in the last quarter, is hoping the assassin vs. assassin action thriller will be the start of a spy franchise that lures in new viewers, as my colleague Nicole Sperling explained. Does the movie work on its own terms? In her review, our critic Amy Nicholson described it as a "frenetic caper," adding that "the razzle-dazzle does quite a bit to invigorate what is at its core a routine tale."

Whatever you decide to watch, enjoy the movies!

Universal Pictures

Critic's Pick

'Nope' Review: Hell Yes

Jordan Peele's genre-melting third feature stars Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer as brother-and-sister horse wranglers defending the family ranch from an extraterrestrial threat.

By A.O. Scott

Taylor Callery

Critic's Notebook

The Antihero's Last Gasp

Since the beginnings of Batman, pop culture has embraced the figure who lives on the boundary between law and lawlessness. With truth and justice now seemingly up for grabs, do those stories still make sense?

By Maya Phillips

MTV Documentary Films

The Unraveling of an Award-Winning Documentary

The director of "Sabaya," about Yazidi women who had been sexually enslaved by ISIS, says that he wasn't present for a key scene and that he substituted footage.

By Jane Arraf

Continue reading the main story

CRITICS' PICKS

MHz Choice

Critic's Pick

'A Dark, Dark Man' Review: Murder and Corruption in Kazakhstan

This exceptionally grim police procedural recalls films like Bong Joon Ho's "Memories of Murder" and Nuri Bilge Ceylan's "Once Upon a Time in Anatolia."

By Ben Kenigsberg

Onyx Collective

Critic's Pick

'Aftershock' Review: A Moving Ode to the Black Family

Black mothers are dying from childbirth at alarming rates. A new documentary explains why.

By Beandrea July

MOVIE REVIEWS

Paul Abell/Netflix

'The Gray Man' Review: Guy vs. Guy

Ryan Gosling plays a blasé government operative opposite Chris Evans's showy psychopath in this globe-trotting spy action movie.

By Amy Nicholson

Magnolia Pictures

'My Old School' Review: An Impostor Makes the Honor Roll

A documentary uses animation and professional actors to tell the story of a once-notorious hoax.

By A.O. Scott

Paramount+

'The Day the Music Died' Review: 'American Pie,' the Life of a Hit

Don McLean tries to clear up some misapprehensions about the eight-an-a-half-minute song that took on a life of its own, in this documentary.

By Glenn Kenny

Tony Rivetti/Orion Pictures/Amazon Studios

'Anything's Possible' Review: Teenagers' Romance Flowers

Self-preservation and allyship are also wrapped up in this sweet young adult romantic comedy, which is Billy Porter's feature film directorial debut.

By Kyle Turner

Quiver Distribution

'The Wheel' Review: Songs of Love and Hate

In this marriage drama, a young couple heads to the countryside to break out of a toxic cycle.

By Nicolas Rapold

Samuel Goldwyn Films

'Art of Love' Review: An Erotic Male Fantasy in Puerto Rico

A disillusioned college professor develops a relationship with a young Chinese woman, in a familiar and worn-out narrative.

By Concepción de León

Factory 25

'The Reverend' Review: A Beer With a Music Chaser

Get out of his way. With two decades of sharing worship and making music at a Brooklyn bar, the Rev. Vince Anderson appears to be unstoppable.

By Lisa Kennedy

Hélène Louvart/Dekanalog

'Skies of Lebanon' Review: A Beautiful Life, for a While

A woman's journey to Beirut leads to a storybook romance in the debut feature from the director Chloé Mazlo.

By Glenn Kenny

Continue reading the main story

NEWS & FEATURES

Associated Press

What to Know About Jafar Panahi, the Imprisoned Iranian Filmmaker

The auteur is now serving a sentence that Iran's judiciary handed down in 2010 when he was arrested for supporting protests.

By Nicolas Rapold

Onyx Collective

'History Is Everything': Making a Film About Black Maternal Mortality

The directors Paula Eiselt and Tonya Lewis Lee discuss their journey in making the documentary "Aftershock," which shines a light on a national health crisis.

By Maya Salam

Karsten Moran for The New York Times

For a Revered Art House Cinema, a Season of Off Screen Turmoil

The Jacob Burns Film Center in Westchester, a celebrated venue that enjoys backing from cinema's A-list, has been roiled by the dismissal of one of its original leaders who was accused of bullying behavior.

By Matt Stevens

Netflix

Netflix, Still Reeling, Bets Big on 'The Gray Man'

The streaming service hopes its latest release can be the start of a blockbuster franchise that attracts much-needed subscribers.

By Nicole Sperling

Nick Wall/Netflix

Reporter's Notebook

Why Is It So Hard to Adapt Austen? The Fans Play a Part.

The backlash to the Netflix version of "Persuasion" has as much to do with who's watching as who's scripting. Still, the new film broke some rules.

By Sarah Lyall

New Line Cinema

Critic's Notebook

'Boomerang' at 30: Think of It as the Robin Givens Rom-Com

It's remembered as Eddie Murphy's bid at romantic stardom and as a key point in Halle Berry's career. But the riveting antagonist arguably created a new archetype.

By Salamishah Tillet

STREAMING RECOMMENDATIONS