Movies Update: ‘The Equalizer 3’ and More

Plus, dispatches from the Venice Film Festival

View in browser|nytimes.com Continue reading the main story September 1, 2023 By Mekado Murphy Movies Editor Hey, movie fans! Excited for Labor Day? While the long holiday weekend does not include too many new movie releases, it is the beginning of the usually star-studded fall film festival season. Remember all the celebrity dust-ups and hubbub involving "Don't Worry Darling" during last year's installment of the Venice Film Festival? Things are a wee bit different this year. With the SAG-AFTRA and Writers Guild strikes continuing, the news is more about how many stars aren't at the festival, rather than how many are. Our reporter Kyle Buchanan is on hand to cover the films in Venice (yes, a star or two is around) and how the Hollywood shutdown is making the red carpet a bit roomier. Telluride is also this weekend, and the Toronto International Film Festival starts next week. (We'll have more on those soon.) In theaters, Denzel Washington makes mincemeat out of rooms full of bad guys again in "The Equalizer 3." Even though our chief critic Manohla Dargis sees the movie as more of the same, she writes that it is "as reliably watchable if ethically challenged as the previous ones." If you're looking for less violence and more charm, try the "Ernest and Celestine" sequel, "A Trip to Gibberitia." In her Critic's Pick review, Natalia Winkelman thinks it is fun for children and adults alike, writing, "The brisk, lively plot has shades of a French Revolutionary spirit," but "the film's real magic lies in the illustrations." If you'd like to check out something at home this weekend, you could look into that new choose-your-own-adventure Netflix rom-com. Though, if you're going on the advice of the critic Claire Shaffer, maybe not. About that movie, "Choose Love," she writes that its main selling point "seems to be that viewers get to pick which stale rom-com trope they see play out onscreen." Whatever you opt for, enjoy the movies! Stefano Montesi/Columbia Pictures 'The Equalizer 3' Review: Brood, Kill, Sip a Cup of Tea, Repeat Do we know why Denzel Washington's vigilante is in Italy? No. This third franchise installment just assumes you're here for the entertaining violence. By Manohla Dargis Gabriel Bouys/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Venice Film Festival: Adam Driver Calls Out Netflix and Amazon Amid Strikes His film "Ferrari," a big-budget indie from Michael Mann, is the kind of adult drama the major studios have shied away from. By Kyle Buchanan Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT CRITICS' PICKS GKIDS/StudioCanal Critic's Pick Review: In the 'Ernest & Celestine' Sequel, a Prodigal Cub Returns The delightful odd couple of the Oscar-nominated French film head to the mountains in "A Trip to Gibberitia." Every frame brims with painterly detail. By Natalia Winkelman MOVIE REVIEWS Yellow Veil Pictures 'We Kill for Love' Review: What They Did in Hollywood's Shadows This documentary explores a narrow genre of direct-to-VHS soft-core thrillers that found a niche with the advent of video rentals and home viewing. By Ben Kenigsberg Music Box Films 'Fremont' Review: Rapid Transit This dry, understated film follows a young Afghan refugee looking for connection in her new home, the San Francisco Bay Area. By Beatrice Loayza Nicola Dove/Netflix 'Choose Love' Review: Pick Your Own Cliché This interactive Netflix rom-com lets viewers make choices on behalf of the main character, changing the story. But each path is banal. By Claire Shaffer Strand Releasing 'The Mountain' Review: Stone-Faced in Nature's Splendors In this drama directed by and starring Thomas Salvador, an urbanite plunges into treacherous conditions. By Amy Nicholson ANATOMY OF A SCENE Orion Pictures Inc. Anatomy of a Scene How a Fight Club Starts in 'Bottoms' The director Emma Seligman narrates a sequence from her film featuring Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edebiri. By Mekado Murphy Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT NEWS & FEATURES Claudio Onorati/EPA, via Shutterstock The Projectionist Venice Film Festival: No Zendaya as the Strikes Change the Picture Day 1 brought challenges but not "Challengers," the film that had been scheduled to open this usually starry event until it was delayed by the strikes. By Kyle Buchanan Canyon Cinema Foundation Overlooked No More: Chick Strand, Pioneering Experimental Filmmaker Often turning her lens on women, she emerged as one of independent cinema's fiercest proponents on the West Coast. By Sean Malin ITV Studios/First Run Features Nicholas Hitchon, Who Aged 7 Years at a Time in 'Up' Films, Dies at 65 He was one of the original children profiled in "Seven Up!," a 1964 British documentary, and reappeared in subsequent installments for more than a half-century. By Neil Genzlinger STREAMING RECOMMENDATIONS Cleopatra Entertainment Five Science Fiction Movies to Stream Now This month's picks include cute-robot charm and alien abduction angst. By Elisabeth Vincentelli The Criterion Collection Stream These Three Great Documentaries This month's picks include a look back at a presidential primary, a remembrance of the victims of a hate crime and an intriguing visit to a Northwest Atlantic island. By Ben Kenigsberg Punjab Public Library, Lahore, Pakistan The Best True Crime to Stream: Leaving the United States Four picks across television, film and podcast that will take American viewers and listeners to places with vastly different systems and understandings of justice. 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