Movies Update: A week of mean girls and messiahs

Plus, what winning a Golden Globe looks like.
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Movies Update

January 12, 2024

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By Stephanie Goodman

Film Editor

Hi, movie fans!

We're in the heart of awards season — the Golden Globes were Sunday, the Screen Actors Guild and Directors Guild award nominations were unveiled Wednesday, and the Critics Choice prizes are being handed out this weekend. Whew! (There are also the Emmys coming Monday, but this is Movies Update not TV Update.)

It's so busy for me on those nights that it's hard to watch more than a snippet or two of the actual ceremonies. So when the backlash to Globes host Jo Koy hit, I was a little puzzled. Aren't all awards hosts pretty lackluster?

Then I watched clips of John Mulaney emceeing at the Governors Awards, the nontelevised event for the academy's lifetime achievement prizes, and I saw the light. ("It is an honor and a favor to be here. This is a strategic obligation," he told the crowd, adding, "If you don't know who I am, that's totally fine.") It's too late for the Oscars, which have named Jimmy Kimmel as the host yet again this year, but can't we have Mulaney next year?

Now I have to go back to editing. Whatever you decide to watch, enjoy the movies!

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CRITICS' PICKS

A woman stands waiting in a subway station.

Lea Glob

Critic's Pick

'Apolonia, Apolonia' Review: A Whole Life in Art

The painter Apolonia Sokol is the ostensible subject of a wide-ranging documentary about life itself.

By Alissa Wilkinson

A woman in a head scarf embracing a child as they stand on a bus.

Greenwich Entertainment

Critic's Pick

'Inshallah a Boy' Review: Where the Male Line Is the Only Line

In this film by Amjad Al Rasheed, a young widow in Jordan strains against the tradition, underpinned by law, that without a man she is nothing.

By Lisa Kennedy

ANATOMY OF A SCENE

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Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures, via Associated Press

Anatomy of a Scene

Watch the Opening Scene of 'Oppenheimer'

The writer and director Christopher Nolan narrates a sequence from his film, which won the Golden Globe for best drama.

By Mekado Murphy

MOVIE REVIEWS

A smiling older woman with a short gray pixie haircut and wearing a pale blue scarf gently touches the arm of a man who is laughing as they lean on a balustrade. Traffic behind them is visible at a distance.

Jean-Claude Lother/Cohen Media Group

'Driving Madeleine' Review: A Nonagenarian in Paris

The beloved French singer Line Renaud plays a woman who forms an unlikely bond with a surly cabdriver in this heart-warmer.

By Beatrice Loayza

A bald man with a beard stands with a contemplative look on his face.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures/Amazon

'The Beekeeper' Review: Sting Like a, You Know

In this action thriller, Jason Statham plays a man who will do whatever it takes to protect his hive.

By Amy Nicholson

A woman stands outside, greenery around her, talking on a cellphone.

Reiner Bajo/Amazon Prime

'Role Play' Review: Mommy by Day, Killer by Night

Kaley Cuoco plays a woman balancing a life of domesticity with her career as an assassin in this spineless comedy thriller.

By Natalia Winkelman

One man squashed another head against a solid object as they fight in a scene suffused with red light.

Netflix

'Lift' Review: Thin as Thieves

This poorly written action vehicle pits Kevin Hart as a hero against an eco-terrorist villain.

By Robert Daniels

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NEWS & FEATURES

Two blond women are standing close to one another, one leaning slightly below the other's head. They're all hovering over a brunette.

Amy Harrity for The New York Times

Tina Fey on 'Mean Girls' Then and Now

With a new version of Regina George and the Plastics headed to theaters, she reflects on how different generations have reacted over the years.

By Ashley Spencer

Da'Vine Joy Randolph poses in a maroon dress, with both hands raised and her head turned to one side.

What Winning a Golden Globe Looks Like

Lily Gladstone, Paul Giamatti, Billie Eilish and stars from "Succession," "Beef" and "The Bear" are captured in their moments of glory.

By Erik Carter for The New York Times

In a black-and-white portrait, a woman in a dark high-necked, pleated top looks downward with a placid expression on her face. Her eyes are illuminated.

Thea Traff for The New York Times

The Projectionist

Lily Gladstone Won't Let Hollywood Put Her in a Box

The "Killers of the Flower Moon" star says awards attention feels like "being shot out of a cannon." For a long time, she'd kept her distance from the industry.

By Kyle Buchanan

In a close-up portrait, a balding man with a graying beard and mustache looks sternly at the camera past out-of-focus strips of light.

Sinna Nasseri for The New York Times

Paul Giamatti Has Done the Reading

For his role in "The Holdovers," set at a prep school not unlike the one he attended, the hyper-literate actor mined his own dormant memories.

By Reggie Ugwu

A dark-haired girl with a middle part kneels while holding a small religious statue.

Milestone Films and Kino Lorber

Rewind

'Household Saints': Miracles on Mulberry Street

Nancy Savoca's 1993 film, a mystical, multigenerational Italian American family saga, opens for a revival run at IFC Center.

By J. Hoberman

Three girls sit at a lunch table looking at a person off camera.

Jojo Whilden/Paramount Pictures

Reporter's Notebook

When Trailers Hit Mute on the Musical

With "Mean Girls," "Wonka" and "The Color Purple," why have studios spent much of their marketing budget downplaying and disguising their movie musicals?

By Alexis Soloski

STREAMING RECOMMENDATIONS

Three people are slightly shielded behind a piece of art that has circular holes.

Lander LarraΓ±aga/Netflix

Five International Movies to Stream Now

This month's picks include a bizarre Mexican-Spanish thriller, a Canadian drama about immigrants, a documentary set in a Parisian dance school and more.

By Devika Girish

An animated turtle and lizard sit in an aquarium. The turtle is chomping on some leaves and looking skeptically at the lizard, who looks intently at something out of frame.

Netflix

5 Children's Movies to Stream Now

This month's picks include a bevy of animated critters and a science-fiction fantasy.

By Dina Gachman

A man wearing a flannel jacket looks at a woman wearing a white coat.

Tatum Mangus/Annapurna Pictures

The Best Movies on Amazon Prime Video Right Now

New films, and classics, just keep coming, but you don't have to drill down to find the finest selections to stream. We'll do the heavy lifting. You press play.

By Jason Bailey

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Warner Bros.

The 50 Best Movies on Max Right Now

In addition to new Warner and HBO films, the streamer has a treasure trove of Golden Age classics, indie flicks and foreign films. Start with these.

By Scott Tobias

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