Cinema News

July 19, 2024

	By Mekado Murphy

Hey, movie fans!

How's the weather where you are? On the big screen, it's catastrophic. "Twisters" has arrived in theaters, featuring ugly tornadoes alongside a pretty cast. Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell and Anthony Ramos are among the storm-chasing ensemble. Our critic, Alissa Wilkinson, thinks the movie is (mostly) a good time. In her review, she writes that it is "loaded with fun and sometimes funny set pieces and enough danger to keep you on your toes." Watch how the filmmakers destroyed a motel for the production and read what a Times meteorologist has to say about the realities of storm chasing.

If secret-agent thrillers are more interesting to you than tornadoes, pop over to Amazon Prime Video for "My Spy the Eternal City," starring Dave Bautista. It's a sequel to the 2020 film "My Spy." In his review, the critic Glenn Kenny writes, "There are agreeable moments, but also many labored ones."

I recently took a trip to the top of New York City skyscrapers for a story. It was harrowing, but nothing like the untethered madness perpetrated by the subjects of the new Netflix documentary "Skywalkers: A Love Story." The featured couple make skyscrapers their jungle gym, mainly for wild photo ops. Wilkinson writes about this, and other dizzying climbing documentaries in her column this week.

Enjoy the movies!

Three people, windswept, look out an open door.

Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures & Amblin Entertainment

'Twisters' Review: When the Monster Is Real

Glen Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones lead a stand-alone sequel to the 1996 hit — and times sure have changed.

By Alissa Wilkinson

A suited-up astronaut faces an American flag planted in the dusty landscape of the moon.

Neil Armstrong/NASA, via Associated Press

Will a Movie Faking the Moon Landing Propel a Debunked Conspiracy Theory?

The screenwriters of "Fly Me to the Moon" say they emphasized the facts of the Apollo 11 landing, but experts worry that clips can be misused.

By Annie Aguiar

CRITICS' PICKS

A man wearing a backpack stands in front of a blossoming cherry.

Gaga Picturehouse

Critic's Pick

'Great Absence' Review: A Mystery of Disappearance

A skillfully directed Japanese mystery dips into the strangeness of dementia for those who stand by and watch.

By Alissa Wilkinson

A tired man and woman slump against each other on a narrow bench.

Ozan Acidere/Mubi

Critic's Pick

'Crossing' Review: Stories to Tell

In Levan Akin's fascinating drama, two strangers connect in Istanbul.

By Amy Nicholson

ANATOMY OF A SCENE

Two people stand in a street, wind blowing around them, as they look off to the side at something.

Universal Pictures

Anatomy of a Scene

How 'Twisters' Destroys a Motel

The director Lee Isaac Chung narrates a sequence from the film featuring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell, in which a building is leveled by a tornado.

By Mekado Murphy

MOVIE REVIEWS

A man with a guitar sits on a sofa next to a woman who is looking at him, smiling.

Pavlos Vrionides/Netflix

'Find Me Falling' Review: A Romance With an Edge

Harry Connick Jr. stars as a cranky rocker who returns to Cyprus, the home of the love who inspired a signature hit.

By Lisa Kennedy

A woman, sitting inside of a tent, looks out of one unzipped corner of it in fear.

Colm Hogan/IFC Films and Shudder

'Oddity' Review: Twisted Sister

A haunted house, a blind psychic and a suspicious death fuel this flawed yet fun supernatural thriller.

By Jeannette Catsoulis

A man with a red scarf stands next to a barrier that reads "Hollywood Gate 4." Mountains are in the distance.

Fourth Act Film

'Hollywoodgate' Review: Inside the Taliban

In a frustrating documentary, the journalist Ibrahim Nash'at shows the Taliban after American troops left Afghanistan.

By Ben Kenigsberg

A woman holds a man's face and neck as they stand outside a glass house with a wooden fence.

Doppelgänger Releasing

'Crumb Catcher' Review: The Smother of Invention

An obnoxious inventor wreaks havoc on an upstate honeymoon in Chris Skotchdopole's tepid psychological thriller.

By Erik Piepenburg

A woman in a black hat stands outdoors next to baskets of grapes. A girl reaches into one of the baskets.

Vertical

'Widow Clicquot' Review: Champagne Mami

This muddled film, based on a true story, chronicles the origins of the French champagne house Veuve Clicquot.

By Beatrice Loayza

A black-and-white image of women in a bowling league holding their bowling balls, which are in color.

Abramorama/Delevan Street Films

'Join or Die' Review: Come Together

This documentary about the work of Robert Putnam, who wrote "Bowling Alone," argues that Americans can save democracy by becoming joiners.

By Natalia Winkelman

NEWS & FEATURES

With a steep, snowy mountain in the background, a woman in sunglasses and a blue-knit cap stands proudly with a red-and-blue flag.

Netflix

Documentary Lens

The Stomach-Dropping, Heart-Tugging Appeal of Climbing Documentaries

"Skywalkers" and "Mountain Queen" are strong entries in a genre with great appeal to viewers who themselves might prefer to be sitting.

By Alissa Wilkinson

In 'Twisters,' Storm Chasers Want to Disrupt a Tornado. Is That Possible?

The original 'Twister' ushered in a new era of fascination with tornadoes. Its follow-up may have even bigger ambitions.

By Judson Jones and Reto Sterchi

Two men sit at a round table, their faces turned toward each other in conversation. The table is covered with chess pieces, and an orb floats in the foreground.

Guy Bolongaro for The New York Times

Keanu Reeves Wrote a Book. A Really Weird One.

What if the star of "The Matrix" worked with a sci-fi novelist to tell the story of an 80,000-year-old warrior who can rip people's arms off but struggles with loneliness?

By Alexandra Alter

Photo illustration by The New York Times; Photo via Neon

Critic's Notebook

Focusing In on One Star, Fancams Find a Love of the Movies

The creators of clips about Swann Arlaud ("Anatomy of a Fall") and others have found a way to make cinephilia a communal experience in the digital age.

By Esther Zuckerman

In a movie scene, the J.D. Vance character, in a suit, sits between the casually dressed Haley Bennett and Amy Adams in a row of chairs lined up against a wall.

Lacey Terrell/Netflix

What to Know About 'Hillbilly Elegy,' Based on the J.D. Vance Memoir

The 2020 film generally follows the book about the Republican vice presidential nominee's formative years. But there are significant differences.

By Christopher Kuo

People with their hands in the air as they run screaming from the Colonial Theater in a recreation of a scene from the movie

Celebrating Film Nostalgia With Ooze and Ahhs at Blobfest

A festival that celebrates the 1958 film "The Blob" held its 25th annual gathering in Phoenixville, Pa., where much of the movie was shot.

By Emmett Lindner and Michelle Gustafson

STREAMING RECOMMENDATIONS

A woman sits on a wooden swing alongside a man. She is holding a Walkman and the man has on the headphones attached to the Walkman, listening.

VMI Releasing

Five Horror Movies to Stream Now

This month's picks include Swedish evildoers, South Korean warrior-ghosts and a devil stalking the American frontier.

By Erik Piepenburg

A24	Beyond the Algorithm 'Aftersun,' 'Anomalisa' and More Streaming Gems An Oscar-nominated father-daughter drama and a stop-motion dramedy are among the best movies hiding in the corners of your subscription streaming services. By Jason Bailey

A24	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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