movie reviews

Freeze Frame: “Maria” (R), “Queer” (R), “Kraven the Hunter” (R), “Carry On” (PG-13)

Angelina Jolie's stunning performance is the main draw of filmmaker Pablo Lorraine's "Maria," a Netflix biopic about the last tragic days in the life of famed operatic diva Maria Callas. A fading Callas shares some intimate memories of her life and career with a journalist...who appears in only her imagination....

Freeze Frame: “Nightbitch” (R), “The Order” (R), “Flow” (PG), “Unstoppable” (PG-13)

Every dog has its day, and Amy Adams has hers in a movie with an awful title. In “Nightbitch,” Adams plays the harried mother of a two-year-old boy. She begins to morph into a dog…in her mind, anyway, and winds up running with a pack. This black comedy deals with...

Freeze Frame: “Moana 2” (PG), “Beatles ’64” (Not rated), “Joy” (PG-13), “Our Little Secret” (PG-13)

Disney goes back to the tropical well with the animated sequel, "Moana 2." Auliʻi Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson return as the lead voices, but it’s the spectacular animation that’s the real star of this seagoing adventure. Our heroine gets yet another call from an ancestor and sets sail in uncharted waters...

Freeze Frame: “Wicked” (PG), “Gladiator II” (R), “Bonhoeffer” (PG-13), “The Piano Lesson” (R)

Part one of the smash Broadway musical "Wicked," the origin story of Oz's Wicked Witch of the West, finally hits the big screen. Here's the upside: It's very entertaining and beautifully produced and Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande-Butera are terrific. The downside: It's padded out to 2 hours and forty minutes,...