NYT Critic’s Pick Movies

<a href=”https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/13/movies/capernaum-review.html?rref=collection%2Fcollection%2Fmovie-guide” target=”_blank”>Capernaum</a>
NYT Critic’s Pick R Drama Directed by Nadine Labaki
Like a Charles Dickens hero, Zain makes his way through a city where cruelty and injustice threaten to overwhelm kindness and decency.
By A.O. SCOTT

<a href=”https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/13/movies/ghostbox-cowboy-review.html?rref=collection%2Fcollection%2Fmovie-guide” target=”_blank”>Ghostbox Cowboy</a>
NYT Critic’s Pick Action, Adventure, Comedy, Crime, Drama, Thriller Directed by John Maringouin
John Maringouin directs a dryly funny dissection of entrepreneurial absurdism bleeding into existential and metaphysical despair.
By GLENN KENNY

<a href=”https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/13/movies/lots-of-kids-a-monkey-and-a-castle-review.html?rref=collection%2Fcollection%2Fmovie-guide” target=”_blank”>Lots of Kids, a Monkey and a Castle</a>
NYT Critic’s Pick Documentary Directed by Gustavo Salmerón
The Spanish actor Gustavo Salmerón stitches together an affectionate, frank portrait of his indomitable mother in this family documentary.
By GLENN KENNY

<a href=”https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/13/movies/dead-souls-review.html?rref=collection%2Fcollection%2Fmovie-guide” target=”_blank”>Dead Souls</a>
NYT Critic’s Pick Documentary Directed by Bing Wang
More than eight hours long and harrowing to watch, Wang Bing’s “Dead Souls” is a necessary look at China’s brutal re-education camps for “rightists.”
By BILGE EBIRI

<a href=”https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/12/movies/if-beale-street-could-talk-review.html?rref=collection%2Fcollection%2Fmovie-guide” target=”_blank”>If Beale Street Could Talk</a>
NYT Critic’s Pick R Crime, Drama, Romance Directed by Barry Jenkins
The couple in this adaptation of James Baldwin’s novel are loving while black, an existential truth that is turned into a nightmare.
By MANOHLA DARGIS

<a href=”https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/12/movies/spider-man-into-the-spider-verse-review.html?rref=collection%2Fcollection%2Fmovie-guide” target=”_blank”>Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse</a>
NYT Critic’s Pick PG Animation, Action, Adventure, Comedy, Family, Sci-Fi Directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman
This lively, diverse comic-book movie brings some fun to a genre that often takes itself too seriously.
By A.O. SCOTT

— Of Possible Interest —

<a href=”https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/13/movies/mortal-engines-review.html?rref=collection%2Fcollection%2Fmovie-guide” target=”_blank”>Mortal Engines</a>
PG-13 Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Thriller Directed by Christian Rivers
To the extent that “Mortal Engines” resembles anything, it’s other movies, which it plunders with a landfill-diving zeal that suits the surviving populace.
By BEN KENIGSBERG

<a href=”https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/13/movies/never-ending-man-hayao-miyazaki-review.html?rref=collection%2Fcollection%2Fmovie-guide” target=”_blank”>Never-Ending Man: Hayao Miyazaki</a>
Documentary, Biography Directed by Kaku Arakawa
The director of animated classics like “Spirited Away” reflects on his career in this documentary.
By GLENN KENNY

<a href=”https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/13/movies/martyr-review.html?rref=collection%2Fcollection%2Fmovie-guide” target=”_blank”>Martyr</a>
Drama, Family, Fantasy Directed by Mazen Khaled
Set in a poor section of the city, Mazen Khaled’s film captures the numbness, grief and rage that come out of strife.
By WESLEY MORRIS

<a href=”https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/13/movies/the-house-that-jack-built-review.html?rref=collection%2Fcollection%2Fmovie-guide” target=”_blank”>The House That Jack Built</a>
R Comedy, Drama, Horror, Thriller Directed by Lars von Trier
Matt Dillon may play a serial killer in Lars von Trier’s latest movie, but its real subject seems to be its director.
By WESLEY MORRIS