Flora and Son
NYT Critic’s Pick | R | Drama, Music | Directed by John Carney
The writer-director John Carney, whose feature “Once” made musical waves, returns with another charming songwriter tale.

Eve Hewson and Oren Kinlan in “Flora and Son.”
By AMY NICHOLSON

Fire Through Dry Grass
NYT Critic’s Pick | Not Rated | Documentary | Directed by Andres Jay Molina, Alexis Neophytides
This enlightening, troubling documentary chronicles life (and death) among residents in a long-term care facility during the heights of the pandemic.

A scene from “Fire Through Dry Grass.”
By CONCEPCIÓN DE LEÓN

Mami Wata
NYT Critic’s Pick | Not Rated | Drama, Fantasy, Thriller | Directed by C.J. ‘Fiery’ Obasi
In this striking film by the Nigerian director C.J. Obasi, with the help of a mysterious stranger, a village awakens to what is possible.

Evelyne Ily in “Mami Wata,” a film about the tensions between a traditional Nigerian culture and updated visions of the world.
By BRANDON YU

— Of Possible Interest —

PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie
PG | Animation, Action, Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Family, Fantasy, Sci-Fi | Directed by Cal Brunker
In this sequel, the canine gang faces Taraji P. Henson’s villain who sends a dangerous meteor toward Earth. And, yes, Kim Kardashian returns too.
By CLAIRE SHAFFER

The Creator
PG-13 | Action, Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller | Directed by Gareth Edwards
In this hectic, futuristic action film, John David Washington hunts down a threatening artificial intelligence with the baby face of a child.
By NICOLAS RAPOLD

The Origin of Evil
NYT Critic’s Pick | Not Rated | Drama, Thriller | Directed by Sébastien Marnier
“Succession” meets Brian De Palma in this delicious family-fortune thriller from France, directed by Sébastien Marnier.

Laure Calamy, center, with, clockwise from left, Céleste Brunnquell, Dominique Blanc, Jacques Weber, Doria Tillier and Véronique Ruggia Saura in “The Origin of Evil.”
By BEATRICE LOAYZA

Still Film
NYT Critic’s Pick | Not Rated | Documentary, Drama | Directed by James N. Kienitz Wilkins
James N. Kienitz Wilkins’s eloquently argued experimental film warns of a contemporary Hollywood dangerously obsessed with the past.

A scene from “Still Film.”
By ROBERT DANIELS

— Of Possible Interest —

Cassandro
R | Biography, Drama, Sport | Directed by Roger Ross Williams
Gael García Bernal plays a flamboyant figure taking the world of Mexican professional wrestling by storm in this underdog drama directed by Roger Ross Williams.
By NATALIA WINKELMAN

Paul Robeson: ‘I’m a Negro. I’m an American.’
Not Rated | Documentary | Directed by Kurt Tetzlaff
The film’s subtitle is drawn from one of the performer’s quotes in his autobiography “Here I Stand”: “I’m a Negro. I’m an American.”
By LISA KENNEDY

El Conde
NYT Critic’s Pick | R | Comedy, Fantasy, History, Horror | Directed by Pablo Larraín
The Chilean director Pablo Larraín makes the dictator Augusto Pinochet a vampire in this horror spoof.

President Salvador Allende of Chile, as seen in the documentary “The First Year.”
By AMY NICHOLSON

— Of Possible Interest —

A Million Miles Away
PG | Drama | Directed by Alejandra Márquez Abella
In this biopic, a boy from a family of migrant farm workers watches the moon landing in 1969, which ignites his desire to be an astronaut.
By CONCEPCIÓN DE LEÓN

The Inventor
PG | Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Family | Directed by Jim Capobianco, Pierre-Luc Granjon
This playful movie uses stop-motion and hand-drawn animation to pay homage to Leonardo as a thinker and tinkerer.
By LISA KENNEDY

Canary
Not Rated | Documentary | Directed by Danny O’Malley, Alex Rivest
A documentary traces the efforts of Dr. Lonnie Thompson, a scientist who starting collecting evidence of global warming in the 1970s.
By NICOLAS RAPOLD

Hello Dankness
NYT Critic’s Pick | Not Rated | Comedy, Horror, Music, Musical | Directed by Soda Jerk
The video artists known as Soda Jerk explore life in the United States from 2016 onward with an oddball assemblage of pop culture clips.

A scene from “Hello Dankness.
By BEN KENIGSBERG

— Of Possible Inerest —

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
PG-13 | Drama | Directed by Aitch Alberto
The film “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe,” a gay teen romance set in 1980s Texas and adapted from Benjamin Alire Sáenz’s novel, is tenderhearted but meandering.
By ERIK PIEPENBURG

Ernest & Celestine: A Trip to Gibberitia
NYT Critic’s Pick | Not Rated | Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Crime, Drama, Family | Directed by Julien Chheng, Jean-Christophe Roger
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.

Ernest and Celestine travel to Ernest’s hometown in what our critic calls a “gem of a sequel.”
By NATALIA WINKELMAN

Brief Encounters
NYT Critic’s Pick | Not Rated | Comedy, Drama, Romance | Directed by Kira Muratova
A pair of newly restored films from Kira Muratova about restless, disaffected women hold a special, subversive power.

The Long Farewell
NYT Critic’s Pick | Not Rated | Drama | Directed by Kira Muratova
A pair of newly restored films from Kira Muratova about restless, disaffected women hold a special, subversive power.
By NATALIA WINKELMAN

Piaffe
NYT Critic’s Pick | Not Rated | Drama, Fantasy | Directed by Ann Oren
In this beautiful and beguiling tale of transformation, a young woman’s altered body unlocks her true self.

Simone Bucio in “Piaffe,” which is ideologically abstract and beguilingly weird, our critic writes.
By JEANNETTE CATSOULIS

Our Father, the Devil
NYT Critic’s Pick | Not Rated | Thriller | Directed by Ellie Foumbi
In this absorbing psychological thriller, a Guinean refugee living in France is rattled by the appearance of a menacing figure from her past.

Souleymane Sy Savane and Babetida Sadjo in “Our Father, the Devil,” a film directed by Ellie Foumbi.
By BEATRICE LOAYZA

Scrapper
NYT Critic’s Pick | Not Rated | Comedy, Drama | Directed by Charlotte Regan
In Charlotte Regan’s feature-length debut, a girl wise beyond her years reconnects with her father, an immature drifter.

Lola Campbell in “Scrapper,” a film directed by Charlotte Regan.
By CLAIRE SHAFFER

Birth/Rebirth
NYT Critic’s Pick | R | Horror, Thriller | Directed by Laura Moss
Two women nurture a reanimated child in this grisly gynecological horror movie.

Marin Ireland in “Birth/Rebirth.”
By JEANNETTE CATSOULIS

— Of Possible Interest —

Mutt
Not Rated | Drama | Directed by Vuk Lungulov-Klotz
A newly out transgender man meets with his estranged father, his ex-boyfriend and his sister for the first time since his transition in this drama.
By TEO BUGBEE

The Monkey King
PG | Animation, Action, Adventure, Comedy, Family, Fantasy | Directed by Anthony Stacchi
There’s enough gags in this animated fable from Anthony Stacchi that a dozen land.
By AMY NICHOLSON

Landscape With Invisible Hand
R | Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi | Directed by Cory Finley
The latest film from Cory Finley follows two teens on an alien-controlled earth who stream their love life to an extraterrestrial audience.
By CLAIRE SHAFFER

Blue Beetle
PG-13 | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller | Directed by Angel Manuel Soto
The plot is boilerplate and the superhero is not particularly compelling. At least his family members steal the show.
By MAYA PHILLIPS

Aurora’s Sunrise
NYT Critic’s Pick | Not Rated | Documentary, Animation | Directed by Inna Sahakyan
This standout documentary combines archival footage and animated re-enactments to share one survivor’s memories.

A scene from the documentary that includes animation, “Aurora’s Sunrise.”
By TEO BUGBEE

Medusa Deluxe
NYT Critic’s Pick | R | Drama, Mystery | Directed by Thomas Hardiman
A gruesome attack on a stylist upends a hairdressing contest in this invigoratingly bold debut.

Clare Perkins, left, with Lilit Lesser in “Medusa Deluxe.”
By JEANNETTE CATSOULIS

King Coal
NYT Critic’s Pick | Not Rated | Documentary | Directed by Elaine McMillion Sheldon
A coal miner’s daughter turned filmmaker profiles a region’s relationship with fossil fuel and presents a eulogy for a way of life.

By following two girls in “King Coal,” the director Elaine McMillion Sheldon considers the future of the Appalachian region.
By ROBERT DANIELS

— Of Possible Interest —

The Last Voyage of the Demeter
R | Horror | Directed by André Øvredal
This horror movie, based on a chapter from Bram Stoker’s “Dracula,” is set on a cargo ship unwittingly transporting an evil demon.
By NATALIA WINKELMAN

Red, White & Royal Blue
R | Comedy, Romance | Directed by Matthew López
This film, about an American president’s son who falls for a British prince, starts with a giddy premise and has the derring-do to succeed.
By AMY NICHOLSON

Jules
PG-13 | Drama | Directed by Marc Turtletaub
Ben Kingsley plays an elderly man struggling with a fading memory when an extraterrestrial crashes into his life.
By CLAIRE SHAFFER

The Pod Generation
PG-13 | Comedy, Romance, Sci-Fi | Directed by Sophie Barthes
This satire on our techno-capitalist future is best enjoyed the way it’s made — without taking itself too seriously.
By BRANDON YU

Lady Killer
The Strange Mister Victor
NYT Critic’s Pick
Two newly restored films by the director Jean Grémillon, whom cinephiles discuss like a special secret, get a second life in theaters.

Jean Gabin and Mireille Balin in “Lady Killer.”
By BEATRICE LOAYZA

Klondike
NYT Critic’s Pick | Drama, War | Directed by Maryna Er Gorbach
In a film set in 2014, a couple in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine try to maintain normality as war rocks their home.

By BEN KENIGSBERG

Our Body
NYT Critic’s Pick | Documentary | Directed by Claire Simon
The French director Claire Simon’s profoundly humane documentary focuses on patients in the gynecology ward of a Paris hospital.

A scene from “Our Body.”
By LISA KENNEDY

Dreamin’ Wild
NYT Critic’s Pick | PG | Biography, Drama, Music | Directed by Bill Pohlad
A new film dramatizes the true story of two brothers thrust into the spotlight 30 years after the album they recorded as teenagers is discovered.

Casey Affleck and Zooey Deschanel star in “Dreamin’ Wild.”
By CLAIRE SHAFFER

War Pony
NYT Critic’s Pick | R | Drama | Directed by Gina Gammell, Riley Keough
Riley Keough and Gina Gammell’s stellar debut, starring many first-time actors, takes a deadpan look at a Lakota-Sioux reservation in South Dakota.

JWasose Garcia, left, and Jojo Bapteise Whiting in “War Pony.”
By AMY NICHOLSON

The Venture Bros.: Radiant Is the Blood of the Baboon Heart
NYT Critic’s Pick | R | Animation | Directed by Christopher McCulloch
A beloved Adult Swim cartoon comes back to tie up some loose ends.

Dean Venture (voiced by Michael Sinterniklaas), left, and Dr. Orpheus (Steven Rattazzi) in “The Venture Bros.: Radiant Is the Blood of the Baboon Heart.”
By DANIELLE DOWLING

Glitch: The Rise & Fall of HQ Trivia
NYT Critic’s Pick | Documentary, Biography | Directed by Salima Koroma
The fraught behind-the-scenes drama of the short-lived quiz game app is chronicled in this smart, briskly funny documentary.

A still from the documentary “Glitch: The Rise & Fall of HQ Trivia,” directed by Salima Koroma.
By CALUM MARSH

They Cloned Tyrone
NYT Critic’s Pick | R | Action, Comedy, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller | Directed by Juel Taylor
In Juel Taylor’s imaginative sci-fi movie, Boyega teams up with Jamie Foxx and Teyonah Parris to find the forces undermining their community.

Teyonah Parris as Yo-Yo, Jamie Foxx as Slick Charles, John Boyega as Fontaine in “They Cloned Tyrone,” a film Directed by Juel Taylor.
By ROBERT DANIELS

Remainder
NYT Critic’s Pick | Directed by Na Jiazuo
In Na Jiazuo’s striking directorial debut, young people inhabit a place seemingly made up of those who owe money and the thugs who try to beat it out of them.

Huang Miyi, left, and Li Jiuxiao in “Streetwise.”
By GLENN KENNY

Return to Dust
NYT Critic’s Pick | Drama | Directed by Ruijun Li
Li Ruijun’s newest feature is a touching portrait of love and resiliency that doubles as a critique of China’s ruling class.

Hai Qing and Wu Renlin in “Return to Dust.”
By AUSTIN CONSIDINE

Oppenheimer
NYT Critic’s Pick | R | Biography, Drama, History | Directed by Christopher Nolan
Christopher Nolan’s complex, vivid portrait of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the “father of the atomic bomb,” is a brilliant achievement in formal and conceptual terms.

Christopher Nolan’s new film, “Oppenheimer,” Cillian Murphy stars as J. Robert Oppenheimer, the American physicist who oversaw the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos, N.M.
By MANOHLA DARGIS

— Of Possible Interest —

Barbie
PG-13 | Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Romance | Directed by Greta Gerwig
She’s in the driver’s seat, headed for uncharted territory (flat feet!). But there are limits to how much dimension even Greta Gerwig can give this branded material.
By MANOHLA DARGIS