Glass Onion – 4.5

Absurdly stupid or stupidly absurd, take your pick. Whereas the original Knives Out revolved around a relatable family with understandable issues, this “sequel” featured an all-star cast of incredible (as in, non-credible) characters who formed no sort of family and were hard to care about, if not actually odious. And whereas the Daniel Craig character, as I remember it, was an amusing add-on, here he was the main player, wearing out his schtick not too far into the film. The plot echoes of The Menu were just an unhappy coincidence.

She Said – 7.5

A solid telling of a heartwarming story, although we knew, of course, everything before it happened. The other challenge was how to dramatize phone calls, which led to a lot of interruptions while tending to the kids, walking down the street, meeting with the boss and sleeping. I have no idea why someone felt it necessary to cast a devilish British movie star, Carey Mulligan, as a hard-boiled New York reporter. Her character never took with me, but I quite appreciated Zoe Kazan as her running mate. The movie suffers in comparison to Spotlight, let alone the template-creator, All the President’s Men. And while Harvey Weinstein has been brought to justice (pending appeal), there remains the shadow of the press’s inability to dent Donald Trump.

The Menu – 6

A delicious spoof of foam restaurants and foodies until it takes a sour turn mid-movie and becomes a typically implausible horror flick that reduces its cast to sniveling nonentities. The setup and the characters, notably Anya Taylor-Joy and Nicholas Hoult, make up ingredients for an entertaining parody that could, I wished, have gone in a different direction.

The Good Nurse – 7.5

Powerful. There’s not much suspense in the story, if you’ve read the book or even a movie review, but the drama is carried by a tour-de-force performance by Jessica Chastain–best I’ve ever seen her. Eddie Redmayne is the other “good nurse,” and his strange accent makes his character fairly inscrutable, which, it turns out, is the true story the film is based on. Noah Emmerich is a welcome third presence, doing his usual thing. As often, the story would not be believable if it weren’t true; it’s the acting here that is convincing.

Aftersun – 5

I have no idea what this movie was about; moreover, I couldn’t understand half the dialogue. (What language were they using – Scottish? Irish? English?) A single dad spends a vacation week with his ten-year-old daughter at a modest Turkish resort (no White Lotus), and nothing unusual happens–except they seem to manage to spend all day together without friction, complaint or misunderstanding. (I can’t imagine!) There are random flash-forwards, mainly dancing at a disco, but to what end? I’ll have to go read some reviews. Most emotional moment was a David Bowie song on the soundtrack.

Triangle of Sadness – 6

A self-evidently Northern European film in its discussions of class, capitalism, socialism, gender, race and more class. Not that it’s particularly intellectual or probing. It is, in fact, quite crude and simplistic. And half-again too long, with many scenes that drag and others–such as a forced dip in the ocean by the staff–that could have been done without. What holds it together is the relationship story of two influencers, brilliantly played by Harrison Dickinson and Charlbi Dean, she manipulative and he feckless. Their attraction to each other is just as obvious as their mismatch.

Armageddon Time – 7

A portrait of the (superhero) artist as a young man, set in 1980 Queens instead of 1914 Dublin. Our hero is likable but not commendable, and the one we feel sympathy for is his Black friend, Johnny Davis. Paul’s family, notably Anne Hathaway and Jeremy Strong don’t mesh, but maybe that’s the way Paul saw them. Anthony Hopkins, as his saintly grandfather, is a bit predictable. I feel a little sorry for this great actor who is now reduced to playing old men who are dying or have dementia. This movie is a snapshot in time, not quite a bildungsroman; and if there’s a moral, it’s that to get ahead in life, a) you shouldn’t be Black and b) it helps if Fred Trump is your father.

Take Me Out – A

Three tremendous acting performances anchor this study of friendship, homophobia, team chemistry and baseball. Surprisingly, the baseball references didn’t bother a purist like me. As for the homophobia, it’s sad that there are no more openly gay Major Leaguers now than when the play was first performed twenty years ago. But most intriguing was the question implicit in every relationship: how well do we really know someone, even our best friend? Jesse Tyler Ferguson deserves his Tony for his funny, lovable portrayal of Darren’s business manager, and Bill Heck was  smart and sexy as the shortstop/narrator around whom the action pivoted. But most intriguing was Jesse Williams’s Darren Lemming. I don’t know if the character was modeled on Derek Jeter, but the parallels were obvious: best player, mixed heritage, emotionally distant and just enough attitude to make a Yankee-hater like me dislike him. There was a lot of action, and it all made sense–if you can believe that a team with so little harmony can win a World Series. That’s the team chemistry issue.

Topdog/Underdog – B

My heart sank a bit when I realized I was to spend the next two hours with just these two men–losers, really–on one set where very little was going to happen. Their rapid-fire dialogue and three-card monte dexterity, the theatrical equivalent to the break dancers who had just entertained us in Times Square, made the time pass painlessly and with humor. As for any bigger message, yes, I know that life is unfair and these men had been dealt a bad hand, beyond being Black; but I had a hard time empathizing with characters whose life choices relied on conning strangers and shoplifting. After a lot of mundane badinage, the finale exploded unconvincingly around two dramatic, but unlikely, actions. The comparisons with Downstate all favor the latter.

Downstate – A

Everything we hope to find in the theater, as most commonly found Off-Broadway: thought-provoking subject, great ensemble acting, honest dialogue, gripping story and tragic, but not sad, ending. The subject was how the American justice system treats convicted sex offenders: it presented the raw deal they get, while acknowledging the pain they cause. But regardless of the subject, the play’s strength was the ensemble acting of the four offenders forced to share a home: a white man in a wheelchair, a repressed Latino, a sensitive gay Black and a smooth-talking Black hustler. Each was excellent, and their four-way dynamic made the stage of Leopoldstadt seem that much more crowded. Coming off productions in Chicago (Steppenwolf) and London (National Theatre), they were at the top of their game. I loved every minute.