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Movie guide for Aug. 31: 'Searching,' 'Little Stranger' and more reviews

Movies in theaters the week of Aug. 31

Ratings guide: Four stars: superior. Three stars: good. Two stars: average. One star: poor. D (drug use), L (language), N (nudity), S (sexual situations, references), V (violence). Ratings by Film Critic Dann Gire, unless otherwise noted.

Picks

“Ant-Man and the Wasp” — Scott Lang/Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) agrees to help Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), aka The Wasp, and Dr. Hank Pym (a hilariously curmudgeonly Michael Douglas) rescue his wife (Michelle Pfeiffer) from the Quantum Realm in the nuttiest, most ridiculous and best-executed superhero comedy in the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. (PG-13) V. 118 minutes. ★ ★ ★ ½#8220;BlacKkKlansman#8221; #8212; Spike Lee's spot-on, politically prescient serio-comedy stars an affable but edgeless John David Washington as a real-life black Colorado Springs cop who infiltrates the local Ku Klux Klan, with the help of a Jewish cop played by Adam Driver. The result is Lee's most accessible, impassioned and go-for-broke work since #8220;Do the Right Thing.#8221; (R) L, S, V. 88 minutes. #9733; #9733; #9733;#9733;#8220;The Bookshop#8221; #8212; This quiet drama tells the gently bittersweet tale of a widow whose dream is to open a bookstore. But mostly, it's a pretext to watch three great actors #8212; Emily Mortimer, Patricia Clarkson and Bill Nighy #8212; do their thing. Reviewed by Michael O'Sullivan. (PG) 113 minutes. #9733; #9733; #9733;#8220;Christopher Robin#8221; #8212; Ewan McGregor stars as the title character in a beautifully composed but unsurprisingly conventional fantasy in which Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore and the rest of the Hundred Acre Wood gang set out to save their now grown-up human friend from a bad case of acute adulthood. (PG) 104 minutes. #9733; #9733; #9733;#8220;Crazy Rich Asians#8221; #8212; An economics professor from China (Henry Golding) brings his girlfriend (Constance Wu) to Singapore for a friend's wedding and to meet his parents. She's shocked to find out they're multimillionaires. The hotly anticipated rom-com, featuring an all-Asian cast, does not disappoint. Reviewed by Ann Hornaday, Washington Post. (PG-13) L. 121 minutes. #9733; #9733; #9733;#8220;Incredibles 2#8221; #8212; Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson), Elastigirl (Holly Hunter) and their kids face discrimination, role reversals and a menacing new villain in Brad Bird's action-packed animated sequel. It's smart, witty and engaging #8212; if not as sleek as the original. (PG) 112 minutes. #9733; #9733; #9733;#8220;Juliet, Naked#8221; #8212; A reclusive musician (Ethan Hawke) connects with the girlfriend (Rose Bryne) of an obsessive fan (Chris O'Dowd) in a sweet, smart rom-com about human connection and the capacity for hope. Reviewed by Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post. (R) L. 98 minutes. #9733; #9733; #9733;#8220;The Little Stranger#8221; #8212; A country doctor (Domhnall Gleeson) ingratiates himself with a family in a mysterious English mansion. Soon, however, everyone living there begins to worry they might be going mad in Lenny Abrahamson's character-driven psychological thriller. Reviewed by Alan Zilberman, Washington Post. (R) V. 111 minutes. #9733; #9733; #9733; #9733;#8220;Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again#8221; #8212; The incandescent Lily James plays a younger Donna (Meryl Streep) during an eventful summer where she meets (and sleeps with) the three men who could be the father of her daughter (Amanda Seyfried). It's a ridiculous yet fun romp soundtracked by ABBA. Reviewed by Lindsey Bahr, Associated Press. (PG-13) S. 114 minutes. #9733; #9733; #9733;#8220;Mission: Impossible #8212; Fallout#8221; #8212; Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and the Impossible Missions Force must recover three stolen plutonium cores that an arms dealer and a terrorist group intend to use to target the world's holiest of places. Cruise blows way past James Bond for sheer athleticism and astonishing stunts in this tightly wound thriller. (PG-13) L, V. 147 minutes. #9733; #9733; #9733; frac12;#8220;Puzzle#8221; #8212; Scottish actress Kelly Macdonald brings quiet radiance and sly humor to her role as a Connecticut homemaker who discovers a talent for jigsaw puzzles and enters a tournament with an idiosyncratic man, played with seductive fun by Irrfan Khan. Reviewed by Ann Hornaday, Washington Post. (R) L. 102 minutes. #9733; #9733; #9733;#8220;Searching#8221; #8212; John Cho stars as a desperate father who uses his daughter's computer to search for the missing teen, discovering along the way how little he knew her. Aneesh Chaganty's timely thriller unfolds largely through a single computer screen and depicts how cruel people can be on the web. (PG-13) D, L, S. 102 minutes. #9733; #9733; #9733;#8220;Sorry to Bother You#8221; #8212; Boots Riley's bold first film is a challenging statement about race and capitalism wrapped in magical realism. A young black man (the wonderful Lakeith Stanfield) bluffs his way into a telemarketing job and gets ahead by adopting a #8220;white voice#8221; and turning a blind eye to slave labor, among other things. Reviewed by Lindsey Bahr, Associated Press. (R) D, L, N, S. 105 minutes. #9733; #9733; #9733;#8220;Teen Titans GO! to the Movies#8221; #8212; The animated adventure, based on the manic and underrated Cartoon Network show, gleefully skewers the world of superheroes and the film industry itself. The Teen Titans want their own superhero franchise, so they band together to force Hollywood to take them seriously. Reviewed by Mark Kennedy, Associated Press. (PG) 88 minutes. #9733; #9733; #9733;#8220;The Wife#8221; #8212; Bjorn Runge's sublimely wrought drama captures the complex and contradictory nuances that accompany long-term marriages. Glenn Close stars as the wife of a celebrated author, creating a subtle, astonishing performance worthy of an Oscar nomination. (R) L, S. 100 minutes. #9733; #9733; #9733; frac12;Passables#8220;Alpha#8221; #8212; Sheer spectacle dominates Albert Hughes' ambitious and flawed prehistoric adventure about the pivotal moment when a man first domesticates a wolf, paving the way for lupines to earn their canine status and work toward the coveted title #8220;Man's Best Friend.#8221; With Kodi Smit-McPhee. (PG-13) V. 97 minutes. #9733; #9733; frac12;#8220;Arizona#8221; #8212; A disgruntled homeowner (Danny McBride) takes a real estate agent (Rosemarie DeWitt) hostage in a bleakly black and blood-red horror-comedy. Not rated; contains coarse language, violence. 85 minutes. #9733; #9733;#8220;Dog Days#8221; #8212; This galumphing comedy #8212; starring Nina Dobrev, Vanessa Hudgens, Finn Wolfhard, Eva Longoria and more #8212; crossbreeds romantic cliches with cute canines and inspired bits of offbeat humor. As a mutt, it possesses a certain scruffy charm. Reviewed by Jane Horwitz, Washington Post. (PG) L, D. 118 minutes. #9733; #9733; frac12;#8220;The Equalizer 2#8221; #8212; Denzel Washington easily steps back into his role as a lethal weapon in the violent vigilante sequel to #8220;The Equalizer.#8221; Too bad the film lacks witty dialogue and a coherent plot. (R) D, L, V. 129 minutes. #9733; #9733;#8220;Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom#8221; #8212; In the hands of new director J.A. Bayona, with Chris Pratt's charisma on full blast, the sequel offers an enjoyable, preposterous romp. The plot kicks off with an attempt to rescue the remaining dinosaurs as a volcano threatens to wipe out the island. Reviewed by Lindsey Bahr, Associated Press. (PG-13) V. 128 minutes. #9733; #9733; frac12;#8220;The Meg#8221; #8212; Jason Statham stars as a tough-guy deep sea diver in Jon Turteltaub's formula but commercially attractive creature feature about a prehistoric giant shark that turns everything in the ocean into appetizers. (PG-13) L, V. 114 minutes. #9733; #9733; frac12;#8220;Operation Finale#8221; #8212; Ben Kingsley paints a chilling portrait of Adolf Eichmann in Chris Weitz's post-WWII wannabe thriller about Israeli agents abducting the former Nazi administrator and forcing him to stand trial for his war crimes during the Holocaust. With Oscar Isaac and Nick Kroll. (PG-13) L, V. 109 minutes. #9733; #9733; frac12;#8220;Papillon#8221; #8212; Charlie Hunnam and Rami Malek star in the fact-based tale of French safecracker Henri Charrière, framed for murder and sentenced to a penal colony in South America. Michael Noer's brutal prison drama, however, suffers from comparisons to the 1973 original, which starred Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman. (R) L, N, S, V. 136 minutes. #9733; #9733; frac12;#8220;Skyscraper#8221; #8212; Dwayne Johnson defies the laws of physics and the limits of human endurance as a security consultant trying to saving his family from a burning skyscraper targeted by terrorists in Rawson Marshall Thurber's engaging but ridiculous and derivative disaster film. (PG-13) L, V. 103 minutes. #9733; #9733; frac12;#8220;The Spy Who Dumped Me#8221; #8212; A store clerk (Mila Kunis) and her over-the-top BFF (the wonderful Kate McKinnon) get caught up with spies and must deliver an important USB drive to Vienna in a comic buddy movie that has trouble balancing bloody action scenes and screwball comedy. Reviewed by Jocelyn Noveck, Associated Press. (R) L, N, S, V. 116 minutes. #9733; #9733; frac12;Pits#8220;The Happytime Murders#8221; #8212; Cute and coarse clash badly in this adult-themed film noir with felt from Brian Henson, son of Jim. A puppet private eye and his ex-partner (Plainfield's Melissa McCarthy) investigate a series of murders in a film that seeks laughs from puppets snorting glitter and searching for porn. Reviewed by Jake Coyle, Associated Press. (R) D, L, S. 91 minutes. #9733;#8220;Kin#8221; #8212; A shy 14-year-old (Myles Truitt) stumbles on an alien gun while on the run with his ex-con brother in an inept and erratic sci-fi thriller that somehow managed to attract a decent cast that includes James Franco, Zoe Kravitz and Dennis Quaid. Reviewed by Jake Coyle, Associated Press. (PG-13) D, L, S, V. 102 minutes. #9733; frac12;#8220;Mile 22#8221; #8212; Mark Wahlberg stars as a CIA operative who must cross 22 dangerous miles to deliver an important foreign intelligence agent in this ultimately confusing and utterly disorienting film. Reviewed by Lindsey Bahr, Associated Press. (R) L, V. 90 minutes.#9733; frac12;Unpreviewed#8220;A.X.L#8221; #8212; A young outsider bonds with a robotic dog he finds in the desert. Together, they must protect each other from the military scientists looking for their top-secret creation. (PG) 98 minutes.#8220;Beautifully Broken#8221; #8212; Three fathers learn important lessons as they fight for their families. (PG-13) V. 108 minutes.#8220;Death of a Nation#8221; #8212; Dinesh D'Souza's documentary draws parallels between Donald Trump and Abraham Lincoln and equates American liberals with Nazis. (PG-13) D, L, V. 109 minutes.#8220;Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation#8221; #8212; The animated monsters set sail on a cruise ship, where Dracula falls for a mysterious captain. (PG) 97 minutes.#8220;Slender Man#8221; #8212; In a small Massachusetts town, a group of friends attempt to prove that Slender Man, of internet lore fame, doesn't exist #8230; until one of them goes missing. (PG-13) L, S. 93 minutes.#8220;Three Identical Strangers#8221; #8212; A coincidence reunites identical triplets, separated at birth. But, as this documentary shows, the reunion unveiled a terrible secret. (PG-13) for thematic material. 96 minutes.Foreign language#8220;Geetha Govindam#8221; #8212; In Telugu.#8220;Gold#8221; #8212; In Hindi.#8220;Jawani Phir Nahi Ani 2#8221; #8212; In Urdu.#8220;Mar Gaye Oye Loko#8221; #8212; In Punjabi. #8220;Narthanasala#8221; #8212; In Telugu.#8220;Parwaaz Hai Junoon#8221; #8212; In Urdu. #8220;Stree#8221; #8212; In Hindi.#8220;Ya Veremos#8221; #8212; In Spanish.#8220;Yamla Pagla Deewana Phir Se#8221; #8212; In Hindi.

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