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      Stream These 12 Titles Before They Leave Netflix in September

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      A lot of great movies and TV shows are leaving for U.S. subscribers this month. Watch them while you can.A wide array of terrific titles are leaving Netflix in the United States in September, including three beloved CW comedies, a movie musical classic, a recent family favorite and two of Eddie Murphy’s best. (Dates indicate the final day a title is available.)‘Beverly Hills Cop’ / ‘Beverly Hills Cop II’ (Sept. 3)Stream ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ here and ‘Beverly Hills Cop II’ here.To supplement the July release of the Netflix original “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F,” the service added the first two outings of the long-running franchise, quintessential examples of the ’80s action-comedy. (They didn’t bother with the much-derided “Beverly Hills Cop III,” to no one’s objection.) The 1984 original introduced Eddie Murphy as Axel Foley, a wisecracking Detroit street cop who invades the tony environs of 90210 to investigate a friend’s murder. The director Martin Brest cleverly mixes hard-hitting action sequences with flashes of character-based comedy, all held aloft by Murphy’s confidence and charisma. The 1987 sequel was directed by the master stylist Tony Scott, so it feels a bit more like a straight-up action picture (albeit a fine one), but Murphy still teases out big laughs where he can find them.‘Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’: Seasons 1-4 (Sept. 5)Stream it here.The best TV comedies are frequently the outgrowth of a singular sensibility, like Larry David’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” Lena Dunham’s “Girls” and Tina Fey’s “30 Rock.” Add to that list this CW series from Rachel Bloom, the star and co-creator, who infuses the formula of the television rom-com with generous volts of manic, theater-kid energy. She stars as Rebecca Bunch, an unhappy Manhattan corporate lawyer who abandons her career to follow an old summer camp crush to California. With its oddball musical numbers, candid depiction of mental illness and winking inversions of romantic conventions, it’s a true, terrific original.‘iZombie’: Seasons 1-5 (Sept. 5)Stream it here.That same year, the CW debuted this wryly funny and thankfully light addition to the seemingly endless canon of undead television entertainment. The charming Rose McIver stars as Liv, a young doctor whose ill-advised ride on a cursed booze cruise turns her into a flesh-eating zombie. She makes the best of it, taking a job at a morgue, where there’s an endless supply of fresh brains — which she soon discovers hold the memories of their deaths, turning the show into an unlikely but enjoyable crime procedural.‘Jane the Virgin’: Seasons 1-5 (Sept. 5)Stream it here.Our CW trifecta concludes with this sparkling and screwy telenovela spoof, which ran on the network from 2014 to 2019. Gina Rodriguez found her breakthrough role as the title character, a waitress and would-be writer who takes a vow of chastity until marriage, then finds herself in a state of near-constant challenge to that vow. Rodriguez is a spark plug, playing Jane with equal emphasis on the heart, mind and libido, while Jennie Snyder Urman, the creator and showrunner, introduces endless and frequently preposterous romantic entanglements without subverting the genuine warmth at the story’s center.‘Bodies Bodies Bodies’ (Sept. 19)Stream it here.The director Halina Reijn assembles a gifted ensemble cast — including Maria Bakalova, Pete Davidson, Lee Pace, Rachel Sennott, Amandla Stenberg and Chase Sui Wonders — in this inspired mash-up of locked-room whodunit and “Spring Breakers”-style party movie. Davidson is a spoiled-rotten trust fund kid who hosts a rager for his friends as they ride out an incoming hurricane, and it’s all fun and games and drunken revelry until guests start turning up dead. Reijn threads a delicate needle here, making her characters flawed but not quite loathsome, and sending up current trends of online activism and halfhearted wokeness without punching down.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ‘Merchant Ivory’ Remembers the Duo Who Resuscitated Costume Dramas

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      In this conventional documentary, the filmmaking pair get their due as forward-thinkers within lush, period settings.“Merchant Ivory” (in theaters; directed by Stephen Soucy), is fairly conventional, as documentaries about filmmakers go.There are contemporary and archival comments from actors and crew members who worked with James Ivory and Ismail Merchant, the celebrated director and producer who formed the production banner that lends the documentary its name. Among other accomplishments, the pair revitalized the costume drama with their lush, complex literary adaptations. In the documentary, clips from their films illustrate and illuminate the stories told by a vibrant array of interviewees. Photographs from sets and from history appear onscreen, the camera softly zooming and panning across them to add movement. Occasional voice-over from Soucy fills in some details. You’ve seen this kind of workmanlike movie before.It also feels a bit flat next to this year’s “Made in England,” a more personal film about another filmmaking duo, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. But the accomplishments of Ivory and Merchant, along with the stories about them, still make this one worth watching. Among those speaking on camera are the costume designers John Bright and Jenny Beavan, whose work on “A Room With a View” won them their first Oscar, in 1987, and the actors Helena Bonham Carter, Emma Thompson and Hugh Grant. Ivory, 96, also talks candidly throughout about his own work and his relationship with Merchant (who died in 2005).“Merchant Ivory” proceeds more or less in chronological order. There’s plenty of rumination on their biggest hits — which includes “A Room With a View,” “The Remains of the Day” and “Howards End” — as well as lesser-known films and the social circle around the pair. Yet within the timeline, it branches out, exploring topics that demonstrate just how forward-thinking Merchant and Ivory were, and how remarkable it is that they managed to make their meticulous, sumptuous movies. There’s a lengthy discussion of Merchant’s almost magical ability to produce films on extremely tight budgets. (Ivory wryly remarks that “you have to be a con man to be a successful film producer.”)More important and radically, the film explores groundbreaking depictions of the inner lives of gay men in several Merchant Ivory films. Similarly, the filmmakers were interested in pulling costume dramas out of fusty, shallow stasis and into rich, emotionally resonant territory.All of this left me with both a renewed appreciation for the innovation of Merchant, Ivory and their collaborators, and a familiar feeling often provoked by biographical films. Like many documentaries of this sort, “Merchant Ivory” opts to be a survey without a thesis — informative, even engaging, but lacking an argument that might drive the documentary itself forward. It’s a choice, to be sure; the aim here is to cram in as much information as possible. But I did find myself wishing that “Merchant Ivory” was made with some of the same outside-the-box craft that its subjects had employed. More

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      What to Know About the Real Story That Inspired ‘The Deliverance’

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      A mother in Indiana claimed that she and her three children were bedeviled by shadowy figures and swarms of black flies — and possessed by demons. A Netflix movie tells their story.“I gotta kill all you,” a young boy, limbs twitching in the throes of demon possession, eyes wild, growls at his mother (played by Andra Day) in the new Lee Daniels horror film, “The Deliverance.”This is after he has recently walked backward up a hospital room wall like a demented Spider-Man after being nearly drowned in a bathtub by his older brother, who is also being targeted by a demon.The film, which chronicles the saga of a family beleaguered by dark forces after moving into a new home, claims to have been inspired by real events, but the wall-scaling and demonic possession are Hollywood embellishments, right?Maybe … not?The seemingly supernatural occurrences, which were chronicled by the journalist Marisa Kwiatkowski in a 2014 Indianapolis Star article, “The Exorcisms of Latoya Ammons,” are portrayed much as Ammons originally described them in “The Deliverance,” streaming on Netflix.Also represented onscreen: The swarms of unkillable black flies she claimed began plaguing her, her three children and her mother after they moved into a rental house in Gary, Ind., in 2011 (the film moves the action to Pittsburgh), and the exorcisms performed by a member of the clergy that Ammons credits with ultimately ending her torment.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      The Highly Deceptive, Deeply Loved, Down-to-Earth Carol Kane

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      Do you hear Carol Kane before you see her? The voice that can go pipsqueak high or deep rasp, wavering at just the right moment? Or do you imagine first the mass of golden curls, which telegraph unruliness while actually framing exactly what she wants you to experience?She modulates that distinctive quaver to match the character, too — “whether it should be lower, or denser, or higher, or an accent,” she said. “I work a lot on that. I get it as specific as I can.”It’s nearly absent in her “Annie Hall” grad student, and filtered through quiet Yiddish in “Hester Street,” the 1975 immigrant drama that earned her an Oscar nomination at 22. It swings from the pinched cadences of Simka, with her invented language on the sitcom “Taxi,” to the brash Lillian, the batty, mouthy New York landlord on “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.”And in her newest film, the Sundance favorite “Between the Temples,” in which Kane stars opposite Jason Schwartzman, she runs the gamut from vulnerable to sharp — a vocal confidence scale that’s not far from how her own real-life lilt changes. “It depends on the second, the moment, the day,” she said, laughing.More than an eccentric character study, Kane, 72, who has been acting professionally for nearly 60 years, is actually a deceptively versatile performer who, through friendship and dedication to craft, is connected to Hollywood’s golden age — but also appeared at a sci-fi convention this month. (She joined the second season of “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” on Paramount+ as an alien engineer with an unplaceable accent — her twist.)There were long stretches when the phone didn’t ring, then periods like now, a late renaissance (Kanaissance) when the superlative parts stack up. What she has learned, Kane said in a recent interview, is that in her career, “one thing does not necessarily lead to another — no matter how well-received or successful. It’s kind of a life lesson in a way.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      With ‘Maria’ Biopic, Angelina Jolie Could Make Her Oscar Comeback

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      “Maria,” about the opera diva Maria Callas, plays to the star’s strengths. Its Venice Film Festival debut was timed so the actress could avoid Brad Pitt.She’s one of the most famous actresses to have ever lived, but how formidable is Angelina Jolie’s filmography?After winning the supporting-actress Oscar for “Girl, Interrupted” (1999), Jolie made a few big hits like “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider” and “Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” as well as a string of movies that remained steadfastly so-so. (Who remembers “Taking Lives,” “Come Away” or “Life or Something Like It”?) Jolie’s most recent movies, the mildly received “Those Who Wish Me Dead” and “Eternals,” were released back in 2021, and her only other Oscar nomination happened ages ago, for Clint Eastwood’s 2008 film “Changeling.”Jolie has said that she takes frequent breaks from acting to spending time with her family, but it’s still been awhile since a movie really leveraged all she has to offer. Perhaps that’s why journalists at the Venice Film Festival on Thursday were quick to herald a career comeback in “Maria,” which stars Jolie as the opera singer Maria Callas: Here, at last, is a project that knows how to take full advantage of her star persona.Directed by Pablo Larraín, “Maria” follows the soprano near the end of her life as she reflects on the pressures of fame, her tortured romance with the wealthy shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis (Haluk Bilginer), and a singing career that began to falter as Callas lost confidence in her voice. It’s a meaty role that lets Jolie switch between strength and tremulous vulnerability with a couple of operatic set pieces that have her singing directly to the camera, all but asking the viewer to marvel at that movie-star face.Musical biopics tend to be catnip for Oscar voters, and at Thursday’s news conference for “Maria,” the first question was whether Jolie suspected she might have a shot at gold when taking on this role. The actress demurred, saying the people she was most eager to please were the opera fans familiar with Callas.“My fear would be to disappoint them,” Jolie said. “Of course, if in my own business there’s response to the work, I’m grateful.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ‘Slingshot’ Review: Trapped in Space

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      The paranoia sets in all too quickly in this spare psychological thriller, starring Laurence Fishburne and Casey Affleck.In space no one can hear you scream, and in “Slingshot,” no one can tell you if you’re losing your mind or not. That’s the spare premise of Mikael Hafstrom’s psychological thriller, a film that attempts to graft tropes of the genre onto the inescapable corners of a spaceship, but can’t find the actual parts to make the transfer.John (Casey Affleck) is on a high-level mission with two other astronauts aiming to slingshot themselves onto Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, in the hopes of harvesting methane as an energy source. Across the long voyage, the crew repeatedly enters hibernation sleep, which begins to fray their sense of reality. John begins seeing his lover on the ship and can’t tell if his other crew mate, Nash (Tomer Capone), is losing it himself as he begins scheming against Captain Franks (Laurence Fishburne).The paranoia sets in all too quickly in this awkwardly paced thriller, and it’s among a handful of defects in a film whose creative process seemed to begin and end with its final twist in mind, haphazardly and unconvincingly working backward to construct what’s necessary to build up to it.Even allowing for its small budget, the film has the look and feel of a cheaply produced cable sci-fi drama, an effect that isn’t helped by its clumsy narrative structure and dialogue, especially in the Hallmark-like romantic flashbacks between John and his lover (Emily Beecham).Affleck and Fishburne do what they can to salvage things, and the final stretch picks up some momentum as it becomes tense between them. But by then, watching them contend with each other is to see two actors as trapped as their characters are in their doomed spacecraft.SlingshotRated R for language and some violent, bloody images. Running time: 1 hour 49 minutes. In theaters. More

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      ‘The Wasp’ Review: A Feminine Face-Off

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      This twisty psycho-thriller, about two childhood friends reunited under eerily ambiguous circumstances, is above all a dramatic showcase for its stars, Naomie Harris and Natalie Dormer.Actual wasps make multiple appearances in “The Wasp” — a twisty psycho-thriller by the director Guillem Morales — but the big sting comes courtesy of Heather (Naomie Harris, “Moonlight”), a housewife on the edge residing in Bath, England.Like with Amy Dunne in “Gone Girl,” there’s a lot going on in Heather’s brain. Why, exactly, does she put a hammer through a wasp’s nest while her husband, Simon (Dominic Allburn), hosts a crucial work dinner in the next room? Why does she message Carla (Natalie Dormer, “Game of Thrones”), her grade school bestie-turned-bully after decades of not speaking?The film’s muted color palette and the eerily glacial camerawork adds to this mood of menace. Clues are scattered throughout, like a flashback to Heather’s childhood when she witnessed Carla kill a pigeon. In another scene, Heather mulls over a notification from her ovulation tracker.Little by little, these mysteries are unpacked by way of an outlandish revenge plot that involves Carla, who now works at a grocery store. The elements of each woman’s identity are played like cards: Heather is Black, wealthy, docile and childless; Carla is white, poor, brutish and expecting her fifth baby. Themes of motherhood, class envy and racial trauma float around somewhat indifferently — there’s not much in terms of social commentary beyond the obvious. Still, the tension between the two women comes across, at times rivetingly, because of Harris and Dormer.Adapted from a stage play, “The Wasp” is above all a dramatic showcase for its two actresses — that most of the action takes place in one setting, Heather’s living room, adds to this thespian powder keg. Otherwise, the film is one aha moment after the next without the sense of humor or smarts to back up its fundamental absurdity.The WaspRated R for sexual assault and violence. Running time: 1 hour 36 minutes. In theaters. More

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      ‘The Deliverance’ Review: The Power of Camp Compels Him

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      Lee Daniels directs Andra Day and Glenn Close in an exorcism tale that includes melodrama along with the scares.The director Lee Daniels frees his actors to exorcise their demons with audacious performances that rank among the most memorable of their careers. (If you’ve yet to see the mischief Nicole Kidman gets up to in “The Paperboy,” you’re in for a hoot.) With “The Deliverance,” a riotously wacky horror flick, Daniels adds actual demons, too, sending his latest troubled heroine, Andra Day, straight over the edge. Day, a Grammy-winning musician, earned a Golden Globe Award and an Oscar nomination for her performance in Daniels’s “The United States vs. Billie Holiday.” Not only can she sing and act — here, she’s an outrageous scream queen.Day plays Ebony, a single mother plagued by bills, alcohol addiction and her own violent temper. Her three glum children — Andre (Anthony B. Jenkins), Nate (Caleb McLaughlin) and Shante (Demi Singleton) — have endured years of abuse even before something wicked in their new home urges the tykes to hurt themselves and each other. Adding to the pressure, Ebony’s born-again, floozy mother, Alberta (Glenn Close), has moved in to recover from cancer (and criticize her daughter’s cooking), while a social worker named Cynthia (Mo’Nique) drops by to monitor the kids’ bruises, and, when pushed out the door, hurls as many nasty quips as she gets. When the spooky business starts, Ebony barely notices. She simply slams the basement door and keeps on trucking.The script by David Coggeshall and Elijah Bynum is a riff on the 2011 case of Latoya Ammons, whose claims that evil spirits had overtaken her family were corroborated by a Department of Child Services case manager, a medic, a police captain and a priest. But “The Deliverance” is driven by Ebony’s struggle to convince anyone to believe her — the pitiless authorities refuse to look past her own flaws. To the audience, however, she deepens into a riveting character study, particularly in one close-up where Ebony agonizes over whether maintaining her truth is worth the terrible personal consequences.Glenn Close in “The Deliverance.”Aaron Ricketts/NetflixWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More