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      ‘Harold and the Purple Crayon’ Review: He’s a Big Kid Now

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      Harold is an adult on a quest in this tale based on the beloved children’s book by Crockett Johnson.People have been threatening to make a movie out of the beloved children’s book “Harold and the Purple Crayon” for decades. When a visionary director like Spike Jonze was attached to a live-action screen adaptation of Crockett Johnson’s volume, the movie did sound more promising than threatening. (Jonze later left the project.)In any event, they’ve done it, and now “they” — the writers David Guion and Michael Handelman, and the director Carlos Saldanha — have gone and changed Harold from a cute baby into a cutesy adult. Or rather a child in adult form, played by Zachary Levi, whose Harold has two notes: a plucky grin and a furrowed brow.First, a narrated and animated prologue walks us through how the movie will shrug off the book. Then, the movie plods around awkwardly, trying to leech whatever charm it can from the remaining elements of the original (like that crayon): In Harold’s real-world quest for his “old man” — whose narration is cut off abruptly in the prologue — the old man does, indeed, turn out to be Johnson. (Johnson died in 1975 and his estate presumably and implausibly cooperated with this venture.) Along the way, Harold meets a family in need. There’s a standard-issue single mom (Zooey Deschanel, whose visible exhaustion here is actually a little too credible) and her boy, Mel (Benjamin Bottani), whose life is in need of wonder.This wonder will arrive through a tool of “pure imagination” (they really say that!). That is, Harold’s purple crayon, whose concoctions add some not-insubstantial visual interest to the proceedings. One scene in a department store, in which an actual puma and a too-functional kid’s helicopter ride contribute some anarchic slapstick, is a keeper. But it might have been better still as contrived by Terry Gilliam. Or Edgar Wright. Or Spike Jonze.Harold and the Purple CrayonRated PG for mild action and thematic elements. Running time: 1 hour 32 minutes. In theaters. More

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      ‘Coup!’ Review: Pandemonium in a Pandemic — No, Not That One

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      In this obvious satire set amid the 1918 influenza, a wealthy, muckraking reporter hires a new chef who disrupts the estate’s hierarchy.The cook, a thief, a wife and her lover — in “Coup!,” these familiar players rub shoulders not in an elite eatery, but in a seaside manor.The film, written and directed by Austin Stark and Joseph Schuman, is an energetic satire of pandemic-era bourgeois hypocrisy. Its supposed innovation, though, is to set its quarantine-based rogueries a century before Covid, when another pandemic — the 1918 influenza — spurred familiar waves of business closures, resource shortages and desperate fears of contagion.It is amid these disasters that we meet the liberal journalist Jay (Billy Magnussen), his wife, Julie (Sarah Gadon), and their two children. The family is sheltering from the disease on their island estate, where domestic personnel tend to the cooking, cleaning and nannying. The help treasure their siloed haven, until Floyd Monk (Peter Sarsgaard), a new chef from the mainland, suggests that the staff deserve better working conditions.The movie seeks to pit Jay — a narcissist pretending to report from the ravaged mainland while being cosseted by staff — against Monk, a blue-collar worker. “Coup!” exaggerates the men’s difference by making Monk a swashbuckler (his dangly earrings evoke Captain Jack Sparrow) and Jay a pacifist, vegetarian and out-and-out drip.As Monk lifts the veil enshrouding the estate’s hierarchy, he also emasculates Jay in the eyes of the household. This implication that virility trumps effeteness is, amid an otherwise straightforward comedy, an uncomfortably regressive way to tell the story of how people vie for power in hard times.Coup!Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 38 minutes. In theaters. More

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      Kneecap, Riotous Irish Rappers, Expect Their New Film to Shock

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      Kneecap’s Irish nationalist rap has drawn ire from pro-British politicians and commentators. A new film dramatizing the group’s story looks set to do the same.“He gave me his wallet,” joked D.J. Próvaí, a member of the Belfast-based rap trio Kneecap, to explain why the group trusted the British filmmaker Rich Peppiatt to tell their story.Kneecap’s blending of hip-hop beats with Irish-language rap lyrics championing republican politics — seeking unity for the Ireland’s north and south — has won it fans on both sides of Ireland’s internal border. The group has also drawn wrath from both British and Northern Irish politicians, who have accused it of inciting sectarianism. But this only made the trio a more attractive subject for his first scripted project, Peppiatt said, and “Kneecap” — a riotous fictionalized retelling of the rappers’ origins — comes to U.S. theaters Friday.“They deal with serious subjects in a hysterical way and made headlines for saying things that no one else seemed to be saying,” Peppiatt said in an interview alongside two group members. Last year, Kneecap unveiled a cartoonlike mural in Belfast of a police vehicle on fire, accompanied by an anti-police message in Irish.“They also played the media very well, drawing fire from the media and politicians, but always turning it to their own advantage,” Peppiatt added.A former journalist, Peppiatt resigned from the British tabloid newspaper The Daily Star in 2011 and then made the documentary “One Rogue Reporter” about unscrupulous newspaper editors. In the Kneecap lads, he found kindred rebellious spirits, and they were reassured by Peppiatt’s own turbulent experience with the news media.In the feature film “Kneecap,” the trio play fictionalized versions of themselves.Ryan Kernaghan/Sony Pictures ClassicsWe 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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      Here’s Why ‘The Matrix’ Is More Relevant Than Ever 25 Years Later

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      One scene reflects the themes — A.I., fake news, transgender lives and Gen X — that make the film a classic.Neo, the hero of “The Matrix,” is sure he lives in 1999. He has a green-hued cathode-ray-tube computer screen and a dot-matrix printer. His city has working phone booths.But he’s wrong: He lives in the future (2199, to be exact). Neo’s world is a simulation — a fake-out version of the late 20th century, created by 21st-century artificial intelligences to enslave humanity.When we first saw Neo, though, it really was 1999. The idea of A.I. feeding on human brains and bodies seemed like a thought experiment. But the movie’s warnings about A.I. — and everything else — have sharpened over time, which explains why it’s been harnessed by all kinds of people in the years since: philosophers, pastors, techno-boosters and techno-doomers, the alt-right. Judged solely on cultural relevance, “The Matrix” might be the most consequential release of 1999.The genius of the movie — what makes it incredibly rewatchable 25 years later — is that the writer-directors Lilly and Lana Wachowski didn’t try to control the meaning. Instead, they seeded symbolism throughout.Look with me at how one introductory scene manages to draw together many thematic threads, explaining why in today’s world of pervasive internet, A.I., fake news and extremism, “The Matrix” feels more relevant than ever.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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      At Sundance Lab, Movie Economics Can’t Be Ignored This Year

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      Funding is a perennial problem for the indie filmmakers who workshop their latest works here. But now Sundance itself is feeling the financial pressure.The storied Sundance Directors Lab has helped develop the early films of Quentin Tarantino and Paul Thomas Anderson, Ryan Coogler and Ava DuVernay. But when this year’s cohort of filmmakers arrived for the intensive workshop, the setting could easily have felt ominous. For the first time, the lab was taking place not at the Sundance Mountain Resort in Utah but in Colorado, at the Stanley Hotel, known more as the inspiration for “The Shining” than for fostering little movies that could.Contrary to the inn that gnawed at Jack Torrance’s sanity, the hotel in Estes Park is actually a thriving operation and as good a place as any to collaborate and create in peace. Yet the behemoth in the Rockies — with its seances, ghost sightings and, yes, a hedge maze — can’t help but seem like a symbol for an especially chilling moment for Sundance and the movie industry at large.This year the Sundance Directors Lab was held at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colo.Jimena Peck for The New York TimesThe advisers gathered twice a day to compare notes. Jimena Peck for The New York TimesFOR MORE THAN FOUR DECADES, the Sundance Film Festival has been a beacon to hungry filmmakers with stories that often proved there were moviegoers beyond those Hollywood courted. The festival remains the bright object that the Sundance Institute presents to the world. But it is the organization’s founder, Robert Redford, and the artist-support programs to which he is committed — for Indigenous filmmakers, for financiers, for producers and others — that have quietly, steadfastly nurtured the young talents so many associate with the festival’s breakout films.Of all the programs, the flagship Directors Lab embodies the Sundance Institute’s long game. Since 1981, a carefully chosen cohort of filmmakers and an equally curated group of veteran advisers, along with small crews and actors, have regularly convened to shoot scenes from the up-and-coming artists’ screenplays.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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      ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Is the Type of of Superhero Movie the Franchise Once Mocked

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      Making fun of schlocky, overwrought superhero movies used to be the Deadpool signature. But with “Deadpool & Wolverine,” and Disney’s push into the Marvel Universe, that thread is lost.Deadpool movies might as well begin with a fun qualifier for audiences: This isn’t a typical superhero movie; in fact, all genres and tropes are ripe for mocking by this foul-mouthed mercenary hero.In the first “Deadpool,” in the midst of a fight that includes decapitation and maiming, Ryan Reynolds’s Deadpool says, “I may be super, but I am no hero. And yeah, technically this is a murder. But some of the best love stories start with a murder. And that’s exactly what this is: a love story.” In the sequel, Deadpool says, “Believe it or not, ‘Deadpool 2’ is a family film. True story,” as he creatively murders a whole warehouse of Russian criminals. Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5” plays in the background.We’ve got a violent superhero movie that’s also a low-key sendup of tender rom-coms, then another violent superhero movie that pokes fun at the loving family film. So what’s “Deadpool & Wolverine”? Nothing as exciting — just another formulaic Marvel Cinematic Universe movie with a saucier rating.This third installment of the Deadpool franchise fails to deliver on that same knowing play with genre. The jokes are mostly about leaning heavily into the rules and standards of the superhero genre as orchestrated by Marvel — a bad omen for the Deadpool brand, formerly of 20th Century Fox before Disney acquired it in 2019.The new movie picks up a thread from the previous one when Deadpool uses a time-travel device to save the love of his life, Vanessa (Morena Baccarin). It’s a blatant deus ex machina, and the film casually undercuts its own emotional arc in order to make meta jokes about whether time travel could have changed the trajectory of Reynolds’s career.“Deadpool & Wolverine” seems to have forgotten its own joke about the earnest use of cheap plot devices like that — it dives headfirst into the commercial wholesomeness, overextended plotlines and shameless fan service that have come to define the majority of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the last few years. In the latest film, Wolverine’s back from the dead (see the end of “Logan” to catch up), thanks to the multiverse, and he and Deadpool team up to keep Deadpool’s timeline from being decimated by the Time Variance Authority (see “Loki” to catch up).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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      Looking for the Best in Black Cinema? Try Brown Sugar.

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      The streaming service highlights some of the finest movies starring, and often directed by, Black artists.As the name-brand streaming services struggle to show profits and broker cable-esque bundling packages to cut costs, the most successful streamers are proving to be niche services, which curate specialized libraries for a specific target audience. We’ve spotlighted several such streamers in this space, most of them focusing on clearly defined genres or sensibilities; this month, we look at a service with an eye on one particular culture.Brown Sugar, which started in 2016, promises on its site “hit movies and TV shows along with the largest collection of classic Black cinema, uncut and commercial-free.” Its library features programming about the Black experience, predominately by Black creators, and aimed primarily at Black audiences (while recognizing that those audiences are seeking all sorts of entertainment). There is a robust selection of Black cinema from the 1970s, the vaunted blaxploitation era, including titles from Ossie Davis, Rudy Ray Moore and Richard Roundtree, as well as cult titles like “The Harder They Come” and “Putney Swope,” and ’80s favorites like “Hollywood Shuffle” and “Beat Street.”That era initially dominated the service’s library, but it has since broadened its offerings to include more contemporary romantic comedies, action thrillers, heartwarming dramas, and historical and true crime documentaries. It’s also cultivated a partnership with Bounce TV that gives viewers access to such long-running and popular shows as the soap opera “Saints & Sinners,” the rags-to-riches sitcom “Family Time” and the barbershop-set comedy “In the Cut.”Subscription is a bargain, running only $3.99 per month (after a one-week free trial) or $42 for a year. Brown Sugar is available on desktop and a variety of streaming devices, including Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire. Image quality varies wildly — some films and shows are Blu-ray quality, but occasional older and less-cared-for titles may well have been mastered from VHS. But it’s worth the risk for the hidden gems the service offers.Here are a few highlights from the current library:Pryor plays an outlaw and Williams a federal agent in Sidney J. Furie’s film.Paramount Pictures‘Hit!’: “Lady Sings the Blues” was one of the first and most successful (critically and commercially) films of ’70s Black cinema; this 1973 effort reunited that film’s director, Sidney J. Furie, with two of its co-stars, Billy Dee Williams and Richard Pryor, this time for an action extravaganza that more resembled “The French Connection” than “Lady.” Williams plays a federal agent who goes after an international drug cartel after his daughter dies of a heroin overdose; Pryor is one of the team of outlaws and outcasts he puts together to get the job done when his superiors veto the mission. The result is fast-paced and funny (thanks primarily to the always-reliable Pryor), and filled with thrilling action beats.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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      Robert Downey Jr. to Return to Marvel as Dr. Doom

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      The actor announced his return to Marvel’s superhero movie franchise five years after ending his long run as Iron Man.Robert Downey Jr. is going from superhero to supervillain.The actor, who entertained audiences as Iron Man for more than a decade in several Hollywood blockbusters, is returning to the Marvel cinematic universe as the villain Victor von Doom in two upcoming movies.“New mask, same task,” Downey announced at a Comic-Con event in San Diego on Saturday, after he unveiled the character’s signature silver mask and green cloak to the roar of a cheering crowd.“What can I tell you?” he said. “I like playing complicated characters.”Downey is set to appear as the character, simply known as Dr. Doom, in “Avengers: Doomsday,” which is expected to be released in May 2026, and “Avengers: Secret Wars” a year later.Downey, 59, has been a prolific actor since the 1980s, portraying characters both serious and comedic.He received Academy Award nominations for his portrayal of the actor Charlie Chaplin in the 1992 film “Chaplin,” and for his role in the 2008 war comedy “Tropic Thunder.”After multiple probation violations stemming from an arrest on drug and weapons charges, he was sentenced to prison in 1999 and overcame a long battle with substance abuse.This year, he won the Academy Award for best supporting actor for his role in “Oppenheimer,” Christopher Nolan’s film about the making of the atomic bomb during World War II. Downey played the titular character’s political rival, Lewis Strauss.But audiences best know him for helping to start an era of blockbuster superhero movies that began in 2008 with the first “Iron Man” movie.He played the charismatic genius-inventor-billionaire-arms dealer Tony Stark, who becomes Iron Man and eventually leads a team of heroes, the Avengers, who protect the world against dark forces.He played the character in sequels and spinoffs including “Iron Man 2,” “Captain America: Civil War” and “Spider-Man: Homecoming.” He last appeared as Iron Man in the 2019 film, “Avengers: Endgame,” in which the character was killed off.And now Downey is going back to the popular superhero realm with Dr. Doom, a megalomaniacal villainous tycoon from the Marvel comic book series “Fantastic Four,” which was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1961.In the series, Dr. Doom wore a threatening silver mask to hide his scarred face.The character was previously played by Julian McMahon in the 2005 film “Fantastic Four” and in the 2007 sequel “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.” A reboot in 2015 featured the actor Toby Kebbell as Dr. Doom.The casting news comes as Marvel Studios, which has been trying to reverse recent box office misses, brought back two of its most popular characters, Deadpool and Wolverine, with the movie “Deadpool & Wolverine.”The movie was expected to sell roughly $205 million in tickets in the United States and Canada over the weekend, box office analysts said on Saturday. More