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    How Nicolas Cage Parodies Himself in ‘Massive Talent’

    Tom Gormican, the director of “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent,” narrates a sequence featuring the star and Pedro Pascal.In “Anatomy of a Scene,” we ask directors to reveal the secrets that go into making key scenes in their movies. See new episodes in the series on Fridays. You can also watch our collection of more than 150 videos on YouTube and subscribe to our YouTube channel.Nicolas Cage gets his acting mojo back in this scene from the meta action comedy “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.”Here, Cage, who plays the fictionalized version of himself named Nick Cage, is spending time with a superfan, Javi (Pedro Pascal). Javi has paid Nick to be his guest for his birthday. Reduced to taking such gigs instead of parts in major Hollywood movies, Nick has reached a low point in his career and has decided to give up acting. But Javi won’t allow that, creating a performance exercise with Nick that forces him to showcase his craft.Discussing the sequence, Gormican said that Pascal had a lot of weight on his shoulders. “He had to act like a bad actor as the character,” he said, “but not bad enough that it would yank you out of the scene.” For his part, Cage delved into his screen history to deliver dual levels of self-parody, including a tongue-in-cheek line from “Con Air.”At the scene’s end, the two characters leap from an 85-foot cliff, a moment that Gormican accomplished with two stunt performers who did the leap twice while five cameras were rolling to capture it.Read the “Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent” review.Sign up for the Movies Update newsletter and get a roundup of reviews, news, Critics’ Picks and more. More

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    ‘Polar Bear’ Review: On Thin Ice

    This Disneynature documentary traces one female polar bear’s journey from cub to mother.Catherine Keener narrates and acts as a guiding ursine presence in “Polar Bear,” the latest Disneynature documentary to be released on Disney+, just in time for Earth Day. Directed by Alastair Fothergill and Jeff Wilson, the film recounts a female polar bear’s journey from a cub traveling by her mother and brother’s side to being a mother of her own, navigating the ever-shrinking ice flows and seal population that the bears depend on for their survival.Apart from its flashback storytelling, “Polar Bear” is as straightforward as these family-oriented animal documentaries come, with Keener providing a one-woman personification of the polar bears’ lives. In one scene, as the protagonist wrestles with her brother while their mom hunts a seal, Keener quips, “I wanted to help her, but I was busy.” In another, when the starving family is forced to chow down on seaweed during the lean summer months, Keener voices her distaste of the marine algae like a kid being forced to eat spinach at the dinner table.This can get awkward: Early on, the film establishes male polar bears as a looming threat to its central family, then quickly backtracks when it’s time for our main character to find a mate. But to its credit, “Polar Bear” isn’t just playing in the snow; there’s a very conscious through-line of conservation, highlighting how climate change has negatively affected the Arctic’s ecosystem, and the film ends with a postscript encouraging donations to Polar Bears International.Polar BearRated PG. Running time: 1 hour 23 minutes. Watch on Disney+. More

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    Complaint About Bill Murray Halts Filming of ‘Being Mortal’

    The suspension happened after an allegation of “inappropriate behavior’’ by the actor, a person involved with the production said.A complaint about “inappropriate behavior” by the actor Bill Murray has led Searchlight Pictures to suspend production of “Being Mortal,” a movie that was written and is being directed by Aziz Ansari, according to a person working on the production.Searchlight sent a letter on Wednesday to the cast and crew saying the suspension occurred because of a complaint but provided few further details.“Late last week, we were made aware of a complaint, and we immediately looked into it,” said the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times. “After reviewing the circumstances, it has been decided that production cannot continue at this time.”The letter did not provide any information on the nature of the complaint or who it involved, but the person working on the production, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the details of the matter are being kept confidential, said that the movie was shut down because of what was described only as “inappropriate behavior” by Murray.The episode that prompted the complaint took place on Friday and resulted in a shut down that day, the person said. The production spent Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday conducting an investigation, which resulted in the determination that work on the movie could not resume for the time being.The suspension was reported Thursday by Deadline. Disney, the company that owns Searchlight, and a lawyer who has represented Murray did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday evening.Murray, who is known for an understated, almost deadpan style, joined “Saturday Night Live” in 1977 and went on to star in comedies like “Caddyshack” and “Ghostbusters.” He has become an indie film fixture, appearing in several Wes Anderson movies and in Sofia Coppola’s “Lost in Translation.”Along the way he became a sort of rumpled cultural touchstone, with his visage depicted on art prints, T-shirts and prayer candles and inked as tattoos on the arms and legs of fans. He also surfaced in unexpected real-life moments: reading poetry to construction workers, joining a kickball game on Roosevelt Island and even photobombing a couple’s engagement picture shoot in South Carolina.It has been widely reported that while filming the 2000 movie “Charlie’s Angels,” Murray clashed with the actress Lucy Liu, who told The Los Angeles Times that he had started to “sort of hurl insults” at her, adding that “some of the language was inexcusable and unacceptable.”Murray is the lead in the Searchlight production, which also features Seth Rogen and Keke Palmer. It is based on “Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End,” a nonfiction book by Atul Gawande that includes accounts of his experiences as a doctor and exploration of how doctors and patients deal with terminal illness.Ansari is acting in the movie as well as directing it. He is also producing it along with Youree Henley.Production on the movie began in Los Angeles at the end of March and was to include a 30-day shoot. It is unclear whether Murray will remain in the movie or be replaced, said the person who is familiar with the production.“We are truly grateful to all of you for everything you’ve put into this project,” said the letter sent out by Searchlight. “Please know that we are working with Aziz and Youree in the days ahead to see if we are able to continue at the appropriate time.” More

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    Johnny Depp’s Texts Shown to Jurors in Defamation Case

    Mr. Depp was questioned on the stand by lawyers for his ex-wife Amber Heard, whom he is suing for defamation.Lawyers for Amber Heard worked on Thursday to point out inconsistencies in Johnny Depp’s testimony in the defamation trial between the formerly married actors, presenting text messages sent by Mr. Depp and audio recordings of the couple’s arguments.Ms. Heard has asserted in court papers that Mr. Depp repeatedly assaulted her throughout their marriage, including during a fight in 2015 in which she said he “reeled back” and head-butted her in the face, “bashing” her nose. Mr. Depp has testified that he never struck Ms. Heard during their relationship and accused her of being the aggressor.Mr. Depp said on the stand Thursday that he vehemently disagreed that he had head-butted Ms. Heard that night, saying that he was only trying to restrain her and that it was “not impossible for them to bump.”Confronted with a recording of himself saying, “I head butted you in the forehead,” using an expletive, and “That doesn’t break a nose,” Mr. Depp said he had been trying to placate Ms. Heard by repeating her version of events.“There was not an intentional head butt,” the actor said, “and if you want to have a peaceful conversation with Ms. Heard, you might have to placate just a little bit.”The trial in Fairfax County Circuit Court revolves around an op-ed Ms. Heard wrote in 2018 for The Washington Post in which she said she was a “public figure representing domestic abuse.”But the trial testimony has gone well beyond an analysis of what Ms. Heard wrote. It includes a lengthy review of physical altercations between the actors, the differing accounts they have given about each and an extensive review of Mr. Depp’s use of drugs and alcohol.On Thursday, a lawyer for Ms. Heard, Ben Rottenborn, had Mr. Depp recall how he wrote bloody messages on the wall and other objects after part of his finger was severed in 2015.In his testimony, Mr. Depp affirmed that he had written a message on a mirror with his injured finger that referred to Ms. Heard — then his wife — as “easy Amber” and another, on a lampshade that said, “Good luck and be careful at top.”“I thought it was good advice,” Mr. Depp replied.But what the two sides disagree on is how Mr. Depp’s finger was severed, while the couple were in Australia for the filming of fifth “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie.Mr. Depp has testified that Ms. Heard threw a handle of vodka, which shattered on his hand and severed his finger. In court papers, Ms. Heard has said he severed his own finger when smashing a phone “to smithereens” amid a bout of physical violence against her.Ms. Heard — who is countersuing Mr. Depp for defamation after his former lawyer called her accusations a hoax — has written in court papers that Mr. Depp’s drug and alcohol use was central to the cycle of abuse, writing, “Johnny would become volatile and violent when under the influence of drugs and alcohol, then contrite and apologetic when he would sober up.”Amber Heard has countersued Mr. Depp and is expected to testify later in the trial.Pool photo by Jim Lo ScalzoMr. Depp testified on Tuesday that Ms. Heard’s depiction of his drug and alcohol use was “grossly embellished” and that he was once addicted to an opioid but had successfully detoxed.Parts of the cross-examination from Ms. Heard’s lawyer sought to show that Mr. Depp had misrepresented his drug use.Mr. Rottenborn questioned Mr. Depp about a particular incident in 2014 on which the actor’s account diverges from Ms. Heard’s. She has written in court papers that Mr. Depp had been “drinking heavily” on a private flight and threw objects at her, screamed obscenities and kicked her in the back. He was angry, she said, about a romantic scene she had been filming with the actor James Franco. She said he then locked himself in the plane’s bathroom and passed out, according to court papers.Mr. Depp testified on Wednesday that he had taken opioids and had perhaps had a glass of champagne on that flight, adding that he had locked himself in the bathroom because Ms. Heard had been “actively searching for a way to instigate a fight with me.” Ms. Heard has said in court papers that she has never struck Mr. Depp except in self-defense or in defense of her sister.Johnny Depp’s Libel Case Against Amber HeardCard 1 of 6In the courtroom. More

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    Jimmy Wang Yu, Seminal Figure in Kung Fu Films, Dies at 79

    He changed the nature of Asian martial arts movies, which had been relying on sword fighting and fantasy, by bringing hand-to-hand combat to the fore.Jimmy Wang Yu, who in the 1960s, in movies like “The One-Armed Swordsman,” became the biggest star of Asian martial arts cinema until the emergence of Bruce Lee, died on April 5 in Taipei, Taiwan. He was 79.His daughter Linda Wong announced the death, in a hospital, but did not give the cause. Mr. Yu had reportedly had strokes in 2011 and 2016.As a seminal figure in martial arts, known for bringing hand-to-hand combat into the forefront, Mr. Yu paved the way for stars like Mr. Lee and Jackie Chan who found great success outside Asia. After Mr. Yu’s death, Mr. Chan said on Facebook, “The contributions you’ve made to kung fu movies, and the support and wisdom you’ve given to the younger generations, will always be remembered in the industry.”Mr. Yu worked in the 1960s for the major Hong Kong studio owned by the Shaw brothers, starring in their films “The One-Armed Swordsman” in 1967 and “Golden Swallow” and “The Sword of Swords” in 1968.In that period, Mr. Yu said in a 2014 interview with Easternkicks, a website devoted to Asian cinema, he was frequently in the news for getting into fights, often with police officers.“How did I get popular in Hong Kong?” he said. “I think one reason — it’s because I’m a street fighter.” He added, “I think maybe a lot of people say, ‘I see you fight in the movie, is he really a good fighter or not?’”Mr. Yu, left, played the title role in the hit 1967 Hong Kong movie “The One-Armed Swordsman.” Qiao Qiao played his master’s daughter.Film Society of Lincoln Center“The Chinese Boxer” (1970) — which Mr. Yu directed, and in which he starred as a man who takes revenge on Japanese thugs who have destroyed a Chinese kung fu school — was probably his most influential film. With its focus on hand-to-hand combat rather than the sword fighting and fantasy elements that were then commonplace in Hong Kong action movies, it helped transform the genre.In a 2020 essay on the website of the New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles, Quentin Tarantino, who directed the martial arts films “Kill Bill: Vol. 1” (2003) and “Kill Bill: Vol. 2” (2004), wrote that “The Chinese Boxer” was groundbreaking because it meant that “the hero taking on an entire room full of ruffians, whether it be in a teahouse, casino or dojo, would become as much a staple of the genre as the western barroom brawl or the fast-draw showdown.”“The Chinese Boxer” became a challenge to Mr. Lee, who had been working in Hollywood on “The Green Hornet” and other television series before moving back to Hong Kong, where he had been raised.“Jimmy Wang Yu was the biggest action star in Hong Kong, and Bruce had his sights on him,” Matthew Polly, the author of “Bruce Lee: A Life” (2018), said in a phone interview. “They didn’t like each other and had to be kept out of the same room.”He added, “In a way, Jimmy Wang Yu was responsible for Bruce Lee’s success, because ‘The Chinese Boxer’ established the template for the kung fu movie and Bruce used that as his model for ‘Fist of Fury,’ which is more or less a rip-off of ‘The Chinese Boxer.’” “Fist of Fury,” released in 1972, made Mr. Lee a major star in Hong Kong.Mr. Lee came out with only two more films before he died in 1973. His final movie, “Enter the Dragon” (1973), established him as an international star and secured his popularity to this day.Mr. Yu in the 1975 film “Master of the Flying Guillotine.”Pathfinder PicturesMr. Yu was born Wang Zhengquan on March 28, 1943, in Shanghai and moved with his family to Hong Kong when he was young. Before his movie career began, he was a swimming champion and served in the Chinese Army.After “The Chinese Boxer,” Mr. Yu tried to break his exclusive contract with the Shaw Brothers to make films elsewhere, but they sued him successfully, which effectively got him blacklisted in Hong Kong. He moved to Taiwan, where he resumed his career with Golden Harvest and other studios.In 1975, Mr. Yu starred in “The Man From Hong Kong,” also released in the United States as “The Dragon Flies,” in which he played a respected detective sent to Australia to extradite a dope smuggler.Reviewing “The Dragon Flies” in The Boston Globe, George McKinnon wrote that Chinese studio chiefs’ frantic search to find a successor to Mr. Lee might have ended with Mr. Yu, then 32. “Underneath that impeccable Hong Kong tailoring,” he wrote, “lies a ferocious dragon.” But unlike Mr. Lee and Mr. Chan, Mr. Wu did not become a star in the United States.George Lazenby, who co-starred with Mr. Yu in both “The Dragon Flies” and “International Assassin” (1976), had trained in martial arts for four months in anticipation of making a movie with Mr. Lee. After Mr. Lee died, Mr. Lazenby pivoted to working with Mr. Yu and performed his own stunts.“It was really more stunts than dialogue,” Mr. Lazenby, who is best known for playing James Bond in “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” (1969), said in a phone interview. “Jimmy was a genuine fighter — if he hit you, you’d feel it. You just had to trust that he wouldn’t hit you.”Mr. Yu continued to work regularly until the early 1990s and, after a long hiatus, appeared in four films between 2011 and 2013.Mr. Yu in “Dragon” (2011). After a long hiatus, he appeared in four films between 2011 and 2013.RADiUS-TWCComplete information on survivors was not immediately available.Mr. Yu received lifetime achievement awards from the New York Asian Film Festival in 2014 and the Golden Horse Film Festival in Taiwan in 2019.After Mr. Yu’s death, the Academy Award-winning Taiwanese director Ang Lee told the China News Agency: “For many fans like me, he represents the vibe of a certain era. His films and his heroic spirit will be deeply missed.” More

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    ‘The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent’ Review: Being Nicolas Cage

    Nicolas Cage plays Nick Cage — maybe, kind of, not really — in a comically romantic, buddy-movie thriller that is also an ode to him in all his Caginess.Those eyes, that hair, those choppers and, oh, that purring, whining adenoidal voice, which can change pitch and intensity midsentence (midword!) and often seems a bit stuffed up. To know or, anyway, to watch Nicolas Cage is to love him and sometimes also be confused by him (which is A-OK). He can be a joy and a conundrum, startling and remarkable, but also fantastically, gloriously untethered. Who is this? you sometimes wonder, agog. What is this?In his latest, “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent,” Cage fidgets and swaggers and smiles so broadly he looks ready to swallow the screen whole. He charms and alarms, jumps off a cliff and, drink in hand, walks straight into a swimming pool without breaking stride. (Holding onto the bottle, he sinks and then he drinks.) What’s it about? Does it matter? Does it ever? It’s another Nicolas Cage joint, a romp, a showcase, an eager-to-please ode to him in all his sui generis Caginess. That’s the idea, at any rate. Mostly, though, it is a single joke sustained for 106 minutes, amid many rapid tone shifts, mood swings and set changes.It’s a pretty good joke: Cage plays himself, or rather a variation on a star also named Nick Cage. Wrung out, inching toward bankruptcy, proud yet humbled, and yearning for a role that’s worthy of his self-regard, this avatar looks and sounds like the real deal. Certainly, he resembles the star who, since swiveling heads with “Valley Girl” and Uncle Francis’ “Rumble Fish” back in 1983, has made films both sublime and forgettable, married repeatedly (Elvis’s daughter!), won an Oscar (“Leaving Las Vegas”), whipped up vats of tabloid slobber and accrued a cult following that will giggle at this movie’s every reverent allusion: Not the bees.Nicolas Cage: Hollywood’s Greatest SurrealistFrom bleak dramas and Hollywood blockbusters to quiet character studies and psychedelic horrors, the mercurial actor has made over 100 films.His New Movie: In “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent,” Nicolas Cage plays “himself” — in all his meme-ified glory.Interview: In a conversation with our Talk columnist, the actor discussed his philosophy of acting and his search for the Holy Grail.First Leading Role: The 1983 movie “Valley Girl” started as a cheap exploitation film but managed to become a star vehicle for Cage.Anatomy of a Scene: The director David Gordon Green breaks down a scene from the 2013 film “Joe” in which Cage used a real venomous snake as a prop.There’s a story, way too much of one, crammed into an overstuffed, self-reflexive entertainment that soon finds Cage flying abroad. Paired with a second banana (an amped Pedro Pascal), he embarks on an adventure that — in its vibe, beats and banality — is closer to “National Treasure” than David Lynch’s cold, cruel “Wild at Heart.” There’s also an ex (Sharon Horgan) and a daughter (Lily Sheen), who pop in and out and seem to have been written in because: a) producers know they now need more than one woman in the cast; and b) they want to prove, à la US Weekly, that celebrities are just like us, except for the private jets.“Massive Talent” finds its mojo once Cage and Pascal team up and start trading quips, dodging obstacles and vamping for the audience. It’s very Hope and Crosby loosey-goosey, though sometimes it’s more blotto Snoop and Martha. Cage and Pascal bounce off each other nicely, with Pascal playing the wall to Cage’s ricocheting ball. Tiffany Haddish and Ike Barinholtz show up as spies who dragoon Cage into a covert operation that allows the filmmakers to shift to more commercial terrain and bring out the heavy artillery. That partly explains all the love here for John Woo’s ballistic, balletic “Face/Off,” even if someone forgot the doves.The director Tom Gormican, who wrote the script with Kevin Etten, gets the job done, churning the nonsense. There are no surprises other than the movie is watchable and amusing, though it’s too bad Gormican didn’t let Cage and Pascal just go with the absurdist, shambolic flow. Cage doesn’t need a reason for you to watch him, least of all good material. He’s Nicolas Cage, master of his own universe, maker of strange poetry, breaker of hearts. He can eat a roach, love a pig and inhabit a movie so profoundly that its quality is superfluous. “He’s up there in the air,” Pauline Kael wrote in a review of his freak-fest “Vampire’s Kiss,” “it’s a little dizzying — you’re not quite sure you understand what’s going on.” Amen to that.The Unbearable Weight of Massive TalentRated R for language and gun violence. Running time: 1 hour 46 minutes. In theaters. More

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    ‘The Northman’ Review: Danish Premodern

    Alexander Skarsgard, Anya Taylor-Joy and Nicole Kidman star in Robert Eggers’s bloody Viking revenge saga.“The Northman” tells a very old story — maybe the same old story. A young prince seeks to avenge the murder of his father, the king, whose killer has usurped the throne and married the prince’s mother. That’s “Hamlet,” of course, but Robert Eggers’s new film isn’t another Shakespeare screen adaptation, bristling with Elizabethan eloquence, high-toned acting and complex, uncannily modern psychology.Eggers, who wrote the screenplay with the Icelandic novelist and playwright Sjon, has conjured this bloody saga out of the ancient Scandinavian narratives that supplied Shakespeare’s source material. His raw material, you might say, since “The Northman” insists on the primal, brutal, atavistic dimensions of the tale. Amleth, as he is called, is no student philosopher, temporizing over the nuances of being and nonbeing. He is a berserker, a howling warrior with ripped abs, superhero combat skills and a righteous cause for his endless blood lust.This is what I mean by the same old story. In modern movies, even more than in 17th-century English plays, revenge can seem like the most — maybe the only — credible motive for heroic action. Just ask the Batman. Truth and justice are divisive abstractions, too easily deconstructed or dressed up in gaudy ideological colors. Love is problematic. Payback, in contrast, is clean and inarguable, even if it leaves a mess in its wake.“Avenge father. Save mother. Kill uncle,” young Amleth repeats to himself as he flees the scene of his father’s death. These words propel him into manhood, as he grows from a wide-eyed boy played by Oscar Novak into a cold-eyed marauder played by Alexander Skarsgard.Amleth inhabits a world whose operating principle is cruelty, and Eggers’s accomplishment lies in his fastidious, fanatical rendering of that world, down to its bed linens and cooking utensils. If you’ve ever played Dungeons and Dragons, you may have encountered a dungeon master who took the game very, very seriously, attacking the task of fantasy world-building with excessive scholarly rigor and over-the-top imaginative zeal. That kind of player can be intimidating, but also a lot more fun than the average weekend geek.Eggers is like that. His two previous features — “The Witch” and “The Lighthouse” — unfold in versions of the past that split the difference between authenticity and hallucination. “The Witch” (2016) turns Puritan New England into a feverish, poisoned pastoral landscape of religious mania, unacknowledged lust and literal bedevilment. “The Lighthouse” (2019), set on a windswept island off the North Atlantic coast of America, is a clammy sea chantey about men going mad in close quarters.Driven less by plot than by a succession of intensifying moods, these films dig into historical moments when the boundary between the human and the supernatural felt especially thin. Archaic forms of belief are treated not as quaint superstitions, but as ways of understanding scary or inexplicable facets of experience. The witches and mermaids are as real as anything else.And so it is in “The Northman,” which, like “The Witch,” mines a shadow-shrouded pagan past for images and effects. In the 1600s of the earlier film, older customs and beliefs had been pushed into the margins by Christianity, but in this version of early medieval Northern Europe, that relationship is reversed. Christianity is mentioned in passing as a weird form of worship — “their God is a corpse nailed to a tree,” one character says — in a polytheistic, polyglot society made and unmade by endless conquest, migration and war.As a boy, Amleth lives in a benevolent corner of this world. His father, Aurvandil War-Raven (Ethan Hawke), is a pretty fun dad for a warrior chieftain, turning Amleth’s initiation ceremony into a night of silly, flatulent horseplay. Spiritual guidance is provided by a shamanistic fool (Willem Dafoe) and a spooky seeress (Björk). But nothing can protect Aurvandil from his bastard half brother, Fjolnir (Claes Bang), who kills the king and takes up with his wife, Gudrun (Nicole Kidman).Later, Amleth’s child’s-eye view of what happened will be complicated when he hears Gudrun’s side of things. (Kidman’s sly performance is the most Shakespearean thing about “The Northman.”) First, though, he will join a band of Viking raiders, whose plunder of a town somewhere around Russia provides Amleth — and Eggers — a chance to show off their chops. Literally, in Amleth’s case, as he hacks, stabs and cudgels his way over ramparts and through muddy dooryards and alleyways.Eggers, aided by Jarin Blaschke’s smooth, immersive cinematography, turns the scene into a Hieronymus Bosch painting in motion, a tableau of terror and chaos composed with remorseless clarity. There is something coldblooded in this matter-of-fact depiction of violence. Villagers are herded into a barn, which is sealed up and set ablaze. Rapes, beatings and disembowelments happen in the background or on the edges of the frame, barely noticed by our hero.Skarsgard and Anya Taylor-Joy, whose character, Olga of the Birch Forest, has magical powers that make her a formidable ally.Aidan Monaghan/Focus FeaturesThe purpose of the attack is to capture slaves who will be sorted and shipped off to various customers — including, Amleth learns, to Fjolnir, who has set up a new kingdom in Iceland with Gudrun and their sons. In the company of a captive named Olga of the Birch Forest (Anya Taylor-Joy, who also did some forestry in “The Witch”), Amleth joins the enslaved, smuggling himself across the sea to confront his nemesis at last.We can leave the plot there. It moves in a straight, relentless line, but matters in the Fjolnir-Gudrun household get a little intricate once Amleth and Olga arrive on this scene. Her earth-goddess magical powers make her a formidable ally, though she isn’t only that. The hokeyness of the romance between Skarsgard and Taylor-Joy, from an old-school movie-lover’s point of view, is one of the best parts of “The Northman” — a touch of ultra-blond Hollywood glamour amid the Nordic mumbo-jumbo.Which I totally respect. A recent profile in The New Yorker posited that “The Northman,” which lists several historical consultants in its credits, “might be the most accurate Viking movie ever made.” The evidence for this is in the production design (by Craig Lathrop) and the costumes (by Linda Muir), in the runic chapter titles and in the careful pronunciation of words like “Odin” and “Valhalla.” But fidelity to the past, however obsessive, is ultimately a minor, technical achievement, and “The Northman” is a movie with big — if somewhat obscure — ambitions.Eggers’s brutal, beautiful vision of history compensates, as such visions often do, for the deficiencies of the present. It isn’t that anyone would be happier living Amleth’s life, or those of the nameless slaves and soldiers whose slaughter decorates his adventure. But his reality is built on clear and emphatic moral lines, on coherent (albeit harsh) ideas about honor, power and what gives meaning to life and death.The point is not that you or any other modern person believes in these ideas — though I suppose there are some people who might pretend to — but that the characters are governed by them. Their fates make sense to them, and therefore to us as well. What’s perhaps most impressive about “The Northman” is that it hurtles through 136 minutes of musclebound, shaggy-maned mayhem without a whisper of camp or a wink of irony. Nobody is doing this for fun. Even if, in the end — thank goodness — that’s mostly what it amounts to.The NorthmanRated R. Endless blood lust, and some of the other kind, too. Running time: 2 hours 16 minutes. In theaters. More

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    ‘Stanleyville’ Review: The Most Senseless Game

    This absurdist farce brings together a cast of odd ducks to compete for an S.U.V.The absurdist farce “Stanleyville” begins with the prim-and-proper pink-coated Maria (Susanne Wuest) witnessing a bird fly into an office window. It’s a random event, but one that shakes her. Life, even for a bird, is full of meaningless humiliations. The film attempts to recreate this initial image of futility with human characters, but the movie makes less of an impression than the bird.Soon after witnessing the death by the window, Maria is approached to participate in a contest in which the winner will receive a shiny orange S.U.V. Maria demurs, until, with the eyes of a fanatic, the contest promoter, Homunculus (Julian Richings), promises that her participation will lead to personal transcendence. At this, she accepts.Maria competes with four other contestants, each one a fussy oddity. There is a one-lunged man who wants to become famous, a fitness and pyramid-scheme enthusiast, a neurotic businessman and a black-clad cynic who simply wants to win a car. Homunculus becomes their proctor, presiding over games where the rules seem arbitrary and the judgment appears subjective. As the players compete, the games become more violent and absurd. But Maria, hellbent on achieving her promised enlightenment, remains convinced their competition has philosophical purpose.The director Maxwell McCabe-Lokos has created a purposefully designed film, filled with meticulously color-blocked frames, and characters whose flashy, leopard-print or sports-blazer costumes describe their entire characters. The curious effect of these micromanaged images is to make even the most violent events seem twee. The contest intentionally lacks meaningful rewards, an obvious metaphor for life’s arbitrary stakes. But as cinema, the lack of purpose becomes a test of patience.StanleyvilleNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 28 minutes. In theaters. More