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      ‘Tina’ Review: A Music Icon Looks Back With Grace

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      The documentary about Tina Turner, who is now in her 80s, is not just a summing up of her life, but a kind of farewell.In 2009, Tina Turner gave her final public performance. After which she did something that only a few mega-famous musicians actually succeed at: she retired. With her second husband, the former record company executive Erwin Bach, she took up a life far from both the country of her birth and the bustle of the music industry, in Zurich.But Turner continues to inspire. In 2019 a Broadway musical based on her life, made with her cooperation, became a hit. Her songs, both in partnership with Ike Turner and solo, are staples of classic radio stations. For this documentary, directed by Dan Lindsay and T.J. Martin, she sat down for a stocktaking interview; this film is not just a summing up but a kind of farewell.Turner’s life was a hard and complicated one. In the 1980s and beyond, the telling of that story became a defining part of her subsequent life. She began in music in the late 1950s as a wide-eyed teenager in St. Louis, admiring the R&B bandleader Ike Turner and hoping to sing for him. He dismissed her again and again, but when a bandmate insisted he listen, Ike was stunned. He initially groomed her in a way that both Tina and former colleagues here describe as “brotherly.” But the short shrift Ike had gotten in the music business fed his paranoia, and once he realized the one-time Anna Mae Bullock could be his ticket to the big time, he took control of Tina in terrifyingly abusive ways.The documentary gives Ike his due as a musical force while also providing a cleareyed portrait of a monster. Tina’s recounting of a suicide attempt is juxtaposed with a clip from a 2000 interview with Ike in which Ike speculates that his then-wife was “upset” about his “womanizing.”Tina Turner fought to keep her name after leaving Ike. And after doing whatever gigs she could get to pull herself out of debt, she forged a solo career bigger than she had possibly ever dreamed. She accomplished this over the resistance of racist record execs and journalists who only ever wanted to ask her about the past. And eventually she found love — not again, she says, but really for the first time — with Bach, who’s also an executive producer of the movie.Because of her autobiography, “I, Tina” (written with Kurt Loder, who is interviewed here) and the feature film “What’s Love Got to Do With It” (starring Angela Bassett, who speaks here with fervor on Tina’s talent and strength), you may believe you know Turner’s tale. And you may be right. It is retold well here, but the most moving portions — and they could bring tears to your eyes — come as Turner, almost 80 at the time of this interview (and as beautiful as she has ever been), wearing a tailored black suit, sits and discusses where she’s at now. “In not forgiving, you suffer,” she reflects. “I had an abusive life … that’s what you got. So you have to accept it.” The grace she shows here is almost overpowering.TinaNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 58 minutes. Watch on HBO platforms beginning March 27. More

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      ‘Francesco’ Review: The Pope, Up Close, but Not That Close

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      The new documentary on Pope Francis is a missed opportunity to demystify elements of the papacy.Discovery+ is billing “Francesco,” a portrait of Pope Francis, as “an unprecedented look at the man behind the cloth.” But while the filmmakers were able to talk to Pope Francis in person, a large portion of the documentary comes from a layer out. The director, Evgeny Afineevsky, includes ample footage of the pope’s public appearances, images of his tweets and interviews with multiple people identified as “longtime friend of Pope Francis.”This approach, focusing on the message and not the messenger, seems consistent with Francis’s modesty, and the film plays like a channel for spreading his ideas on the environment, refugees and religious coexistence. All of that is to the good. But judged strictly as a movie, “Francesco” comes across as shapeless and secondhand — a missed opportunity to present a closer look at the daily work of being pope and perhaps to demystify elements of the papacy.We learn, for instance, that when Francis visited Myanmar in 2017, he did not refer by name to the Rohingya, the Muslim ethnic group persecuted within the country, adhering to the policy of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s government not to use the word (although he did allude to the group, and a Rohingya refugee who met him in Bangladesh says the pope later asked for forgiveness). How are such inherently political decisions made? “Francesco” does not explain.The film is not always glowing. Juan Carlos Cruz, a victim of abuse by a priest in Chile, discusses how hard it was to see the pope dismiss as “slander” accusations that a bishop had covered up the abuse. But the film uses this to illustrate how Francis grew. He met with Cruz and ultimately defrocked the priest.FrancescoNot rated. In English, Spanish, Italian, Armenian and French with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 56 minutes. Watch on Discovery+. More

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      ‘Violation’ Review: The Trauma of Vengeance

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      In this thriller, a woman exacts revenge against those who betrayed her and soon discovers the cost of answering violence with more violence.Vengeful women have long been the backbone of the thriller genre. Though Miriam (Madeleine Sims-Fewer), the protagonist of “Violation,” may wish to follow in those coldblooded footsteps, she can’t stomach her own revenge plot — literally. In one moment, when blood is shed, Miriam vomits for an uninterrupted, 78-second shot, heaving on all fours like a cat. Sims-Fewer, who wrote, directed and produced the film with Dusty Mancinelli, drank a pint of salt water so that she could actually throw up for the scene. Such merciless dedication to realism pervades the film, resulting in a revenge story that is ultimately more unsettling — and more successful — than many of its predecessors.This debut feature from Sims-Fewer and Mancinelli centers on Miriam, a woman on the edge of divorce, as she endures a betrayal by her brother-in-law, Dylan (Jesse LaVercombe). Unable to confide in her estranged husband (Obi Abili) and scorned by her sister (Anna Maguire), Miriam takes catharsis into her own hands. To say exactly what happens between Miriam and her loved ones, or how she seeks justice, would topple this delicate construction, which uses a naturalistic approach to depict unnatural violence.At once dreamy and punishingly real, “Violation” seeks to bring viewers into the world of its unraveling protagonist. The story unfurls in non-chronological order, throwing the viewer into Miriam’s trauma-addled memory. Extreme close-ups both intensify and obscure horrific acts, and the sparse script stretches out dialogue-free scenes, the action only punctuated by breaths or sobs.Exemplary performances further ground the film. The actors share incredible chemistry, lending each relationship history and importance while also making it difficult to love or despise anyone completely. Sims-Fewer is the standout, a quadruple threat whose fearlessness renders a protagonist devolving from a doe-eyed wisecrack to a woman on the verge. She is at her best opposite Maguire, their sisterly dynamic constantly wavering between devotion and competition.Nearly all of the action takes place in the woods of Quebec, adding a primal layer to the naturalism. As predators and prey — spiders and flies, wolves and rabbits — cross these humans’ paths, Miriam struggles up the food chain. Though a lifelong “white knight” to her sister, she is also a bleeding heart, outspoken against hunting. In an early scene, she traps a spider under a glass, despite her husband’s insistence that she kill it. Later, when she ensnares a human predator, that mercy is not a mistake she intends to repeat.Though “Violation” throws one outlandish task into Miriam’s otherwise methodical quest for vengeance, the film marks a commendable achievement for its first-time feature directors. Sims-Fewer and Mancinelli have given their subject matter the focus it deserves, distinguishing themselves as thoughtful, artistic and uncompromising in their shared vision. This female-centered story manages to be gutsy while resisting exploitation — a welcome and nuanced addition to a genre often hobbled by didacticism.ViolationNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 47 minutes. Watch on Shudder. More

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      ‘Shoplifters of the World’ Review: Breaking Up Is Hard to Do

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      Four friends process the breakup of their musical idols, The Smiths, in this gentle tale of teenage self-discovery.“Shoplifters of the World,” a loving gift to superfans of the English band The Smiths, is, we are told at the beginning, “based on true intentions.” I can’t argue with that: Written and directed by Stephen Kijak (who made the fantastic 2008 documentary “Scott Walker: 30 Century Man”), this sweetly nostalgic look at lost boys and lonely girls feels like it comes straight from the heart.It’s the summer of 1987 and four friends in Denver, Colo., have just learned that their favorite band, The Smiths, has broken up. Like their idols, the teens are romantic and earnest, confused and occasionally pretentious. Cleo (Helena Howard), weary of her supermarket checkout job, dreams of escaping to France; Sheila (Elena Kampouris) desperately wants to consummate her relationship with the adamantly celibate Patrick (James Bloor); and Billy (Nick Krause) might be using his imminent Army training as more escape than destination.As the four embark on a night of mournful partying and mild self-discovery, the nonstop Smiths soundtrack is provided by a local radio D.J. (an amusing Joe Manganiello) whose metal marathon has been hijacked at gunpoint by another grieving fan (Ellar Coltrane).“This music is salvation,” he tells the D.J., who will, of course, be grudgingly converted.Shot in 2018 and inspired by a mischievous urban legend, “Shoplifters” is a Smithstopia of song titles, lyric fragments and scraps of band interviews that infest the movie’s dialogue and production design. But even if you can’t tell Morrissey from Macklemore, don’t be put off: This is a tender story of teen ennui that almost anyone can enjoy. Though probably not metalheads.Shoplifters of the WorldNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes. In theaters and available to rent or buy on Google Play, Vudu and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators. Please consult the guidelines outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before watching movies inside theaters. More

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      ‘Senior Moment’ Review: A Romance That Wouldn’t Hurt a Flea

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      This Giorgio Serafini movie takes us to a retirement center, a drag race and the DMV, not to mention a dizzying encounter on public transportation.There are many here among us for whom the prospect of spending 90 minutes in the presence of William Shatner would be unalloyed bliss. The world is a funny place. In any event, for them, “Senior Moment,” a romantic comedy, will be, well, unalloyed bliss.Shatner plays, in the consistently bemused fashion that’s become a hallmark of his performances, a character compelled to go where no man he has played has gone before: the DMV.The “Star Trek” legend here incarnates Victor Martin, a former test pilot living his retirement dream in Palm Springs, tooling around in a silver Porsche. In this vehicle he gives his best friend, Sal (Christopher Lloyd), rides to and from a retirement center. He poses for a photo shoot with the car and a young bikini model (Katrina Bowden) whom he imprudently tries to romance. And he scares the devil out of a cafe owner Caroline (Jean Smart) with the car one night, while drag racing against Pablo (Carlos Miranda), a cheerful low rider.That race gets Victor’s license suspended, and his car impounded. While taking the bus, he meets cute with Caroline, and a more age-appropriate affair begins. In reality, Jean Smart is only 20 years younger than Shatner, while Katrina Bowden is well over 50 years younger. Such is Hollywood.Bowden was a regular on the sitcom “30 Rock.” Lloyd created a beloved character on “Taxi.” Smart, among other things, was a fixture on “Designing Women.” So “Senior Moment” presents actors from four significant and still-well-regarded TV shows in a picture that’s significantly less-well-written than any random episode of any of those shows you could name. Giorgio Serafini’s direction is also uninspired. This is the kind of movie that is usually defended with one word: “harmless.”Senior MomentNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 32 minutes. In theaters and on Apple TV, FandangoNow and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators. Please consult the guidelines outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before watching movies inside theaters. More

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      ‘Nina Wu’ Review: Destruction of Body and Soul

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      An actress loses her mind in this haunting portrait of exploitation in the film industry from the Taiwanese director Midi Z.It’s easy enough to slap the #MeToo label on “Nina Wu” and call it a day. Yes, its titular heroine (a remarkable Wu Ke-Xi, also a co-writer) is an actress brutalized and exploited by a misogynist film industry, and the Taiwanese director, Midi Z, never pulls his punches. Yet this startlingly evocative, complex and confrontational new film is not interested in justice or didacticism.An internet-famous livestreamer living alone in Taipei, Nina lands the lead role in a racy period thriller that will ultimately catapult her career. She warily consents to full-frontal nudity (she is constantly reminded that a true professional wouldn’t mind), and on set she is violently abused by a “mad genius” director hoping to draw out the most realistic performance by any means.“They’re not only destroying my body, but my soul,” repeats our wobbly-eyed ingénue as the story jumps back and forth to her many auditions and takes. It’s a line from the movie-within-the-movie’s script, yet as the tight frame of the camera grips her face and relishes in her tortured emotions like a sadistic voyeur, her performance eventually becomes her truth.Like “Mulholland Drive,” a clear touchstone, “Nina Wu” grows increasingly disjunctive as beguiling, eerily sensual incursions from a jealous rival rattle the actress. At the same time, cinematic illusion is rendered indistinguishable from reality with rug-pulling that feels genuinely shocking.Traumatic experiences, after all, are no less intense because they’re caught on camera.Crucially, Nina is never merely a symbol for the oppression of women, though she is a victim. In her red dress — the one she wears to her final, fateful audition — she’s just another actress, a number, a body. Yet she emerges as fully herself, scars and all, daring you to look away.Nina WuNot rated. In Mandarin, with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 42 minutes. Watch through the Museum of the Moving Image’s virtual cinema. More

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      ‘Nobody’ Review: A Wolf in Wimp’s Clothing

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      Bob Odenkirk plays a family man with a secret past in this slick, shallow thriller.As slick as a blood spill and as single-minded as a meat grinder, “Nobody” hustles us along with a swiftness that blurs the foolishness of its plot and the depravity of its message. A series of cartoonishly rapid cuts introduces Hutch (Bob Odenkirk), a mild-mannered suburban schmuck whose identical days flip past in a haze of chores and a vague desk job. His sighing wife (Connie Nielsen) and teenage son (Gage Munroe) regard him with something close to pity — especially when he balks at attacking two luckless home invaders. His son is fearless; Hutch is frozen.A journey from emasculation to invigoration, “Nobody” harks back to the vigilante dramas of the 1970s and early 80s. Unlike the would-be heroes of those movies, though, Hutch has no real excuse for the savage spree he instigates and perpetuates. (His family is unharmed; what’s wounded is his ego.) Moreover, Hutch is not who he seems, his secret past seemingly known only to his wily father (Christopher Lloyd) and adoptive brother (RZA). So when he boards a bus, splashing its interior in the blood, teeth and tissue of a passel of Russian gangsters, his lethal skills are as unsurprising as his ultimate satiety. He might emerge bruised and battered, but — after seeing him calmly empty the bullets from his gun before the brawl — we know that’s how he likes it: He wants to feel the damage he’s doing.Flashy and cocksure, “Nobody,” written by Derek Kolstad (the narrative engine of the “John Wick” franchise), sprints from one dust up to the next with winking efficiency. However disreputable its hoary thesis — that real masculinity resides in the fists — its director, Ilya Naishuller, knows how to make a film move. And this one races by: The stunts are ultrasmooth, the dialogue glibly economical and Pawel Pogorzelski’s camera is agile and ruthlessly focused. As the bodies mount and Hutch becomes the target of a karaoke-singing Russian mobster (a charismatic Alexey Serebryakov), the movie feebly tries to pardon Hutch’s implacable brutality.“I’m a good man, a family man,” he informs an adversary. But he’s a counterfeit regular guy in a movie that’s openly contemptuous of such men, a sleeping assassin who’s finally free to scratch a long-suppressed itch. (Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme singing “I’ve Gotta Be Me” during his transition is not exactly subtle.) Now, at last, Hutch is alive; more important, now he’s a man.NobodyRated R for guns, knives, explosives and terrible karaoke. Running time: 1 hour 32 minutes. In theaters. Please consult the guidelines outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before watching movies inside theaters. More

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      ‘Bad Trip’ Review: On the Road, Leaking Fluid

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      Two pranksters, and a brace of hidden cameras, travel across country in this jauntily gross comedy.Strictly for devotees of degrading pranks and public humiliation, Kitao Sakurai’s “Bad Trip” — a “Jackass”-style road movie belching clouds of poor taste — follows two hapless dreamers from Florida to New York City.Strapping squalid stunts on the back of a dopey narrative, this hidden-camera Netflix comedy sends Chris (Eric Andre, of the supremely weird “The Eric Andre Show”) and his friend Bud (Lil Rel Howery) on a cross-country quest for romance. Chris has learned that his onetime high-school crush (Michaela Conlin) is working in a Manhattan art gallery, and he plans to declare his still-fervent devotion.Contrasting the starry-eyed innocence of this goal with the pair’s repellent misadventures en route, the screenplay (by Andre, Sakurai and Dan Curry) concentrates on bathing its leads in as many noxious emissions as possible. Fake vomit, urine and gorilla ejaculate squirt across the screen as our heroes horrify the unsuspecting patrons of a cowboy bar and a zoo, exemplifying pranks queasily fixated on orificial and genital abuse. Bud’s wrathful sister (Tiffany Haddish), whose beloved car the two have pinched, might be murderously in pursuit, but she can take her time: Her prey won’t get very far with their penises stuck in a Chinese finger trap.However effortful, the movie’s tricks are more likely to activate your gorge than your funny bone. An end-credits reveal of the hidden cameras to the film’s good-natured dupes has a humorous purity that’s unexpected and appealing — if far too late to mitigate the dreck that has gone before.Bad TripRated R. Did I mention the gorilla ejaculate? Running time: 1 hour 24 minutes. Watch on Netflix. More