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      ‘Ezra’ Review: This Father Doesn’t Know Best

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      This drama centers on a boy with autism and his divorced dad, with a cast featuring Robert De Niro, Rose Byrne, Whoopi Goldberg and Bobby Cannavale.Success has many fathers, but in the case of Ezra (William A. Fitzgerald), none of them are Max (Bobby Cannavale), his hotheaded divorced dad.A sentimental drama, “Ezra” opens as its titular character, an 11-year-old boy with autism, is expelled from school for disrupting class. Soon after, a pediatrician suggests that Ezra enroll in special education and start taking medication.At this point, concerned parents might consult a second opinion. But Max, a struggling comedian living in New York City with his surly father (Robert De Niro) after his divorce from Jenna (Rose Byrne), makes a more impulsive bid for control: He climbs Jenna’s fire escape, seizes Ezra from bed and brings him on a road trip.As the pair make their way cross-country, the movie gracefully shows how Ezra is the one who ends up steadying Max. Although he exhibits rigid behaviors, Ezra is confident and easygoing, while Max’s aggression, as embodied by the skilled Cannavale, is tinged with pained desperation.Written by Tony Spiridakis and directed by Tony Goldwyn, “Ezra” is standard Hollywood fare. Its mood is often playful, until there’s a hard tug at the heartstrings. Family members reconcile, while tough guys learn life lessons about being generous with their children, and their own inner children. What keeps the story sweet is the chemistry between Cannavale and Fitzgerald, who build a bond worth cherishing.EzraRated R for family drama. Running time: 1 hour 40 minutes. In theaters. More

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      ‘Backspot’ Review: Queer Cheer-Squad Drama

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      This queer high school movie, starring Devery Jacobs and Evan Rachel Wood, channels an after-school special without the coming-out trauma.The nonbinary director, D.W. Waterson, wanted to make the kind of film they wished they had seen growing up in a hockey-obsessed household in Canada. Which may explain why an earnest teen spirit seems to be alive and somersaulting in “Backspot,” a cheer squad tale offering plenty of life lessons.A queer protagonist with pom-poms is not a cinematic first. (Remember the comedy “But I’m a Cheerleader”?) The double full twist with “Backspot” is that the writer, Joanne Sarazen, and Waterson (who edited and scored the film), don’t center the coming-of-age drama in coming-out trauma.From the get-go, Riley (Devery Jacobs of “Reservation Dogs”) and her girlfriend, Amanda (Kudakwashe Rutendo), laugh, canoodle and walk to practice hand in hand. Being queer in high school is not where the movie’s lessons lie.Instead, “Backspot” confronts mental health issues: Riley anxiously pulls out her eyebrows, has panic attacks and aches for the approval of Eileen (Evan Rachel Wood), her new coach. As the Thunderhawks’ trainer, Wood keeps her jawline taut chomping gum. Her implacable expression registers near-constant displeasure with her three eager new recruits: Riley, Amanda and Rachel (Noa DiBerto). After all, the team has only two weeks before the cheerleading championships!Not unlike its protagonist, “Backspot” initially tries too hard to be worthy of the genre in which “Bring It On” still reigns supreme. But something shifts emotionally for the anxious teen, and for the film, when Riley finds Eileen’s assistant coach, Devon (Thomas Antony Olajide) side-gigging as a go-go dancer.Its early execution strains and wobbles some, but “Backspot” sticks its landing.BackspotNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 33 minutes. In theaters. More

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      ‘Handling the Undead’ Review: When the Dead Don’t Die

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      A zombie movie is wrapped in a gentle tale of mourning and love.The yearning to reverse death is baked into human nature, a longing to defeat evil, to set things right, to conquer mortality. In “Handling the Undead,” that desire is the fruit of great love. Who hasn’t, upon losing someone, wished desperately for just one more chance to see them, hold them, tell them how much they mean?“Handling the Undead” has an earnest and simple premise that sounds like enough for a whole thriller: One day, out of nowhere, with little explanation, the dead are reanimated en masse. The film is unconcerned with the global ramifications of this phenomenon; instead, its focus is on three groups of Oslo residents whose lives are upended by the event.There is Mahler (Bjorn Sundquist) and his daughter, Anna (Renate Reinsve), a single mother whose young son died some time ago. The two of them, from the looks of it, have never recovered from the loss — Mahler weeps on his grandson’s grave, while Anna tries to bury her anguish in work. Meanwhile, Tora (Bente Borsum) grieves her partner, Elisabet (Olga Damani), who has died after their long life together. And David (an outstanding Anders Danielsen Lie), an aspiring comic, is shocked when his beloved wife, Eva (Bahar Pars), is killed in a car accident, barely knowing how to keep living with their two teenagers.This is merely the beginning of the story. But what follows is simple, and the director Thea Hvistendahl wisely takes her time getting to any real action. Instead, with a slow-moving camera and plenty of filtered sunlight, she conjures a dreamlike state, the sense of hanging between planes of existence that tends to accompany those who grieve. There are times when the film veers too near the maudlin for comfort, but it always finds its way back to something spare and meaningful. What would you do, the story gently asks, if your fondest and most impossible wish was granted, and you realized it wasn’t at all what you’d hoped it would be? How far does real love go to maintain a connection with those whose time has come?Hvistendahl wrote the screenplay with John Ajvide Lindqvist, the author of the novel on which the movie is based (as well as the quiet vampire story “Let The Right One In”). The drama borrows from zombie movies, but for something distinctly unzombielike. What’s under examination is the strange permeable barrier between life and death, and the way it appears to those who are left behind to deal with the fallout. In exploring it with a hint of mysticism, “Handling the Undead” joins a rich variety of entertainment, like “Fringe,” “The Leftovers,” “The Good Place” and “Six Feet Under.”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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      Which Cannes Films Might Become Oscar Contenders?

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      Films backed by the studio Neon have won Cannes and gone on to Oscar nominations regularly in the last few years. That’s one reason to keep an eye on “Anora.”Last year’s Cannes Film Festival was practically a one-stop shop for Oscar voters, premiering three major films — “Anatomy of a Fall,” “The Zone of Interest” and “Killers of the Flower Moon” — that would go on to be nominated for best picture.Does this year’s crop of Cannes movies have the same juice?At the 77th edition of the festival, which concluded Saturday, Sean Baker’s “Anora” was named the winner of the prestigious Palme d’Or. Three of the last four Palme winners went on to receive a best-picture nomination — “Anatomy of a Fall,” “Triangle of Sadness” and “Parasite” — and all of them, like “Anora,” were distributed by the studio Neon. That’s an astonishing streak that positions “Anora” in the best way possible, lending a veneer of prestige to Baker’s raucous comedy about a Brooklyn stripper who marries into Russian wealth.In 2018, Baker’s “The Florida Project” came awfully close to a best-picture nomination. If voters are more amenable to his indie sensibility this time around, expect robust campaigns for the lead Mikey Madison and for Baker’s script and direction. More of a long shot but equally worthy is supporting actor Mark Eydelshteyn as the live-wire heir our title character weds: Though Oscar voters rarely reward young men, this kid’s a total find, like a Russian Timothée Chalamet.Zoe Saldaña shared the best actress award at Cannes with three other female co-stars of “Emilia Pérez,” which is so much more than a musical.VixensIn a surprise move, the Cannes jury split the best actress award four ways, honoring the main female cast of the talked-about musical “Emilia Pérez.” That means the ensemble member Selena Gomez now has a Cannes trophy that has eluded the likes of Marion Cotillard, though I suspect more fruitful Oscar campaigns would be waged on behalf of the leading lady Zoe Saldaña, who’s never had a more robust role, and especially Karla Sofía Gascón, who could become the first trans actress to be nominated for an Oscar. (The fourth winner was Adriana Paz.)Netflix has picked up “Emilia Pérez” and will certainly give it a significant awards push, though the streamer’s stewardship could have drawbacks. It’s true that this is a hard-to-classify film — equal parts crime drama, trans empowerment narrative and full-blown movie musical — which would have made it a difficult theatrical sell. But some of its more outrageous moments are certain to be memed and mocked as soon as it makes its streaming debut, which could hobble the film’s reputation.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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      Stream These 12 Movies and Shows Before They Leave Netflix in June

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      Mark Wahlberg and Reese Witherspoon when they were kids-ish, Clint Eastwood as a drug mule on the other side of life, and Meryl Streep in “Out of Africa.”One of the most durable shows of the modern television era leaves Netflix in the United States this month, along with an equally long-lasting horror franchise, a handful of enjoyable genre flicks and several Oscar winners and nominees. (Dates indicate the final day a title is available.)‘The Mule’ (June 16)Stream it here.Clint Eastwood starred in (for the first time in six years) and directed this 2018 mash-up of character drama and road movie, based on the true story of a 90-year-old veteran and great-grandfather who became a drug mule. Eastwood’s fictionalized protagonist makes this career shift because of hard times, financially and emotionally; he has lost his business and his family has turned away from him, for good reason. It’s a complicated character, likable and even empathetic while simultaneously amoral, and Eastwood seems to enjoy exploring those contradictions (and how they intersect with his own). The fine supporting cast includes Bradley Cooper, Laurence Fishburne, Andy Garcia, Michael Peña and Dianne Wiest.‘The Imitation Game’ (June 25)Stream it here.Benedict Cumberbatch stars as Alan Turing, the British mathematician and cryptanalyst instrumental in the development of the first computers, in this sharp and well-acted biographical drama from the director Morten Tyldum. Cumberbatch plays Turing as a socially awkward, endlessly brilliant man who has secrets (including his closeted homosexuality). He tells the story of his life in a police interrogation, with particular focus on his time working with the team that broke the Nazi Enigma code; Charles Dance, Matthew Goode and Keira Knightley are among that group, and they tell a compelling story of mile-high stakes and thorny personalities. Cumberbatch was nominated for an Oscar, one of the picture’s eight nominations (its writer Graham Moore won the prize for best adapted screenplay).‘NCIS’: Seasons 1-11 (June 29)Stream it here.This military police procedural drama, still going strong after a staggering 21 seasons, has never been a favorite of critics. Its fans, though, cannot get enough, making it one of the longest-running shows in TV history, while spawning six spinoffs. (It was a slow starter ratings-wise, achieving its immense popularity several years into its run.) The predictability and formulaic nature of such procedurals, the very qualities that turn off some viewers and critics, are what its fans value. You know exactly what you’re going to get in an episode of “NCIS,” and it’s delivered crisply and efficiently, by actors who get the job done without showing off.‘28 Days’ (June 30)Stream it here.Years before winning an Oscar for “The Blind Side,” Sandra Bullock revealed the first hints of her considerable range in this engaging serio-comic drama from the director Betty Thomas (“Private Parts”) and the screenwriter Susannah Grant (“Erin Brockovich”). Bullock stars as a fast-living New York writer whose functional alcoholism is becoming less functional; she checks into a rehabilitation facility only when ordered to do so to avoid jail time for a D.U.I. As Michael Keaton did in 1988’s “Clean and Sober,” Bullock allows the loose formula of the rehab narrative to stretch her acting chops without eschewing the charm and charisma that made her a movie star. It’s a scrappy, alive performance, and Steve Buscemi provides able support as the counselor who has seen it all before.‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ (June 30)Stream it here.With this 1984 exploration of terror, dreams and the American suburbs, Wes Craven created one of the finest horror pictures of the 1980s, and one of its most popular boogeymen, Fred Krueger (Robert Englund). Krueger, a long-dead child murderer, begins invading the dreams of teenagers, resulting in their grisly deaths. Heather Langenkamp is a charismatic protagonist, while Johnny Depp makes a memorable feature film debut as her beau. Several of the film’s numerous sequels (and its ill-advised 2010 remake) also leave Netflix this month; “A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors” is probably the best of the bunch, though the second and fourth installments have their fans.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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      Michelle Buteau Takes the Lead in ‘Babes’ and on Netflix

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      Once relegated to supporting roles, this comedian is a star of the film “Babes” and is moving to a bigger stage, Radio City Music Hall, for her new special.“Oh my God, are we best friends?” the comedian Michelle Buteau said, 27 seconds into meeting me.Honestly, it was a joke that felt like it could ricochet into reality. It didn’t. But that is the power of Buteau’s ebullient charisma, which telegraphs to audiences that her preternatural comic rhythm and dolled-up, side-eye style of delivery are in service of being a warmhearted bestie. To her TV, film, podcast and stand-up fans, she’s a moral center with a blue streak. “I truly, sincerely care,” she said, “about these bitches.”The B-word is one that Buteau and her friend and co-star in the new comedy “Babes,” Ilana Glazer, roll and dice into multiple syllables and meanings, in a sisterhood built on tell-it-like-it-is endearments, unfiltered but uplifting, like Buteau’s comedy.In “Babes,” which was directed by Pamela Adlon, Buteau plays an exhausted working mother of two young children, reconfiguring her life minute by minute, task by task, to accommodate her career, her family, her partner and her friendships. Also the occasional hallucinogenic trip and breast pump-destroying dance party.In real life, Buteau does that (or most of it), and is both cleareyed and funny about it: “Every day feels like a panic room — I’m just searching for the next clue.” Having 5-year-old twins with her Dutch husband, a house in the Bronx, some dogs and an ascending, multistrand career is undeniably a lot; the movie reflects that, too. “There’s no such thing as balance,” she said, during a recent lunch interview. “You do what you can, when you can.”Buteau, opposite Ilana Glazer in “Babes,” is “just a perfect comedy machine,” said the film’s director, Pamela Adlon.Gwen Capistran/Neon, via Associated PressIn the last five years, Buteau, 46, has made the leap from a 20-year stalwart of the New York comedy scene to a headliner and the star of her own scripted Netflix series, “Survival of the Thickest,” loosely based on her 2020 essay collection of the same name, and heading toward its second season. With “Babes,” now in wide release, she also moves up from the BFF and assistants she played in Ali Wong’s “Always Be My Maybe” and Jennifer Lopez’s “Marry Me,” to a lead: the movie is centered on the friendship between Glazer and Buteau’s characters. It arrives as Buteau is preparing to film her second hourlong Netflix special, “Full Heart, Tight Jeans,” on June 6 at Radio City Music Hall.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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      Hundreds of Readers Told Us Their Favorite Soundtracks. Which Came Out on Top?

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      Music that accompanied movies from the 1980s and ’90s dominated the recommendations, though sometimes the films themselves were beside the point.Are soundtracks making a comeback? The idea of a movie-related compilation of choice tunes that add up to a distinct vibe seemed to go out of fashion after the early 2000s, when the music for “Garden State” was such an event. But films like “Barbie” and “I Saw the TV Glow” may indicate that some directors are thinking in terms of the soundtrack again. That prompted me to ask Times readers about their favorite film albums, and hundreds responded with heartfelt stories, funny memories and recollections of life-changing moments.Movies from the 1980s and ’90s tended to dominate, with the Motown sounds of “The Big Chill” and the ’90s grunge of “Singles” among the most popular submissions, along with the reggae stars of “The Harder They Come” from 1972. Movies from the 1950s and ’60s had fans, too, with the music more likely to be scores (orchestral compositions made specifically for the film) or Broadway imports. The Coppola family made a strong showing, with Francis Ford, Sofia and her cousin Nicolas Cage all name-checked repeatedly. But other genres and artists we expected to hear about, like hip-hop and the Beatles (and “Garden State” for that matter), weren’t mentioned much.Some readers confessed to never having seen the film whose soundtrack they love; others even reported disliking it. No matter what they thought about the movie, however — including nothing — they were passionate about the music.Finally, a shout-out to Carole Barrowman of Wauwatosa, Wis., for introducing me to “Bellbottoms” by the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, from “Baby Driver.” It’s playing as I write this.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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      Richard Sherman, Songwriter of Many Spoonfuls of Sugar, Dies at 95

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      He and his brother, Robert, teamed up to write the songs for “Mary Poppins” and other Disney classics. They also gave the world “It’s a Small World (After All).”Richard M. Sherman, the younger brother in a songwriting team that won two Oscars and two Grammys, brought Disney movies to musical life and gave the world numbers like “A Spoonful of Sugar,” “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” and the ubiquitous, multiply translated “It’s a Small World (After All),” died on Saturday in Los Angeles. He was 95.The death, in a hospital, was announced by the Walt Disney Company.The careers of the Shermans — Richard and Robert — were inextricably linked with Walt Disney. Their Academy Awards were for “Chim Chim Cher-ee,” a chimney sweep’s alternately cheerful and plaintive anthem from “Mary Poppins” (1964), and for the film’s score. Their Grammy Awards were for “Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too,” shared in 1975 for best recording for children, and the “Mary Poppins” score.“It’s a Small World” was written for the Disney theme-park ride of the same name. The song plays as guests in boats pass among 240 dolls of many nations with identical faces — tiny can-can and folk dancers, mermaids and mariachi bands — plus Big Ben, the Taj Mahal and grinning farm animals.“People want to kiss us or kill us,” Richard Sherman said in a 2011 video interview about the song, which he said was “the biggest hit of the World’s Fair,” where it was introduced in 1964.The Shermans brought a musical-theater sensibility to movie songwriting. The question was never which came first, the music or the words; what came first was the idea.The framework of “Mary Poppins” did not exist until the Shermans got their hands on P.L. Travers’s beloved books about a magical nanny, a series of adventures in 1930s London with no discernible conflict or resolution. In the movie, the problem is the children’s behavior, brought on by a neglectful father. It also seemed like bad taste to employ live-in servants during hard economic times, so they moved the Banks family to the Edwardian era.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