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      ‘40 Acres’ Review: This Land Is Their Land

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      Danielle Deadwyler tussles with cannibals in a disturbing postapocalyptic thriller.“You think bullets grow on trees?” a perturbed Hailey Freeman (Danielle Deadwyler) asks her daughter. Eleven years into a global famine that has rendered farmland the most valuable resource of this near future, Hailey spends her days training her children to ward off the marauding bandits coveting the fertile family land she tirelessly works.The title of R.T. Thorne’s fierce and striking postapocalyptic thriller, “40 Acres,” is, of course, rife with symbolism. The name stems from Gen. William T. Sherman’s Civil War land promise to Black Americans freed from enslavement. Hailey’s lush rural Canadian property, whose familial ownership dates to 1875, is a fulfilled vow that never came to fruition in the United States. Tellingly, those who trespass on Hailey’s farm, such as a band of killers in the film’s gruesome opening skirmish, are exclusively white.To protect the area, Hailey and her Indigenous partner Galen (Michael Greyeyes) — who’s also understandably sensitive to the preciousness of land — rely on their four children. A kindhearted Emanuel (Kataem O’Connor) patrols; a perceptive Raine (Leenah Robinson) serves as a sniper; and the growing sisters Danis (Jaeda LeBlanc) and Cookie (Haile Amare) help where they can. Furthering fortifications include an electrified fence, A.T.V.s for roaming, a cache of guns in a fallout shelter and a network of subterranean tunnels suggesting an underground railroad. During the day they practice marksmanship and hand-to-hand combat, and at dinner, Raine presents a report on “The Proletarian Handbook.”Though Hailey prefers isolationism, new threats emerge testing her desire. Through her CB radio she learns that cannibals have massacred several surrounding farms. Her lone friend, Augusta (Elizabeth Saunders), is also missing. Unbeknown to Hailey, Emanuel, who’s desperate to find romance and others his age, takes in a wounded Dawn (Milcania Diaz-Rojas), who mysteriously appears in search of help.While we learn much about this family during the film’s five chapters, their surrounding world remains obscured. Hailey speaks about a military faction known as “Union,” but they’re never seen. Is a government still in place? Is there an opposition? Though these cannibals are a menacing presence, they also remain nameless and broad. By seeing the army and the cannibals as the same threat, Thorne limits the film’s dramatic potential to mix race with horror and history.Still, there’s a tense beauty to “40 Acres.” Deadwyler’s forceful energy fills the frame; through her rigid stature and her cleareyed speech, she lends power and humor to this lovingly stern mother. Through wide shots and sweeping tracks, the cinematographer Jeremy Benning juxtaposes this heartland’s soft golden hour magic with the hard violence necessary to defend it. A final freakout, taking place in multiple settings, helps to quench the viewer’s pent-up blood thirstiness, while Hailey’s last-act devotion to Emanuel adds warmth to a chilling apocalyptic story.40 AcresRated R for strong bloody violent content and language. Running time: 1 hour 35 minutes. In theaters. More

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      The Best Movies and TV Shows Coming to Disney+, Amazon, Max, AMC+ and More in July

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      A “Jaws” documentary, “Sinners,” “Washington Black” and the low-budget “Monster Island” arrive, and “Foundation” and “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” return.Every month, streaming services add movies and TV shows to their libraries. Here are our picks for some of July’s most promising new titles. (Note: Streaming services occasionally change schedules without giving notice. For more recommendations on what to stream, sign up for our Watching newsletter here.)New to Amazon Prime Video‘Ballard’ Season 1Starts streaming: July 9A spinoff of a spinoff, this cop drama stars Maggie Q as Renée Ballard, a dogged Los Angeles police detective first introduced in Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch novels. Ballard made her TV debut in Season 3 of “Bosch: Legacy,” the follow-up to the popular crime series “Bosch.” In the new show, Ballard is assigned to lead a new team consisting mostly of volunteers and police department reserves, tasked to investigate some of the city’s oldest, coldest cases. As often happens in these situations, sometimes the trail of clues leads to some dangerous places, where the powerful people dwell. The detective has to rely on her wits and determination — along with some occasional help from the now-retired cop Bosch (Titus Welliver), who knows a lot about defying authority.Also arriving:July 2“Heads of State”July 11“One Night in Idaho: The College Murders”July 17“Surf Girls: International”July 21“Justice on Trial” Season 1July 23“Shiny Happy People: A Teenage Holy War”Callum Woodhouse, left, and Dean Fujioka in “Monster Island.”ShudderNew to AMC+‘Monster Island’Starts streaming: July 25Though its title may conjure up images of Godzilla and King Kong, this gritty low-budget monster movie actually features a human-scaled nemesis: a ferocious fish-man known as the Orang Ikan, which resembles the title beastie from “Creature From the Black Lagoon.” Written and directed by Mike Wiluan, “Monster Island” is set during World War II, and has Callum Woodhouse playing a captured British soldier and Dean Fujioka playing a Japanese soldier. When the two are shipwrecked, they have to put aside their prejudices and work together to survive the predator that is stalking them both. Working with little funds and just a few locations — plus one nifty-looking creature costume — Wiluan delivers the kind of intense action and moments of gory horror that genre fans enjoy.Also arriving:July 4“The Luckiest Man in America”July 7“The Madame Blanc Mysteries” Season 4July 11“Push”July 17“The Furry Detectives: Unmasking a Monster”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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      Anatomy of a Comedy Cliché

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      <!–>An early example is from the movie “Punchline,” when Tom Hanks chokes up telling a club audience that he disappointed his father, failing out of medical school:–> <!–>In “Obvious Child,” Jenny Slate stops joking in one set to say she was cheated on. Things get dark:–> <!–>After his jokes are met with awkward silence, Kumail […] More

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      ‘Jurassic World Rebirth’ Review: Wonder, Gone Extinct

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      With its seventh entry, the popular dinosaur franchise is starting to show signs of wear.In the 32 years since dinosaurs started roaming the earth again — that is, since “Jurassic Park” opened in theaters — a list of required ingredients for entries in the franchise has evolved. They always center on scientists and adventurers, usually bickering with one another. There’s always some shadowy billionaire, or billion-dollar corporation, lurking in the background. Kids are always in peril. And of course, there are always dinos.Save for the dinosaurs, this could describe pretty much any summer Hollywood blockbuster. But the “Jurassic” movies — of which the new film, “Jurassic World Rebirth,” is the seventh — have a particularly distinctive quality, something I rarely encounter in big-budget cinema. They’re action-packed and filled with peril, yes. But each movie also gives way, however briefly, to a sense of quiet awe.Cinema is well-suited to provoking wonder. In the art form’s early days, just seeing moving images left viewers astonished (and, in some cases, panicked). It has always felt a little like magic, the experience of watching another world emerge, drawn with lights, through a frame hung on a wall. Adding sound to the experience made it even more amazing, and most cinematic innovations over the past century — everything from Smell-o-Vision to 3-D to 4DX — try to wow the audience even more.Jonathan Bailey and Scarlett Johansson in “Jurassic World Rebirth.”Jasin Boland/Universal Pictures and Amblin EntertainmentBut mainstream movies have often leaned more on spectacle (a shark chomping in the water, superheroes zooming through the air, Tom Cruise hanging off the side of a plane) than awe, which is a quieter thing. Awe makes us feel small, and it feels good. The first “Jurassic Park” movie introduces the dinosaurs in a way that makes the characters, and the audience, stop talking and thinking about anything else and just stare. These giant, stately creatures — the franchise is especially fond of the sort with long, curving necks — are tremendous to behold, and John Williams’s score swells to symphonic heights. Yeah, you know that’s not a real dinosaur. But who cares? You feel small and hushed in the presence of something great, and ancient, and achingly beautiful.Every “Jurassic” movie has repeated this moment, trying to re-evoke in the audience that feeling of awe, with somewhat diminishing returns. But sometimes they still manage it. For instance, the 2022 installment, “Jurassic World: Dominion,” is not a very good movie. But it succeeds on this one specific front by moving the big dinosaur moment to a wintry landscape. Two Brachiosauruses have wandered into a place where loggers are working. They’re being slowly led away from the spot, and the burly men are silently watching. These animals can’t move quickly, but they’re not in a hurry either. Their ancestors were here long before ours, and their bodies carry the memory of a land before time.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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      What to Stream After You’ve Seen ‘F1’

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      Once you’ve spent some time on the track with Brad Pitt, steer your way toward these other suspenseful racing movies and shows.For racing fans, Brad Pitt fans and those in between, the drama “F1” has made its way to theaters. Pitt stars as Sonny Hayes, an aging driver enlisted to save a failing team fronted by a young hot shot (Damson Idris). The fast-paced movie aims for authenticity with help from a notable pro: Lewis Hamilton — the face of Formula One and a seven-time world champion — advised on technical details and has a producer credit. For those who have seen “F1,” and are looking to get their next full-throttle fix, these movies and shows, all available to stream, are worth a spin.‘Grand Prix’ (1966)James Garner in “Grand Prix.”MGMStream it on Watch TCM. Rent or buy it on major platforms.Heralded as the lead car to which all racing films follow, John Frankenheimer’s movie broke ground with its innovative use of vehicle-mounted cameras, jarring real-life footage and quick-jump editing (now a staple in the genre). “Grand Prix” throws viewers into the action with first-person driver perspective; the camera cars reached nearly 200 miles per hour during shoots. The film’s star, James Garner, drove in every race and even caught fire during a filmed crash. Viewers would be forgiven for fast-forwarding through the sleepy love stories to skip right to the action, which earned “Grand Prix” three Oscars in technical categories. This racing-movie primer checks many boxes: speed, glamour, drama and a slick opening sequence in Monaco, F1’s undisputed Valhalla.‘Senna: No Fear. No Limits. No Equal.’ (2011)Ayrton Senna in the documentary “Senna.”Universal PicturesStream it on Netflix.No documentary captures the heart of F1 better than “Senna,” which won two BAFTAs and masterfully weaves the story of Ayrton Senna da Silva, the Brazilian racer who figures prominently on F1’s Mt. Rushmore. Including never-before-seen footage from the Formula One archive, along with personal footage, the doc follows young Ayrton, seemingly born to race, as he relocates to Europe, battles discrimination and later, battles Formula One itself for driver safety. The model-handsome Senna typified the daring nature of F1 as he quickly became unstoppable in the rain, which can debilitate drivers. His three world championship wins made him a one-word brand and put Brazil on the racing map. Sadly, Senna’s determination to keep drivers safe was marked by his own tragic death in a 1994 crash. Poignant and powerful, “Senna” transcends racing as it documents a worldwide icon gone too soon.‘Rush’ (2013)Chris Hemsworth, center, as James Hunt in “Rush.”Jaap Buitendijk/Universal PicturesRent or buy it on major platforms.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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      Lalo Schifrin, 93, Dies; Composer of ‘Mission: Impossible’ and Much More

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      Lalo Schifrin, the Grammy-winning Argentine-born composer who evoked the ticking, ominous suspense of espionage with his indelible theme to the television series “Mission: Impossible” as well as scored movies like “Cool Hand Luke,” “Bullitt” and “Dirty Harry,” died on Thursday in Los Angeles. He was 93.His wife, Donna, said the cause of his death, in a hospital, was complications of pneumonia.Mr. Schifrin had a startlingly diverse career as a composer, arranger and conductor in a wide range of genres — from classical to jazz to Latin to folk to rock to hip-hop to electronic to the ancient music of the Aztecs.He conducted symphony orchestras in London and Vienna, and philharmonic orchestras in Tel Aviv, Paris and Los Angeles. He arranged music for the Three Tenors. He provided what The Washington Post called the music of “rebellious cool” for Paul Newman, Steve McQueen and Clint Eastwood.When Mr. Schifrin won an honorary Academy Award in 2018, it was given to him by Clint Eastwood, a frequent collaborator.Kevin Winter/Getty ImagesBut the prolific Mr. Schifrin, who wrote more than 100 film and television scores, was best known for “Mission: Impossible.” Interpretations of his propulsive theme have also been featured in the eight movies in the “Mission: Impossible” series, starring Tom Cruise, which began in 1996.Like John Williams, whose many compositions for film include the theme from “Jaws,” Mr. Schifrin was a master of creating jittery unease and peril. Both composers worked with a recognizable style and a distinct purpose.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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      ‘Rust’ Crew Members Settle Civil Suit With Producers, Court Papers Show

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      The lawsuit accused the producers of negligence in the fatal shooting of the cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the movie’s set in 2021.Three crew members who worked on the Western movie “Rust” reached a settlement this week in a lawsuit arising from the 2021 fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the film’s set, according to court documents and lawyers.They were seeking compensation from the producers of the movie, including Alec Baldwin as the lead actor and co-producer. The suit accused the film’s producers of negligence and failing to follow industry safety rules, allegations that the producers denied.The full terms of the settlement were not immediately available. Lawyers for the producers did not comment or were not immediately available on Saturday.The three crew members were independent contractors in New Mexico, where “Rust,” which was released last month, was filmed on a set outside Santa Fe. One was a dolly operator responsible for building and operating the apparatus for camera movement; another was the costumer; the third managed all the nonelectric support gear.All three were on the set when Mr. Baldwin positioned an antique-style revolver for the camera on Oct. 21, 2021. Mr. Baldwin had been told that the gun was “cold,” meaning it had no live ammunition.But as he practiced drawing the gun — in a scene in which his character was cornered by the authorities in a small church when he decides to shoot his way out — the revolver went off, discharging a live bullet, which killed Halyna Hutchins, the movie’s cinematographer, and wounded the director Joel Souza.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 Movies and TV Shows Before They Leave Netflix in July

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      A ton of great titles are leaving next month for U.S. subscribers, many of them very soon. Catch them while you can.Several beloved television series are leaving Netflix in the United States this month, so get your binges going. Also departing: an uproarious film version of a classic TV comedy, the prequel to an action movie favorite and the sensational hit movie about a doll and her friends.A ton of the titles this month are leaving on July 1, so we’ve rounded up those at the bottom. But as a result, the list will be a little tighter — and shorter lived — than usual. (Dates reflect the first day titles are unavailable and are subject to change.)‘Insecure’ Seasons 1-5 (July 3)Stream it here.The funny and talented Issa Rae broke out from niche online personality to mainstream juggernaut with this acclaimed and popular HBO comedy series, on which she was co-creator, showrunner and star. Her character (also named Issa) spends the series struggling with her unsatisfying career, continuing romantic woes and roller-coaster relationship with her longtime best friend, Molly (the endlessly entertaining Yvonne Orji). What could have easily been a Black “Sex and the City” is lent nuance, texture and richness by Rae and her writers’ deft intermingling of serious social, sexual and racial themes, turning this half-hour comedy into a pointed portrait of the American Black experience in the late Obama and early Trump eras.‘The Addams Family’ (July 5)Stream it here.Barry Sonnenfeld graduated from being one of the best cinematographers on the scene — he shot such distinctive and stylish efforts as “Raising Arizona” and “When Harry Met Sally” — to one of our quirkiest directors with this hit adaptation of the beloved ’60s television series, itself culled from the cult comic strips of Charles Addams. His whirling cameras, striking angles and rapid-fire pacing prove an ideal match for Addams’s weird world, but this isn’t just an exercise in aesthetics; the casting is the key to bringing these characters to life. Raul Julia and Anjelica Huston find the perfect mixture of cheerful darkness and playful romance as Gomez and Morticia Addams, Christopher Lloyd gives Uncle Fester a delightful innocence, and Christina Ricci found her breakthrough role as the deadpan daughter Wednesday.‘This Is Us’ Seasons 1-6 (July 8)Stream it here.When “This Is Us” debuted in 2016, The New York Times described it as “skillful, shameless tear jerking,” and that description was apt throughout its six-season run. Its creator, Dan Fogelman, borrows its setup from films like “Short Cuts” and “Magnolia”: interwoven stories of seemingly unrelated strangers, bound together by random chance (in this case, four characters who share a date of birth). The show isn’t exactly subtle — the tragedies and troubles come down like the sheets of rain that seems to accompany every emotional moment — but it delivers what it promises, and the stellar cast (including Sterling K. Brown, Justin Hartley, Chrissy Metz, Mandy Moore, Chris Sullivan and Milo Ventimiglia) elevates many of the cornier moments.‘Barbie’ (July 15)Stream it here.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