Movies

Movie Listings for June 19-25

Al Pacino in a scene from "Devil's Advocate," part of the "Bad Dads" film series at Lincoln Center. See listing below.
Murray Close / Monarchy, Warner Bros, via The Kobal Collection

Ratings and running times are in parentheses; foreign films have English subtitles. Full reviews of all current releases: nytimes.com/movies.

‘Aloha’ (PG-13, 1:45) Cameron Crowe’s latest film, set among military officers and contractors in Hawaii, is a mess. A romantic comedy (starring Bradley Cooper and Emma Stone) trips over a bittersweet breakup drama (starring Mr. Cooper and Rachel McAdams) and collides with a dizzy satire about corporate power and the weaponization of space. But amid the frustration and confusion, there are sparks of Mr. Crowe’s wit and humanity, and moments of sweetness and delight. (A. O. Scott)

‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ (PG-13, 2:21) For Marvel agnostics, the single most interesting thing about this sequel is that you can sense that the director, Joss Whedon, having helped build a universal earnings machine with the first “Avengers,” has struggled mightily to invest this one with some life. He has and he hasn’t. (Manohla Dargis)

‘Chagall-Malevich’ (No rating, 1:57) Set primarily during the Russian Revolution and aftermath, Alexander Mitta’s literally colorful film centers on the painter Marc Chagall and fictionalizes his real-life efforts to establish an artistic bulwark amid ideological ferment. There are fervid ideals aplenty courtesy of Chagall and his contemporary, Kazimir Malevich, but the movie’s also written about as subtly as a radical manifesto. (Nicolas Rapold)

‘Entourage’ (R, 1:44) Naw, bro. (Scott)

★ ‘Ex Machina’ (R, 1:50) Alex Garland’s slyly spooky futuristic shocker about old and new desires turns on the relationships that bind together a robot called Ava; (a terrific Alicia Vikander), the software zillionaire who created her (Oscar Isaac, wonderful); and a visitor (Domhnall Gleeson) who’s seriously out of his depth. (Dargis)

‘Far From the Madding Crowd’ (PG-13, 2:00) In this brisk adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s novel, Carey Mulligan plays Bathsheba Everdene, whose efforts to manage the farm she has inherited are interrupted by the attention of three very different suitors: her stodgy neighbor (Michael Sheen), a dissolute soldier (Tom Sturridge) and a salt-of-the-earth shepherd (Matthias Schoenaerts). (Scott)

‘Furious 7’ (PG-13, 2:09) Vin Diesel and Paul Walker. Michelle Rodriguez and Ludacris. Flying cars and flying fists. Eye candy and blood vengeance. Speed and heart. Everything you could want. (Scott)

‘Gemma Bovery’ (R, 1:39) Don’t expect “Gemma Bovery,” Anne Fontaine’s contemporary riff on Flaubert, to shed any new light on the author’s most famous character. This version of the 19th-century masterwork, adapted from a graphic novel by Posy Simmonds, is only a platform for a frothy modern sex comedy, much of which takes place in the prurient imagination of its narrator and central character (Fabrice Luchini). A married baker in a Normandy village, he finds himself inflamed by the arrival in town of a couple whose beautiful female half has almost the same name as Emma Bovary. (Stephen Holden)

‘Heaven Knows What’ (R, 1:33) Largely set on the Upper West Side, Josh and Bennie Safdie’s New York junkie love story has a beautifully attuned eye and ear for Harley (Arielle Holmes) and her fellow street dwellers from moment to moment. Capturing a density of activity as endemic in the city as it is in Harley’s daily hustle, the Safdies fashion a diary of experience that’s more absorbing than straight-up tragedy. (Rapold)

‘In the Name of My Daughter’ (R, 1:56, in French) The French director André Téchiné returns to true crime with the story of a Nice, France, casino family and its legal and sexual manipulation by a philandering lawyer. While benefiting from a strong turn by the rising actress Adèle Haenel as a wronged daughter, Mr. Téchiné’s methodical storytelling covers more narrative ground than the drama requires, sapping the film’s energy. (Rapold)

‘Insidious: Chapter 3’ (PG-13, 1:37) This highly profitable horror franchise — virtually devoid of gore, nudity and cursing — rolls on with this installment, which, like its antecedents, offers simple, cohesive plotting; tidy production values; effective “Boo!” moments; a sense of humor; and most important, the winning actress Lin Shaye as a ghost wrangler. (Andy Webster)

★ ‘Iris’ (PG-13, 1:20) There are few better ways right now to spend your movie minutes than this delightful eye-opener about life, love, statement eyeglasses, bracelets the size of tricycle tires and the art of making the grandest of entrances. The movie was directed by Albert Maysles, one-half of the team behind “Grey Gardens.” (Dargis)

‘I’ll See You In My Dreams’ (PG-13, 1:35) To the lengthening list of well-mannered films aimed at moviegoers who have reached an age when, to quote Shakespeare, “the heyday in the blood is tame,” add “I’ll See You In My Dreams,” a modest, quietly touching portrait of an older woman radiantly embodied by Blythe Danner. (Holden)

‘Jurassic World’ (PG-13, 2:04) There’s more flab than muscle packed on this galumphing franchise reboot, which, as it lumbers from scene to scene, reminds you of what a great action god Steven Spielberg is. Too bad he didn’t take the reins on this, which features Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard and digital dinos. (Dargis)

★ ‘Love & Mercy’ (PG-13, 2:00) The life and music of Brian Wilson, the sonically gifted, emotionally troubled genius of the Beach Boys, is the subject of this unusually sensitive and astute biopic, directed by Bill Pohlad. Paul Dano and John Cusack give a remarkable composite performance as Wilson at two pivotal moments: in the mid-60s, when he recorded “Pet Sounds,” one of the great pop albums of the era; and 20 years later, when Melinda Ledbetter (Elizabeth Banks), who would become his second wife, helped free him from the influence of his psychologist, Eugene Landy (Paul Giamatti). (Scott)

★ ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ (R, 2:00) George Miller, the Australian action maestro who directed the three earlier “Mad Max” movies before moving on to the “Happy Feet” franchise, returns to roaring, squalling, high-octane form in this episode, which is both a relentless car-chase movie and a stirring feminist fable. Tom Hardy is excellent as the road-weary, haunted Max, but the movie belongs to Charlize Theron as Imperator Furiosa, a one-armed truck-driver turned liberator and avenger of oppressed women. (Scott)

‘Me and Earl and the Dying Girl’ (PG-13, 1:45) This story of two movie-mad Pittsburgh teenage boys who befriend a classmate with cancer could have been an earnest wallow in maudlin self-pity, and it almost is that. But the director, Alfonso Gomez-Rejon and the screenwriter, Jesse Andrews (adapting his own young-adult novel), keep the movie loose and humorous, and the three main actors (Thomas Mann, RJ Cyler and Olivia Cooke) are pleasant, sympathetic company. (Scott)

‘An Open Secret’ (R, 1:37) Amy Berg’s potent documentary looks at several cases of sexual abuse of minors in Hollywood, and the appalling cover-ups of some of them. (Ken Jaworowski)

★ ‘A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence’ (PG-13, 1:43) Sketch tragedy? Fatalistic slapstick? Self-hating humanism? Whatever you call it, Roy Andersson’s latest assemblage of dark, impeccably framed vignettes reflects on the awful, funny condition of our species, and a few others as well. (Scott)

‘Pitch Perfect 2’ (PG-13, 1:50) Not perfect, but good fun all the same. The Barden Bellas return for more a cappella high jinks. Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson) is in fine form, Beca (Anna Kendrick) is in good voice and there are a few new additions, notably Hailee Steinfeld. The too-busy plot is kind of beside the point, and not all of the jokes work, but it’s almost impossible to see this movie without being at least a little bit tickled and uplifted. (Scott)

‘Poltergeist’ (PG-13, 1:33) Children not familiar with the original 1982 film will be scared by this one, just as their parents were 33 years ago. The tale of a family that moves into a house with a possession problem has been updated with iPhones and drone toys, and its reliance on horror movie tropes is more apparent than ever, but the cast is pretty good, and for those who haven’t seen the original in years, the nostalgia trip is kind of fun. (Neil Genzlinger)

★ ‘Results’ (R, 1:45) A tight, disciplined romantic comedy masquerading as a loose, quirky character study, Andrew Bujalski’s fifth feature assembles a screwball triangle out of an earnest gym owner (Guy Pearce), his top trainer (Cobie Smulders) and a rich, gloomy client (Kevin Corrigan). (Scott)

★ ‘Saint Laurent’ (R, 2:30, in French) Bertrand Bonello’s portrait of the French couturier Yves Saint Laurent (played by Gaspar Ulliel) is less a conventional biopic than an all-access V.I.P. pass to the fashion world of the late ’60s and early ’70s — decadent, dangerous and intoxicatingly beautiful. (Scott)

‘The Salt of the Earth’ (No rating, 1:50) Wim Wenders’s documentary portrait of the photographer Sebastião Salgado is an admiring, generous introduction to a body of work that combines moral witness with visual beauty. (Scott)

‘San Andreas’ (PG-13, 1:54) California tumbles into the sea. Dwayne Johnson saves his family. (Scott)

‘Spy’ (R, 1:59) Melissa McCarthy plays Susan Cooper, a C.I.A. desk-jockey turned international super-espionage dynamo in this loose, buoyant, profane comedy, written and directed by Paul Feig. The supporting players include Jason Statham, Jude Law, Rose Byrne and Miranda Hart. They are all very funny, but Ms. McCarthy is her own best sidekick. She’s a one-woman improv troupe. (Scott)

★ ‘Testament of Youth’ (PG-13, 2:09) James Kent’s stately screen adaptation of the British author Vera Brittain’s 1933 World War I memoir evokes the march of history with a balance and restraint exhibited by few movies with such grand ambitions. Alicia Vikander, who plays Brittain, gives her character a bracing edge of intelligence and a proto-feminist attitude. (Holden)

‘Tomorrowland’ (PG, 2:10) Brad Bird’s live-action science-fiction adventure, starring George Clooney and Britt Robertson, is a sincere lecture on the importance of optimism and the perils of cynicism. Or at least it wants to be, but the futuristic idealism feels more like corporate propaganda. (Scott)

‘Wild Tales’ (R, 1:54, in Spanish) As high-spirited as its title suggests, this anthology from the Argentine writer-director Damián Szifron offers up a scabrous, often unsettlingly funny look at human behavior in extremis. The best stories are as narratively stripped down as a Road Runner cartoon; they make worrying over ethics seem somehow self-indulgent. (Dargis)

★ ‘The Wolfpack’ (R, 1:24) A New York story beautifully told, Crystal Moselle’s astonishing documentary tells the tale of the six Angulo brothers, who metaphorically escaped from their Lower East Side apartment through their fervent love for movies. It’s an unfamiliar tale, one partly distinguished by its persuasive intimacy. (Dargis)

‘Woman in Gold’ (PG-13, 1:47) The movie rests heavily on the squared shoulders of Helen Mirren whose real-life character, Maria Altmann, is a proud, elderly Austrian Jewish woman struggling for the possession of a priceless Gustav Klimt painting stolen by the Nazis. Her performance salvages a film that without her, would be a laborious slog down a well-trodden path. (Holden)

★ ‘The Yes Men are Revolting’ (R, 1:32) The third and best movie about the mischievous media satirists who stage hoaxes that embarrass corporations opposed to global warming is very funny but a little wistful, because these cheeky activists aren’t getting any younger, and the rewards are meager. (Holden)

Film Series

3-D Summer (through July 4) Three-dimensional films are typically associated with the 1950s, when some 50 different titles ran the gamut from unapologetically lowbrow (“Robot Monster”) to classy, except for the handful of comin’-at-ya! gimmicks (“Dial M for Murder”). But 3-D actually made its debut on June 10, 1915, making this a centennial tribute. The earliest existing example, a 1922 demonstration film called “Thru the Trees: Washington, D.C.,” will be part of an evening of 3-D rarities (June 28 and July 4). The other two screenings are far more established titles with some seriously underutilized supporting talent: the 1953 John Wayne western “Hondo” (Friday and July 4), for which John Ford served as an uncredited second unit director, and the film version of “Kiss Me Kate” (starting June 28), including the first filmed — and tiny — glimpse of Bob Fosse’s choreography. At various times, Museum of Modern Art, Roy and Niuta Titus Theaters, 212-708-9400, moma.org. (Eric Grode)

‘Bad Dads’ and ‘Horror Father’s Day’ (Sunday) It’s become standard procedure to program the likes of “Serial Mom” and “Psycho” on Mother’s Day, so it’s only fair that fathers get comparably snarky treatment on their own designated day. The seven dads on display at the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Museum of the Moving Image run the gamut in badness, from ill-advised science experiments (both “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids,” screening at Lincoln Center at 2 p.m., and “Eyes Without a Face,” at Moving Image at 4:30 p.m.) to cabin-fever-induced sociopathy (“The Shining,” 6:30 p.m. at Moving Image). Somewhere in the middle is Gene Hackman’s race-baiting, illness-falsifying scoundrel in “The Royal Tenenbaums” (4 p.m. at Lincoln Center), and on an entirely different level is Al Pacino as the father of all things evil, which sort of includes Keanu Reeves, in “Devil’s Advocate” (8:30 p.m. at Lincoln Center). And two particularly bad stepdads join the list, in “The Stepfather” (6:30 p.m. at Lincoln Center) and “The Night of the Hunter” (Moving Image at 2 p.m.). Where are Atticus Finch and Mufasa when you need them? Walter Reade Theater, Lincoln Center, 165 West 65th Street, 212-875-5601, filmlinc.com. Museum of the Moving Image, 35th Avenue at 37th Street, Astoria, Queens, 718-784-0077, movingimage.us. (Grode)

BAMcinemaFest (Wednesday through June 28) This indie-film showcase, entering its seventh year, opens and closes with buzzy titles: “The End of the Tour,” starring Jason Segel as David Foster Wallace, and “Tangerine,” whose depiction of transgender Los Angelenos couldn’t be more topical. But New Yorkers have come to cherish the festival for giving a first glimpse at less flashy films that have garnered serious praise and often prizes at other festivals. Among those are the beautifully realized sci-fi drama “Advantageous” (Sunday) and documentaries about everything from the longtime ideological sparring partners Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley Jr. (“Best of Enemies,” Saturday), to a Florida trailer park inhabited entirely by sex offenders (“Pervert Park,” June 27). Special offerings include a restoration of the iconic punk-rock chronicle “The Decline of Western Civilization” (Friday) and a free outdoor screening of Richard Linklater’s “Slacker” (June 25). At various times, most screenings are at BAM Rose Cinemas, 30 Lafayette Avenue, at Ashland Place, Fort Greene, Brooklyn, 718-636-4100, bam.org. (Grode)

Jean-Claude Carrière: Writing the Impossible (Tuesdays through July 28) Any career that involves writing for Jacques Tati, Nicole Kidman and the romantic pairing of Charlotte Rampling and a chimpanzee would benefit from a taste for the surreal. Luckily, Jean-Claude Carrière has a gourmand’s appetite for the odd, and with more than 50 years’ worth of credits, there’s plenty for the French Institute Alliance Française to choose from. (If only there were room for the five-hour adaptation of “The Mahabharata” he did with Peter Brook.) This nine-week series continues this week with “Valmont,” a period piece starring Colin Firth. Screenings are at 4 and 7:30 p.m., Gould Hall, 55 East 59th Street, Manhattan, 800-982-2787, fiaf.org. (Grode)

Glorious Technicolor From George Eastman House and Beyond (Friday through August 5) Technicolor really hit its stride in the 1930s, when its sinfully lush hues made it Hollywood’s go-to color process. But although the company itself didn’t turn out a film (the lost romance “The Gulf Between”) until 1917, it was founded two years earlier, which has prompted this centennial tribute. This week’s offerings include the 1952 classic “Singin’ in the Rain” (Saturday and Thursday) and “The Yearling” (1946) on Sunday. Museum of Modern Art Roy and Niuta Titus Theaters, 212-708-9400, moma.org. (Grode)

Movie Masks: The Roles of Masks in Cinema (Friday through Aug. 28) Leatherface, Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, the revolving door of “Scream” killers: Modern-day horror film murderers sure like to do their slaughtering incognito. Part of the Cabaret Cinema program, this weekly film series at the Rubin Museum of Art, which runs in conjunction with its “Becoming Another: The Power of Masks” exhibition, mostly steers clear of that genre, focusing on masks that are rakish (“The Princess Bride,” July 10) or sneaky (“To Catch a Thief,” Aug. 28) or creepier than all those slashers put together (“Eyes Without a Face,” June 26). 150 West 17th Street, Chelsea, 212-620-5000, rubinmuseum.org. (Grode)

‘An Unmarried Woman’ (Tuesday) “Part Mary Hartman, part Ingmar Bergman.” That self-description alone is enough to recommend Erica Benton, the title character played so transparently by Jill Clayburgh in Paul Mazursky’s 1978 hit comedy. Erica attains unmarried status mid-picture with the help of her loutish husband, played by Michael Murphy; IFC Center’s tribute to Mazursky, who died one year ago, will feature Mr. Murphy speaking about the director after the 7 p.m. screening. The film is not available on DVD despite being nominated for Best Picture and two other Academy Awards, so this 35 millimeter print is a rare chance to become acquainted (or reacquainted) with Erica. and what Pauline Kael once called her “modern polluted-city huskiness.” 323 Avenue of the Americas, at Third Street, Greenwich Village; 212-924-7771, ifccenter.com. (Grode)

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