NYT Critic’s Pick Movies

[lsanderson]

Capernaum
NYT Critic’s Pick R Drama Directed by Nadine Labaki
Like a Charles Dickens hero, Zain makes his way through a city where cruelty and injustice threaten to overwhelm kindness and decency.
By A.O. SCOTT

Ghostbox Cowboy
NYT Critic’s Pick Action, Adventure, Comedy, Crime, Drama, Thriller Directed by John Maringouin
John Maringouin directs a dryly funny dissection of entrepreneurial absurdism bleeding into existential and metaphysical despair.
By GLENN KENNY

Lots of Kids, a Monkey and a Castle
NYT Critic’s Pick Documentary Directed by Gustavo Salmerón
The Spanish actor Gustavo Salmerón stitches together an affectionate, frank portrait of his indomitable mother in this family documentary.
By GLENN KENNY

Dead Souls
NYT Critic’s Pick Documentary Directed by Bing Wang
More than eight hours long and harrowing to watch, Wang Bing’s “Dead Souls” is a necessary look at China’s brutal re-education camps for “rightists.”
By BILGE EBIRI

If Beale Street Could Talk
NYT Critic’s Pick R Crime, Drama, Romance Directed by Barry Jenkins
The couple in this adaptation of James Baldwin’s novel are loving while black, an existential truth that is turned into a nightmare.
By MANOHLA DARGIS

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
NYT Critic’s Pick PG Animation, Action, Adventure, Comedy, Family, Sci-Fi Directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman
This lively, diverse comic-book movie brings some fun to a genre that often takes itself too seriously.
By A.O. SCOTT

-- Of Possible Interest --

Mortal Engines
PG-13 Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Thriller Directed by Christian Rivers
To the extent that “Mortal Engines” resembles anything, it’s other movies, which it plunders with a landfill-diving zeal that suits the surviving populace.
By BEN KENIGSBERG

Never-Ending Man: Hayao Miyazaki
Documentary, Biography Directed by Kaku Arakawa
The director of animated classics like “Spirited Away” reflects on his career in this documentary.
By GLENN KENNY

Martyr
Drama, Family, Fantasy Directed by Mazen Khaled
Set in a poor section of the city, Mazen Khaled’s film captures the numbness, grief and rage that come out of strife.
By WESLEY MORRIS

The House That Jack Built
R Comedy, Drama, Horror, Thriller Directed by Lars von Trier
Matt Dillon may play a serial killer in Lars von Trier’s latest movie, but its real subject seems to be its director.
By WESLEY MORRIS