‘Sometimes Always Never’: Film Review

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film CriticTom Hanks shows what a commanding actor he can be from the first taut combat sequence of “Greyhound,” when the title warship, leading a convoy through the North Atlantic in the early months of World War II, spies a U-boat speeding toward it from a dozen miles away. As the German sub approaches, we hear a lot of rapid-fire military and navigational jargon shooting back and forth between the sailors (“Hydrophone effects slow rev, sounds like 60 RPM, sir!”).

Maggie Lee Chief Asia Film CriticEye-popping action steals the show in “Lupin III: The First,” the first computer-animated feature entry in the classic franchise about the French gentleman thief and master of disguise.

Richard Kuipers There’s a bit of everything and most of it works in “Chasing Dream,” the first feature directed by Hong Kong ace Johnnie To since “Three” in 2016.

Peter Debruge Chief Film CriticIn “17 Blocks,” Cheryl Sanford, matriarch of a low-income African American household in southeast Washington, D.C., talks wistfully of a “parallel universe” where she and her family enjoy cookouts, vacations and gift-filled Christmas mornings. This melancholy confession comes moments after a closeup of her casually snorting cocaine.

A persuasive argument, not that one should still be required, for handing women directors the reins more often on big-canvas action movies, The Old Guard represents a boldly assured step for Gina Prince-Bythewood away from the intimate romantic drama of strong previous work like Love & Basketball and Beyond the Lights.

Also Read: 'The Trip to Greece' Film Review: Fourth Time's Still a Charm for Steve Coogan-Rob Brydon TalkfestIn “Sometimes Always Never” — which is not to be confused with Eliza Hittman’s recent “Never Rarely Sometimes Always” — two-letter terms, mainly from the Greek alphabet, have secured many a Scrabble victory for Alan. It’s a brainy pastime he dominates with aggressive competitiveness.

Early in “Judy & Punch,” a wife who’s just helped her husband perform a vigorously slap-happy puppet show in a desultory corner of 17th century England poses the question, “Do you think the show really needs to be that punchy?”

More than a PSA or cinematic call to arms, this indie documentary is a compassionate, sincere manifesto on suicide prevention.

A hijacked drug deal's messy aftermath ensnares an entire family in Christian Sparkes' effective if overloaded crime drama.

Pushed over a metaphorical cliff, the two nonconformists in Josephine Decker’s “Shirley” — her follow-up to the mind-bending “Madeline’s Madeline” — bond over the maddening submissiveness expected of them, which they both come to furiously abhor. Their strange alliance makes for a psychologically layered portrait of unapologetic womanhood that’s dangerously sensual and sumptuously rebellious.

[Note: In the wake ofthe Hot Docs festival's postponement this year,The Hollywood Reporteris reviewing select entries that elected to premiere digitally.] In 1970 New York City, a series of ground-shifting, life-saving events took place in relatively quick succession. It's astounding that they aren't more widely known.

A film about a L.A. black lesbian strip club is smart, intimate and eye-popping — a documentary that both PornHub and the Criterion Channel could get behind.

The latest film from iconoclastic Canadian filmmaker Bruce McDonald proves at least one thing: The only thing better than Stephen McHattie in a movie is two Stephen McHatties. Playing both a heroin-addicted jazz trumpet player and a hitman who develops a conscience, the veteran character actor — you'll immediately recognize his face even if his name doesn't ring any bells — grounds Dreamland in emotional depths it otherwise strains to achieve.

A riotous, rule-ignoring Ugandan romp in which giddy exuberance obliterates amateurish filmmaking and a threadbare child-kidnapping plot.

Sharon Liese's documentary follows the contrasting trajectories of four transgender children in Kansas City with engrossing, sometimes surprising results.

This year's Scripps National Spelling Bee, which was scheduled to take place last week, was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. COVID-19 may well have been the only force capable of preventing an Indian American competitor from winning the contest for the 13th year in a row.

Murderous escaped cons are no match for the wrath of a 13-year-old girl in this over-the-top yet effectively taut thriller.

This time it’s personal as Lynn Chen puts Asian actresses front and center in her winning conclusion to the 'Surrogate Valentine' trilogy.

It's too little too late in this tedious biopic of Anglo-Irish modernist designer Eileen Gray and her antagonist Swiss architect Le Corbusier.

A young New York homeless woman is the focus of Andrew Wonder's confident, intriguing narrative debut feature.