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rocky romance with Madonna, who then became a Yoko Ono-esque wedge between him and his band. Michael Jackson definitely did not release “Beat It” after Yankovic wrote “Eat It.” Was cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar a Weird Al superfan who offered him 1 billion pesos to perform at his birthday party? Who’s to say?What Yankovic and director/co-writer Eric Appel have done, brilliantly in spots, is parody Yankovic’s own life while sending up the whole biopic genre.

Idris Elba) and his two young daughters (Leah Sava Jeffries and Iyana Halley)? Evil poachers offed the big cat’s pride, he snapped and went rogue.Running time: 93 minutes. Rated <br>Rated R (violent content, bloody images and some language.) In theaters.I don’t recall ever feeling bad for the deadly creatures in “Jaws” or “Anaconda” or “Lake Placid.” But my heart went out to this poor, murderous, widower lion hellbent on avenging the death of cute cubs and lionesses.Yet, this is a film along the lines of the above trio (in an early scene one of Nate’s daughters even wears a “Jurassic Park” T-shirt) where we need to want man (the good ones, anyway) to win.

as Borat’s wild-and-crazy daughter in the sequel to Sacha Baron Cohen’s mockumentary. It got the then-unknown actress a Golden Globe nod.

Snowpiercer” and the musical “On The Twentieth Century” are other fine, very different examples.) All types of people ride them, there are clever places to hide and, for long stretches, you’re trapped on board.“Bullet Train” is a fun flick, to be sure, reminiscent of director Guy Ritchie’s better crime comedies such as “The Gentlemen” with Hugh Grant. But, as the title suggests, it’s louder and faster.

the better Hulu comedy series “Only Murders in the Building,” which has a similar premise and is releasing new episodes at the very same time.Running time: 94 minutes. Rated R (language and brief violence). In theaters.Where B.J.

on Amazon Prime Aug. 5, the director doesn’t make quick, from-the-gut decisions the way that the intrepid team did. Instead, he takes a chill ride on the Lazy River.Running time: 147 minutes.

Netflix dropped a whopping $200 million ($50 million shy of the budget for “No Time To Die”) on the visually grand adaptation of Mark Greaney’s spy novels in hopes that it kicks off a popular movie series along the lines of James Bond, “The Bourne Identity,” “Mission: Impossible” and “John Wick.” Best of luck! That’s an awfully tall order when your film doesn’t have a strong main character.James Bond is King Lear next to Sierra Six — played by a cold and demure Gosling — an imprisoned murderer who has his sentence commuted in exchange for becoming a trained underground killer for the CIA. He carries out secret unsavory missions for the government.When Six is lured into the gig by his handler Donald Fitzroy (Billy Bob Thornton), he’s told, “You’ll exist in the gray.” Six replies: “Disposable?”Yup. Skip ahead 18 years.

the 2017 horror hit nobody saw coming, which thrust Peele and star Daniel Kaluuya into the stratosphere and netted a Best Picture Oscar nomination. But pass-the-popcorn “Nope,” which reunites the pair, is entertaining, smart, artful summer fare with its heart planted firmly in the 1980s heyday of blockbuster films. Just when you think, “They don’t make ’em like this anymore,” Kaluuya rides in on a horse.I’ll be careful not to reveal more secrets than I have to, but it’s OK to say that Kaluuya’s character OJ and his extrovert sister Emerald (Keke Palmer) are California animal trainers for film sets. Their family-owned ranch is called Haywood’s Hollywood Horses, and lately, business has been in a slump since their more experienced dad died mysteriously — he fell off his steed, and a quarter was found lodged in his brain.Soon after the tragedy, the horses begin having mysterious temper tantrums and regularly run off into the mountains.

controversial author Delia Owens’ popular novel, when the dialogue isn’t sanitizing abuse and rape, it’s waxing poetic about sea creatures, grass and owls. Long stretches of floral language is OK in a book. Onscreen, however, it’s pretentious.

Thor: Ragnarok.” He has the complex motivations of Erik Killmonger of “Black Panther,” but with the mesmeric physical transformation we’ve come to expect from Bale.The Brit is a glutton for punishment.Running time: 125 minutes. Rated PG-13 (intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, language, some suggestive material and partial nudity.) In theaters July 8.Able to shed and gain weight with the seeming ease of Alexa delivering the weather report, he’s Hollywood’s most addictive freak. In his latest role, the actor is stick-thin (no Batman biceps here) and looks like he might have fleas.

Lightyear,” a film that sometimes falls into that old Pixar trap of being too smart for its own good.The Minions, on the flip side, are not Mensa candidates. They’re stooges.The story exists, for the most part, to put them into a bunch of silly situations.Kevin and Bob go full-on “Catch Me if You Can,” dress up as pilots and fly a commercial jet to California … with plenty of turbulence.They meet Master Chow (Michelle Yeoh), a San Fran acupuncturist who moonlights as a kung fu expert and teaches them her martial art — in “Rocky” training montage style. Dumb, dumb Otto, meanwhile, takes to the open road on a motorcycle and visits the World’s Biggest Banana.He’s also a hopeless romantic, and briefly falls in love with a rock with googly eyes glued on it.“Rise of Gru” is better than the previous Gru-less flick because the Minions make the most sense when serving a lame-o villain.

Bohemian Rhapsody,” and Elton John, who got his own movie with “Rocketman,” Presley comes with more pop-culture baggage than you could stuff into a million Gracelands.There’s the campy Vegas impersonators, the “thank you, thank you very much” catchphrase, the white jumpsuit, the late-in-life weight gain and, of course, dying on the toilet at age 42. For such a singular figure in music — still instantly recognizable to teens today in a way that Bruce Springsteen and Paul Simon are not — he’s not allowed much dignity.Luhrmann’s hugely entertaining film and Butler’s sensational performance are dead set on righting that wrong. A movie that runs on jet fuel and confetti, “Elvis” is a tribute to Presley’s innovative spirit, deep passion for fusing blues, country and gospel music and the intense connection he had with his audience. Elvis taking inspiration from black musicians like B.B.

picked up at Sundance by AppleTV+ for $15 million in January, and like 2020’s big Sundance seller “Palm Springs,” everybody will be watching — and adoring — it. The film is available to stream on June 17. Raiff plays Andrew, a 22-year-old recent college grad who lives with his mom (Leslie Mann) and stepdad (Brad Garrett) and still shares a bedroom with his little brother David (Evan Assante).

Wall-E.” Running time: 100 minutes. Rated PG (action/peril).

also the worst. Running time: 146 minutes. Rated PG-13 (intense sequences of action, some violence and language).

Top Gun: Maverick.” Can’t blame them. Cronenberg’s warped vision of what’s to come makes the technological apocalypse of “Terminator” look like a Build-A-Bear Workshop. The human body, we learn, has chaotically evolved and begun growing invasive, non-functioning organs.

instead of a subscription to a streaming service that’s turned into an ongoing competition to make the world’s worst movie. Running time: 96 minutes. Not rated.

modernizes Jane Austen’s 1813 oft-adapted novel, relocates it to the thumping New York beach vacation spot and makes nearly every character a 30-something gay guy. Elizabeth, Mr.

Now, that’s how you do an 1980s film sequel.Walking into “Top Gun: Maverick,” starring Tom Cruise, viewers violently shake with nervousness that they might witness a nightmarish repeat of “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” — all their favorite ‘80s stars and characters reunited after decades, wasted, embarrassed and chasing after aliens.Then the movie starts. All it takes is the opening scene of Cruise as Maverick pushing a plane’s limits to a daunting Mach 10 while “Highway to the Danger Zone” plays to realize that this is a worthy, often exemplary followup to the 1986 classic.

Eternals” was vile, “Black Widow” was OK, “Shang-Chi” was a lot of fun) has been joined by one of the worst films so far in the bloated 27-movie franchise — not to mention one of the worst of the year — “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.”That, unbelievably, is a movie title and not a doctoral student’s 250-page dissertation.Running time: 126 minutes. Rated PG-13 (intense sequences of violence and action, frightening images and some language.) In theaters.Now we have a firsthand idea of what it was like to witness the fall of the Roman Empire.

enthusiastically agree with this assessment. The riotous comedy is something of a “Cage Your Enthusiasm.” Like Larry David on the long-running HBO series, Cage plays a fictionalized version of himself who can’t do anything right. Nic’s career has plateaued, he’s hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt and his marriage has crumbled — he lives away from his wife (Sharon Horgan) and daughter (Lily Mo Sheen) in the Sunset Towers Hotel and downs whiskey like water. So when his agent (Neil Patrick Harris) gets a $1 million offer for Cage to fly to Mallorca and spend a weekend with a wealthy fan, Javier (Pedro Pascal), the actor has no choice but to hop on a plane to Spain.Soon after arriving, however, he learns that two FBI agents (Tiffany Haddish and Ike Barinholtz) are on the hunt for his Spanish host because they believe he’s kidnapped the daughter of a political candidate.Says Haddish to Cage: “I loved you in ‘Croods 2’!” There are so many delicious cracks at his erratic résumé: “Gone in 60 Seconds,” “Face/Off,” “The Rock,” “National Treasure,” they’re all in here. Pascal — whose sensitive, goofy performance is a surprise — gives an emotional speech about how he and his father were brought together by “Guarding Tess.” Hilarious.

“Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them” movie series, and shout that magic spell in hopes I can put this sputtering prequel franchise out of its misery. And miserable, it is.Running time: 142 minutes. Rated PG-13 (some fantasy action/violence).

many iterations of “Batman” movies over the years, it is only natural to compare and contrast different takes on the stories and characters. But the rankings may be a little skewed when coming from a former “Batman” star himself. Danny DeVito played the Penguin in Tim Burton’s 1992 version of the superhero’s story “Batman Returns” and recently gave his opinion on the most recent take on the notorious villain.

told Access Hollywood. “I have enough. I’ve done enough.

et voila!Running time: 104 minutes. Rated PG-13 (intense sequences of violence, some frightening images and brief strong language). In theaters.The issue is personal.

Uncharted,” “Jungle Cruise” and “Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw” in the discouraging trend of demeaning a once-great genre with nauseating humor, no thrills or grandeur and an over-reliance on star power. Running time: 112 minutes.

Gotti,” Tom Hardy in “Capone,” the entirety of “The Kitchen.” Made-man misery.Running time: 105 minutes. Rated R (language throughout and some bloody violence).

Ryan Reynolds vehicle on Netflix about a time traveler who meets his kid self. The film is drowning in sap.You yawn through the uninspired action sequences — just 30 years from now we apparently will wield cheap-looking lightsaber rip-offs — and then are nauseated by over-dramatic exchanges such as this:Running time: 106 minutes.

Ben Affleck and now Robert Pattison might, the metropolis gets worse and worse.Running time: 175 minutes. Rated PG-13 (strong violent and disturbing content, drug content, strong language, and some suggestive material.) In theaters March 4.In the latest perfunctory film, “The Batman,” Gotham is bleaker than ever. Too bleak, if you ask me.

on Paramount+, is that Troye Sivan has real acting chops. Running time: 104 minutes. Not Rated. On Paramount+.