A scathing satire about backstabbing tech bros and a Netflix sequence centering on an unstable Scottish detective high our suggestions on what to observe this week — together with “Bring Her Back,” which simply is likely to be the most effective horror film to hit theaters in 2025.
Right here’s the roundup.
“Mountainhead”: An AI improve launches international havoc because it offers customers the power to make what’s untruthful look completely genuine, a radical growth that triggers large-scale violence and misinformation. Sound acquainted? It ought to, and that’s what makes “Mountainhead” so chillingly believable, given our viral-media-obsessed instances. Whereas the world burns, the billionaire bozo accountable — good-looking however morally vapid Venis (Cory Michael Smith) — hangs out with 4 different tech titans in a secluded, swanky winter dwelling within the mountains. It’s no shock that this HBO Max cringey satire comes from Jesse Armstrong, the depraved creator of the acidic Emmy-winning treasure “Succession.”
Armstrong is a shrewd author who can depict folks behaving badly higher than most whereas giving us dialogue that’s typically insightful, humorous and bruising. Right here he skewers tech bros, all of whom have an excessive amount of energy, an excessive amount of cash and an excessive amount of male confidence. Despite the fact that every of those always-looking-over-their-shoulders guys — the hyper-alert Randall (Steve Carell), the much less rich Souper (Jason Schwartzman), the useless Venis and the morally much less adrift Jeff (Ramy Youssef) — declare they’re buddies, fact is that they’d backstab one another for a major revenue share or to enhance their rating on the Forbes most rich lists. As they spar, roughhouse and generally unwind, it turns into apparent that Jeff’s the only real one with the heartbeat of a conscience since he developed a counter AI program that detects truth from the fiction. That’s when the scheming kicks into excessive gear. “Mountainhead” is a piercing satire that gives an ideal storytelling terrain for the crew behind “Succession” and it additionally offers Smith the chance to indicate why he’s shaping into a serious star. He’s creepily good as a disruptor who thinks he’s smarter than everybody else. Particulars: 3½ stars; drops Could 31 on HBO Max.
“Dept. Q”: A streaming sequence that focuses on a gallery of downtrodden, sneered-at crime solvers within the vein of Apple TV+’s tremendous spy sequence “Slow Horses” with Gary Oldman and Jack Lowden may appear moderately commonplace. And whereas creator Scott (“The Queen’s Gambit” and co-creator of “Monsieur Spade”) Frank’s nine-episode Netflix sequence does observe {that a} acquainted schematic, his adaptation of writer Jussi Adler-Olsen’s novel is undeniably an ideal detective sequence and is simply as sharp and engrossing as “Slow Horses.” It additionally showcases a lead efficiency that leaps proper off the display. Underrated actor Matthew Goode (his efficiency in 2011’s “Burning Man” was a grasp class in performing) inhabits the self-loathing pores and skin of Edinburgh detective Carl Morck, a unstable man struggling to maintain his sanity in place within the aftermath of an ill-fated name that resulted in a useless cop and his associate getting paralyzed. Assigned to working by means of demons with a psychologist (Kelly Macdonald), Carl’s psychological well being lies in tatters however he’s nonetheless one of many brightest investigative minds and will get put accountable for a brand new cold-case unit, a program that higher-uppers see as a compromise. His crew (Leah Byrne and Alexej Manvelov lend sturdy help) exhume information on the disappearance of a shark of a prosecutor (Chloe Pirrie). She has many enemies and retains her private life largely non-public, making the case even tougher to crack.
Frank performs round with time and relocates the setting from Copenhagen to Edinburgh, each of which work. “Dept. Q,” in fact, will get twistier because it goes, and is a brainy sequence that’s written, acted and directed by professionals. It additionally offers us a fundamental detective, a troublesome nut to crack, who’s simply as difficult because the thriller at its tangled middle. Particulars: 3½ stars; drops Could 29 on Netflix.
“Fountain of Youth”: There’s something to be mentioned a few very dumb comedic thriller that has the audacity to lift the Lusitania from the depths of the ocean ground. The spectacle of seeing that occur is the key purpose to observe Man Ritchie’s so-so timewaster during which bickering siblings Luke (John Krasinski) and Charlotte (Natalie Portman) cut up their variations to allow them to discover the fountain of youth for a billionaire ( Domhnall Gleeson) with a terminal sickness. Ritchie’s movie begins off with a peppy tuk-tuk chase in Bangkok however then slumbers until that Lusitania second comes round. The entire enterprise is preposterous and that’s OK, if all of it works. And “Fountain of Youth” does among the time, simply not sufficient. Krasinski is an amiable presence, however the movie might need benefitted from his switching roles with Portman. He would make a very good match portraying the much less adventurous museum curator with a son and he or she would have had a grand time taking part in a daring, rogue adventurer who finds clues in key artworks that reveal the whereabouts for the fountain of youth. This Apple TV+ time-waster lacks the snap and vitality of latest Ritchie productions equivalent to Netflix’s “The Gentleman” and “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.” James Vanderbilt’s screenplay flashes some cheeky references (together with one a few Vanderbilt) however there aren’t any huge surprises available right here. And after that spectacular Lusitania scene, the finale appears like an afterthought, a letdown that sinks this one down to just about the underside of the streaming sea. Particulars: 2 stars; accessible on Apple TV+.
“Bad Shabbos”: Director/screenwriter Daniel Robbins’ amusing, featherweight darkish comedy revolves round an unlucky Shabbat household dinner in New York during which one of many visitors winds up useless within the toilet. Familial dysfunction generally is a pot of gold for comedy, and there are some very humorous moments amid the chaos that ensues, with members of the family scrambling to dump a smelly useless physique earlier than potential Catholic in-laws come knocking on the house door for supper. Robbins’ terrific forged — Jon Bass, Meghan Leathers, Milana Vayntrub, Theo Taplitz, David Paymer, Kyra Sedgwick and extra — meet the comedic problem time after time even when the premise will get stretched skinny. However it’s Cliff “Method Man” Smith, as a witty doorman who’s brighter than anybody else, that brings “Bad Shabbos” throughout the end line. Particulars: 2½ stars; opens in choose theaters Could 30.
“The New Boy”: You’ve received to admire filmmaker Warwick Thornton’s moxie for not desirous to state the plain with an easy premise about an Australian Aboriginal boy getting indoctrinated within the methods of Christ. He redirects that linear storyline to thrilling instructions, many who query religion and the church whereas sprinkling in symbolism and magical parts. Cate Blanchett is well-cast as Nineteen Forties nun Sister Eileen, a rattled one who ministers at a Christian faculty/monastery. She’s stricken by Christian guilt since she’s dwelling in a lie that she created — {that a} male priest is overseeing the varsity, though she’s been impersonating him since he’s been useless. Sister Eileen goes to dramatic lengths to maintain that ruse going. When a “new boy” (Aswan Reid) will get folded into her flock after a violent confrontation, she tries to get him to simply accept Christ and to place apart his heritage. What occurs as a substitute propels each on a non secular, existential journey that challenges their beliefs. “The New Boy” explores these huge questions however leaves it to us to seek out out the solutions. Particulars: 3 stars; accessible to lease Could 30.
“Restless”: Anybody who’s misplaced sleep to a party-animal neighbor can relate to sleep-deprived care employee Nicky’s plight. Single and nonetheless coping with the grief of her two dad and mom’ deaths in addition to the absence of her at-college son, the lonely and too internalized Nicky (Lyndsey Marshal, dealing with a difficult character ever so effectively) has a shirtless hard-rockin’ brute of a neighbor (Aston McAuley) who refuses to show down his thumping-loud music or cease his rounds of extra-loud intercourse at 4 a.m. The 2 have interaction in an escalating showdown that results in Nicky taking determined measures. On the similar time, she goes on a date with a site visitors officer (Barry Ward) that ends with the exhausted Nicky simply collapsing in his mattress. In his directorial debut, Jed Hart takes daring artistic swings and refuses to guide his story to a predictable end result. Does that tonal shift work? I assumed so. However even higher than that’s how he opens the movie — minus dialogue — as Nicky, a classical music lover, stuffs one thing into the again of her trunk, to the accompaniment of Rachmaninoff, and drives off at the hours of darkness of evening. Particulars: 3 stars; accessible to lease now.
