Bilge Ebiri

What ultimately emerges is a fascinating existential drama about mercy and sacrifice, about the individual and the state.

Lane elegantly juggles the many different perspectives on Flaco, the scientific and preservationist impulses as well as the inevitable anthropomorphism and dreamy symbolism. She finds in the bird’s journey plenty of hope as well as caution, while her playful filmmaking keeps things moving along entertainingly.

Enola Holmes 3 will pass the time, mainly because Bobby Brown is still fun to watch, even if Enola’s lighthearted goofiness has been tempered somewhat. Still, one does wonder how much longer they can keep this going.

Remake may be a film about death and loss and grief, but it’s not one of conclusions. In the end, McElwee does something perhaps unexpected but also heartbreaking and indescribably generous: He preserves the mystery of his son’s life.

Jackass: Best and Last might feel like a glorified DVD extra, but it’s not un-fun. There are probably worse things you could do than sit in a theater yukking it up with others to old Jackass clips.

So, it’s a ghost story, and a time travel story, and a folk tale, and something of a kitchen sink drama, but it’s also none of these things, really, and that’s where Jenkin’s formal gambits come in. His filmmaking has a lovely, homespun directness.

By pushing the nihilism off the charts, however, Sarnoski finds an idea that emerges fully in the movie’s closing act. The Death of Robin Hood is all about storytelling, which is appropriate because its narrative is a retrospective one.

Disclosure Day can be messy, but much of its beauty lies in that messiness. It’s an astoundingly personal film, and we can sense Spielberg trying to feel his way through the conflicting aspects of his vision.

Most of its gags require not surprise but surrender. Because while some dumb jokes are (as noted) funny the first time and never again, on the opposite end of spectrum lie those bits that are funny only after the fifth or sixth or 11th time, at which point the comedy comes not from any inherent wit but from the doggedness of the teller. We laugh because we’re defeated.

For the most part, the film is a model of narrative economy and clear character development, all grounded and enhanced by Scott’s delicate performance.