Advertisement

‘Leave No Trace,’ ‘Three Identical Strangers,’ ‘The Cakemaker’ and other movie picks for June 29

Share via

Movie recommendations from critics Justin Chang and Kenneth Turan.

American Animals This based-on-fact story of how a quartet of bored college kids looking for kicks and meaning in their lives plan a rare book robbery is one of the summer’s freshest, most entertaining films. (Kenneth Turan) R

The Cakemaker A provocative, unexpected and very moving German/Israeli coproduction that is as unusual a love story as you are likely to find. (Kenneth Turan) NR

Advertisement

Dark River This powerfully told and performed British import, from writer-director Clio Barnard (based on the novel by Rose Tremain), proves one of the year’s most impressive dramas. (Gary Goldstein) NR

First Reformed A conflicted reverend (a superb Ethan Hawke) undergoes a profound crisis of faith in Paul Schrader’s soul-searching, career-resurrecting drama, a tribute to the contemplative cinema of Robert Bresson and Yasujiro Ozu that nonetheless moves to the pulse of a thriller. (Justin Chang) R

Hearts Beat Loud A musical in everything but name, this joining of stars Nick Offerman and Kiersey Clemons features some terrific songs and proof that sometimes wearing your heart on your sleeve is the only way to go. (Kenneth Turan) PG-13

Advertisement

Incredibles 2 There is good news in the world tonight: Writer-director Brad Bird has brought everyone’s favorite superhero family back to the big screen, and we are all better off for it. (Kenneth Turan) PG

Hereditary Anchored by a bravura performance from Toni Collette, writer-director Ari Aster’s devastating, implacably terrifying film depicts an American family coming apart in the wake of tragedy. (Justin Chang) R

Leave No Trace Fiercely involving in a way we’re not used to, made with sensitivity and honesty by Debra Granik, it tells the emotional story of a father and daughter living dangerously off the grid in a way that is unnerving and uncompromising yet completely satisfying. (Kenneth Turan) PG

Advertisement

A Quiet Place John Krasinski’s thrillingly intelligent post-apocalyptic horror movie, in which he stars with Emily Blunt as a couple trying to protect their family from monsters that hunt by sound, is walking-on-eggshells cinema of a very high order. (Justin Chang) PG-13

RBG One of the great services that this clear-eyed and admiring documentary on Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg provides is to emphasize not just her work on the court but also how extraordinarily influential she was before she even got there. (Kenneth Turan) NR

Three Identical Strangers A scientific and philosophical inquiry by way of a detective story, Tim Wardle’s intensely compelling documentary tells the twistier-by-the-minute story of identical triplet boys who found each other 19 years after being separated at birth. (Justin Chang) PG-13

Won’t You Be My Neighbor? The goal of this exemplary documentary is not to tell the story of TV host Fred Rogers’ life but to show the way someone whose formidable task was, in his own words, “to make goodness attractive,” and made it happen. (Kenneth Turan) PG-13

------------

See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour »

Movie Trailers

Advertisement

calendar@latimes.com

@LATimesMovies

Advertisement