Movies Update: 'The Curse of La Llorona' and More

Plus, how "Avengers" was assembled.

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Kyle Buchanan Pop Culture Reporter Hey, movie fans! It's your faithful Carpetbagger. There are a whole lot of new films vying for your eyeballs before the Avengers swoop in next week. In wide release are the horror movie "The Curse of La Llorona," the Christian drama "Breakthrough" and Disneynature's "Penguins." Limited-release entries include the superhero indie "Fast Color," Andrew Garfield in the noir comedy "Under the Silver Lake," Terry Gilliam's "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote" and Tessa Thompson in the drama "Little Woods." Netflix has two notable entries out this week — the Beyoncé doc "Homecoming" and the comedy "Someone Great" — but the streaming giant was absent from Thursday morning's announcement of movies set to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. French distributors are still determined to keep Netflix from further encroachment on the Croisette, but in the meantime, at least Cannes has delivered an exciting lineup with new films from Pedro Almodóvar, Jim Jarmusch, and Bong Joon-ho in the mix, as well as the potential inclusion of Quentin Tarantino's latest, "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood," if the director can get it done in time. Your Carpetbagger will be joining Manohla Dargis in Cannes next month to check out some of those enticing titles, but in the meantime, summer movie season is about to begin! Are you ready?

Movie Reviews Warner Bros. Pictures 'The Curse of La Llorona': California Freakin', With Scares, Laughs and a Murderous Ghost By MANOHLA DARGIS Linda Cardellini plays a widow with two children and a curse in this amusing, old-fashioned ghost story, the latest addition to the "Conjuring" series. Diego Lopez Calvin/Screen Media Films 'The Man Who Killed Don Quixote' Brings Him Back to Life By A.O. SCOTT Terry Gilliam's long-deferred tribute to Cervantes's knight errant finally arrives, starring Jonathan Pryce and Adam Driver.

Critic's Pick 'Breakthrough': A Remarkable Story of Survival, Told Through a Religious Lens By BILGE EBIRI After a 14-year-old boy falls into freezing water and his pulse stops, prayers and medical workers both seem to play a role in his recovery. 'Under the Silver Lake': Andrew Garfield Gets Lost in a Haze of Pop-Culture Allusions By A.O. SCOTT A little Hitchcock, a touch of noir, some '90s indie rock, a few naked women, and yet not much to see. 'Little Woods': Life Is Thicker Than Blood By MANOHLA DARGIS Tessa Thompson holds the center in this drama about a former drug smuggler on probation who is forced to find a new life for herself and her sister. Streaming Movie Review 'Homecoming': Beyoncé the Creator By AISHA HARRIS Built around her 2018 Coachella performance, the Netflix documentary is, above all, about Beyoncé, who wrote, directed and executive produced. 'Penguins': A Nature Documentary Veers Into Fairy Tale By TEO BUGBEE Ed Helms provides the internal monologue for a 5-year-old Adélie penguin referred to as Steve, who is about to embark on his first mating season. Critic's Pick 'Fast Color': Can a Gifted Family Save a Parched World? By JEANNETTE CATSOULIS Julia Hart's wonderfully strange dystopian drama pits three gifted black women against a dried-up world and a hostile government. 'Red Joan': I Spy, Reluctantly By JEANNETTE CATSOULIS Trevor Nunn's listless period drama about an English physicist who leaks atom-bomb secrets, drags when it should zing. 'Family': Better Living Through Childcare By JEANNETTE CATSOULIS Taylor Schilling plays a cold workaholic who improves her life by babysitting her unhappy niece. Streaming Movie Review 'Someone Great': After a Breakup, One Last Night on the Town By KAREN HAN Netflix's contribution to the "girls' night out" genre has its clichés, but the cast has ample chemistry to pull it off.

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Anatomy of a Scene How 'The Curse of La Llorona' Creates Chills By MEKADO MURPHY The director Michael Chaves narrates a scene from this thriller in "The Conjuring" series.

News & Features How 'Avengers' Was Assembled, Before Marvel Was Mighty By DAVE ITZKOFF Robert Downey Jr. and the Marvel Studios president, Kevin Feige, look back on a time when "Iron Man," let alone an "Avengers" movie, was hardly a sure thing. Claire Denis Talks to Barry Jenkins About Director Anxiety and Expectations By BARRY JENKINS The French filmmaker's approach to time and structure has long fascinated our interviewer, the American auteur of "Moonlight." Almodóvar and Malick Will Compete at Cannes. Tarantino? He's a Maybe. By FARAH NAYERI The Cannes Film Festival announced the first movies that will compete for the Palme d'Or in May. Overlooked No More: Aloha Wanderwell, Explorer and Filmmaker By 16, she was traveling around the world behind the wheel of a Model T in a life of adventure that was interrupted only by a murder mystery. 'When They See Us' Trailer: Ava DuVernay's Central Park Five Mini-Series Features Felicity Huffman By BRUCE FRETTS The actress who pleaded guilty in the college admissions scandal plays the D.A. The powerful trailer also stars Michael K. Williams and John Leguizamo.

Critics' Picks 'Hail Satan?' By BEN KENIGSBERG Members of the Satanic Temple are not your average devil worshipers. 'Grass' By GLENN KENNY A sense of dislocation hangs over the South Korean director's latest feature as a young woman writer observes mostly melancholy people, old and young.

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