Movies Update: ‘‘Pokémon Detective Pikachu’ and More

Plus, the dronepocalypse is here.

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Kyle Buchanan Pop Culture Reporter Hey, movie fans! It's your faithful Carpetbagger. Though comic-book movies are bigger than ever, films based on video games still haven't quite hit critical mass. Will players turn out for this week's "Pokémon Detective Pikachu," where Ryan Reynolds lends his voice to Nintendo's painfully cute pocket-monster? If "Detective Pikachu" manages to electrify the box office, perhaps video-game movies can earn an extra life. Among the other big films out this week are a trio of female-led comedies: Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson fleece marks in "The Hustle," Diane Keaton leads a late-in-life cheerleading squad in "POMS," and in Netflix's "Wine Country," the director Amy Poehler surrounds herself with a bunch of former "Saturday Night Live" castmates including Maya Rudolph, Rachel Dratch and Tina Fey. Oh, and there's also the biopic "Tolkien." It's not a female-led comedy, perhaps to its detriment. In more limited release this week, we have Kenneth Branagh tackling Shakespeare with "All Is True" and Willem Dafoe as the titular filmmaker "Pasolini"; the latter is a Critics' Pick, as are Mary Harron's Manson drama "Charlie Says" and the documentaries "The Biggest Little Farm," "Serengeti Rules," "The River and the Wall" and "At the Heart of Gold: Inside the USA Gymnastics Scandal."

'Pokémon Detective Pikachu' Review: A Cat and (Electric) Mouse Game Ryan Reynolds voices Detective Pikachu in Rob Letterman's film. Warner Bros. By BEN KENIGSBERG The high-voltage critter from the popular Japanese franchise fights crime in a futuristic city where humans and Pokémon live side by side.

Movie Reviews Kino Lorber Critic's Pick 'Pasolini': One Rebellious Filmmaker's Tribute to Another By A.O. SCOTT Willem Dafoe plays the great Italian writer, poet and cultural gadfly in the last days of his chaotic, incandescent life. IFC Films Critic's Pick 'Charlie Says': Complicating Those Manson Family Values By MANOHLA DARGIS The director Mary Harron teams up with the writer Guinevere Turner for this smart, disturbing drama about three of Charles Manson's female followers.

'The Hustle': Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson Hit Their Marks By A.O. SCOTT Rival con artists on the French Riviera are up to some familiar high jinks in an engagingly silly comedy. 'POMS': Shake It Till You Make It By JEANNETTE CATSOULIS Not even Diane Keaton can salvage Zara Hayes's stale comedy about a peppy group of older women who form a cheerleading squad. 'All Is True': Regret Is the Thing, as Shakespeare Comes Home By JEANNETTE CATSOULIS Kenneth Branagh's fond, partly fictional portrait of William Shakespeare's retirement is a soapy tale of family secrets and festering resentments. 'Wine Country': Searching for Laughs in a Midlife Bacchanal By MANOHLA DARGIS Amy Poehler directs and stars in this anemic female-friendship comedy about a group of pals who convene for a milestone birthday. 'Tolkien': A Fellowship That Rings Obvious By GLENN KENNY A literal-minded biopic of J.R.R. Tolkien nonetheless has its moments of emotional delicacy. 'The Silence of Others': Franco's Victims Speak Out By BEN KENIGSBERG This documentary follows a lawsuit that seeks to charge the enablers of Gen. Francisco Franco. 'David Cross: Oh, Come On': Muffled Anger Over Sentimentality By JASON ZINOMAN Cross, who helped build the alt-comedy scene in the 1990s, jokes about fatherhood and inevitably takes on President Trump. Streaming Movie Review 'Shéhérazade': Love in the Mean Streets of Marseille By HELEN T. VERONGOS The options are few and most of them involve risk or further deprivation for these French teenagers who face the world with little support.

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Anatomy of a Scene How to Create a Funny Action Scene in 'Pokémon Detective Pikachu' By MEKADO MURPHY The director Rob Letterman narrates a scene featuring Ryan Reynolds as the voice of Pikachu.

News & Features Critic's Notebook The Dronepocalypse Is Here — in Documentary Footage, at Least By BILGE EBIRI An epidemic of aerial shots has infected nonfiction filmmaking. It can be a tremendous boon for subjects that are hard to access, but overuse is an issue. A Word With Do Women Have Superpowers? Gugu Mbatha-Raw Says Yes By KATHRYN SHATTUCK She talks about her unlikely abilities in "Fast Color" and her coming projects, including Apple's "The Morning Show" and Netflix's "Dark Crystal" prequel. When Pokémon Go 3-D By BRUCE FRETTS The makers of "Detective Pikachu" had to work out how Psyduck's oversize eyes fit in a small head, among many challenges. (And they stand by the title character's fur.) Did 'Avengers: Endgame' Leave You Wanting More? Try These Marvel Tales By GEORGE GENE GUSTINES Explore the team's past and get a glimpse of their future in these comic book collections. Amazon Dropped Woody Allen's Latest Film. Europe Has Picked It Up. By ALEX MARSHALL "A Rainy Day in New York," starring Timothée Chalamet and Elle Fanning, will be released in Italy on Oct. 3. German and Spanish distributors have confirmed they are releasing it.

Critics' Picks 'At the Heart of Gold' By BILGE EBIRI Erin Lee Carr's documentary features interviews with many of the women who accused Larry Nassar, the former team doctor for U.S.A. Gymnastics, of molesting them. 'The Serengeti Rules' By TEO BUGBEE A documentarian and his crew re-enact real ecological experiments, training the viewer to see biodiversity as beauty. 'The Biggest Little Farm' By GLENN KENNY John Chester's film documents how he and his wife, entertaining idealistic notions, left their lives in the big city to go work the land. 'The River and the Wall' By JEANNETTE CATSOULIS Adventurers are tested by treacherous terrain and dangerous currents as they aim to document the potential effects of a border wall on wildlife and residents.

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