Movies Update: ‘Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood’ and More

Plus, how they made little Simba look so lifelike.

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By Kyle Buchanan @kylebuchanan

Hey, movie fans! It's your faithful Carpetbagger, back from vacation.

We still have another month of summer left, but that hasn't stopped everyone in Hollywood from turning their eyes toward fall film festivals. The movies that will be playing at Venice and Toronto were announced this week, and they include big-star dramas like "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood" with Tom Hanks and "Ford v. Ferrari" with Matt Damon and Christian Bale, intriguing genre spins like Rian Johnson's whodunit "Knives Out" and the stripper crime drama "Hustlers," and more than a few performance-driven entries that could add intrigue to this Oscar season, including "Harriet" with Cynthia Erivo as Harriet Tubman and "Joker" with Joaquin Phoenix playing the comic-book role that won Heath Ledger a posthumous Academy Award.

But before that, there's plenty to talk about when it comes to this week's entries, especially Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood," which recreates a bygone moviemaking era with the help of Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie. That film has the wide-release sector all to itself, but there are several well-reviewed documentaries coming out this week — among them "Honeyland," about a beekeeper; "The Great Hack," about the harvesting of online information; "For Sama," shot in Aleppo; "Angels Are Made of Light," shot in Kabul; and the archival footage-reliant "Mike Wallace Is Here" — as well as a few indies like "Skin" with Jamie Bell, the absurdist comedy "The Mountain" and the German workplace drama "The Ground Beneath My Feet."

'Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood' Review: We Lost It at the Movies Leonardo DiCaprio, left, and Brad Pitt in a scene from the film.Andrew Cooper/Sony Pictures Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt star as midlevel entertainment industry workers whose relationship forms the core of Quentin Tarantino's look at the movie past.

Movie Reviews Jamie Bell in “Skin,” directed by Guy Nattiv.A24 'Skin' Review: Divide and Prejudice By Jeannette Catsoulis An intense Jamie Bell plays a tormented white supremacist in this blistering study of rage and redemption. The longtime "60 Minutes" correspondent Mike Wallace is the subject of a documentary by Avi Belkin.Magnolia Pictures 'Mike Wallace Is Here' Review: A Ticktock of a Newsman's Life By Ben Kenigsberg Presenting the longtime "60 Minutes" correspondent with relatively little mediation is a natural way to his story, even as it creates a limitation. David Carroll, who teaches media design at Parsons, has tried to use British laws to find out what information Cambridge Analytica collected about him.Netflix CRITIC'S PICK 'The Great Hack' Review: How Your Data Became a Commodity By Ben Kenigsberg A new documentary examines the ramifications when private companies harvest online information about us. Waad al-Kateab in a scene from”For Sama,” her film about Aleppo under siege.Abd Alkader Habak/PBS Distribution Critic's Pick 'For Sama' Review: Out of Besieged Aleppo, a Documentary By Teo Bugbee A young woman records the city around her and the violence the Syrian government and its allies loosed on civilians who rose against them. Hatidze Muratova, tending to her bees, in "Honeyland."Neon critic's pick 'Honeyland' Review: The Sting and the Sweetness By A.O. Scott A documentary about a Macedonian beekeeper's conflict with her neighbors becomes a lyrical environmental fable. Tye Sheridan and Jeff Goldblum in “The Mountain.”Kino Lorber 'The Mountain' Review: Dutiful Minds By Jeannette Catsoulis Jeff Goldblum plays a genial freelance lobotomist in Rick Alverson's joyless, yet weirdly beautiful vision of 1950s America.

Anatomy of a Scene How Thor Transforms in 'Avengers: Endgame'The directors Anthony and Joe Russo discuss a scene with a lackadaisical, beer-guzzling Thor, played by Chris Hemsworth.

News & Features Why Pop Culture Still Can't Get Enough of Charles MansonAs Quentin Tarantino's new film revisits Los Angeles at the end of the '60s, a man who was there — and wrote the book on Manson — argues that we never really left. Even Now, Rutger Hauer's Performance in 'Blade Runner' Is a MarvelWith his combination of menace and anguish, he created an unforgettable character that made the movie the classic it remains today. How They Made Little Simba Look So Lifelike in 'The Lion King'Here are some of the secrets to making a digitally animated cub seem real. The Cultural Truth at the Heart of the Lies in 'The Farewell'The movie, about a grandmother who isn't told she has cancer, led a Chinese-American writer to rethink his own family's "good lie." Angela Bassett Proves Who's Queen in 'Otherhood'She talks about her new Netflix movie — and the recent travails of her co-star Felicity Huffman.

Streaming 'Boi' Review: Being Driven to DistractionA would-be novelist roams Barcelona as a chauffeur who is the captive of his own overactive imagination in this film by Jorge M. Fontana.

Critics' Picks 'The Ground Beneath My Feet' Review: A Woman on the RunIt's hard to stand still when you have troublesome co-workers, a mentally ill sister and the need for exercise. 'Angels Are Made of Light' Review: Despair Meets Hope in KabulA documentary about a relatively peaceful moment in Afghanistan captures ordinary people trying to live some semblance of a normal life.

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